Gospel: (Luke 9:51-62) When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him…As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord let me go first and bury my father. But he answered, “Let the dead bury the dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home. To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Reflection: The gospel is about a journey, but the end isn’t something anyone would choose. The end is Jerusalem and Jesus is “resolutely determined” to get there. Jesus was resolutely determined to go to his own suffering and death, because he knew that this was the only way to establish God’s kingdom. Our own decision to follow Jesus has implications. For ourselves, the implications lie in terms of our dying to ourselves so that our own actions can also bring salvation to others and help establish God’s reign. Following Jesus to Jerusalem, then, isn’t simply about a personal response to a divine invitation; it is the way God’s reign is established.

Vincentian Meditation: Jesus, on his way up to Jerusalem, sent, “messengers on ahead of Him.” If we are to be faithful messengers of Jesus Christ, we must have grasped well the message of God. The message of Christ is caught rather than taught. Our Lord always manifested the gentleness and humility that we his followers must try at all times to show. One cannot give a message to another person unless one knows clearly what the message is. So, too, with us who are messengers of God; we must be familiar with and know well what it is God wants to say through us. (McCullen, Deep Down Things, p.488)

Formational Insight of the Week, from Chris Kelley

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Prayer Partner Opportunities – Join fellow Vincentians, volunteers, staff, and others to take part in an opportunity to pray with and for one another. Partners are paired and connected at random, and general ideas for possible focuses are provided as an opportunity to walk with someone for a bit. Communication methods and frequency can be determined by the individual pairings as feels most appropriate. Please rsvp by June 30^th by email to Chris Kelley to be included in the next quarter, which runs from July through September. 

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Chris Kelley, our Formation and Service Learning Director, can be reached at 513.345.1767 or ckelley@svdpcincinnati.org .

Featured Faith, Friendship, Food, Fun, & Family Feud :-)

Want more pictures? Just click on this link: https://bit.ly/SVDPSummerSocial2022

Your Vincentian experience and aspirations matter to us. Please invest a few (5-10?) minutes to participate in this survey which was developed with your fellow Vincentian members of our Conference Life Committee. We encourage you to take part on-line, via SurveyMonkey, right now by simply clicking on this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RFJW3SN . If you prefer to participate by completing the survey on paper, you can find a printable version by clicking on this link:

https://www.svdpcincinnati.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Vincentian-Member-Survey.pdf .

As we each & all evolve as change surrounds us, we are well served to remember these 2 foundations of our reality:

Our Archdiocese hosted a Beacons Roundtable yesterday via Zoom, entitled Putting Love in Action, which is what we do. Phase 1 of Beacons is Leadership. You can learn more about Beacons as our Archdiocese continues to post fresh content at BeaconsAOC.org , including the Pathway Platform to guide our journey.

Your Conferences Support team is eager to navigate Beacons of Light with you.

Please join us on Monday, August 1^st at the annual Prescription Fore Fun Golf Outing and Wine & Bourbon Tasting!

All proceeds benefit our Deaconess Health Check/ Charitable Pharmacy, the only pharmacy in Southwest Ohio dedicated to providing free medication and professional pharmaceutical care to people in need from Hamilton, Butler, Warren, and Clermont counties.

For more information and/or to register, please visit CincyGolfOuting.com and CincyWineTasting.com .

We are pleased to welcome Dayna Boyle, our new Volunteer Coordinator, to our Neyer Outreach Center team. Dayna comes to us from Toledo, where she was teaching theology at an all-girls Catholic high school. Dayna has been settling into Cincinnati and her role at SVDP since moving to the area in the beginning of June. She’s eager to talk with you about how you can get involved in our work and fulfillment here at our NOC!

Dayna can be reached at dboyle@svdpcincinnati.org or 513.562.8841,

With last week’s high temperatures and increased media attention, all ACs that have been purchased have been assigned to a neighbor on our wait list. Neighbors are still welcome to fill out a request form online at https://SVDPcincinnati.org/AC , but please share with them that they are joining a wait list and there’s no guarantee we will be able to provide them an AC. We will continue to purchase and distribute ACs as our fundraising allows. Vincentians are welcome to complete a request on behalf of a neighbor. Vincentians can also arrange to pick-up (@ our NOC, M-F, 9am-3pm) & deliver an AC for mobility-challenged neighbors who have been notified their request has been approved.

To-date, we have distributed 988 fans & 270 air conditioners - a blessing for so many as temperatures climb again this week.

For more information, including eligibility, please use this link to review the program description https://www.svdpcincinnati.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Summer-Heat-Relief-2022.pdf or find this explanation on the Member Support & Forms page of our website under the heading “2022 Summer Heat Relief Plan.”

Referring Neighbors for our Council's

Availability of assistance through publicly-funded programs is fluid. We will continue to pass along new developments so you can manage expectations accordingly...please watch for an announcement coming soon.

John Wessel, our Resource Analyst, has created a series of over 30 easily viewed and absorbed videos that are available to you 24/7 on our CMS Support Page, https://www.svdpcincinnati.org/cms-support-page/. Password, if you are prompted: member .

If you are still on the fence (there are more comfortable seats), please join fellow Vincentians & Conferences and make this leap forward - for our neighbors and fellow Vincentians - now! 

Whether you are a current CMS user - or soon to be one - Help sessions are available! Please contact John at jwessel@SVDPcincinnati.org, or by phone at 513.562.1823 to schedule a group or individual session.

Please note additions/changes in red, with further progress & evolution anticipated:

Olivia Scheper, Conferences Support Coordinator, oscheper@svdpcincinnati.org , 513.345.4986

Alec Jewell, Conferences Manager, ajewell@svdpcincinnati.org , 513.345.4983

Quarterly reports; questions about referrals for neighbors; our SVDP-Cinn’s Members webpage content; Conference officers training; training workshops; Metro bus passes under Everybody Rides Metro program

Tom Roberts, Director of Conferences, troberts@svdpcincinnati.org , 513.345.4910 Beacons of Light, Families of Parishes; Conference strategic or leadership matters; weekly Conference News and Notes; support team members visiting Conference meetings; Council events; twinning & CAF contributions; Conference Life Committee; facilitating support for your Conference beyond our Conferences Support team

We, together, extended $502,123 in total FY2022 CAF assistance for the 8 months ended 5/31/2022.

Please take note: As shared with all Conference Presidents in April, and revisited during our Conference Presidents Meeting, a Conference must be utilizing CMS to access CAF assistance effective our 10/1/2022 start to FY2023. While there are multiple reasons for this step forward, one of the most exciting is that we are actively seeking to fully integrate our CAF process - from application to assistance extended - within our CMS tool. This should deliver better visibility and efficacy for all.

We offer thanks to those Conferences & their donors who have recently twinned through CAF, to our Conferences & Vincentians who are submitting quality applications, to our volunteers who are processing these applications so promptly, and to Olivia & Alec. We encourage you to fully consider our neighbor's situation and other resources - including community partners & programs and your Conference's own funds - which could be deployed as you discern a request for CAF assistance. This is particularly applicable to neighbor situations where the total $ required exceeds the sum of the assistance you can assemble - and please remember there are other programs available in our community which have provisions for much higher assistance caps. If you are contemplating extending CAF assistance as a more-immediate bridge due to extended turnaround times for other publicly-funded community programs, please make sure our neighbor is in the queue for these other programs to which they should be eligible. Advocate for & with our neighbor to seek these community resources!

Please understand that these passes are sourced through the Everybody Rides Metro program and our Council is required to comply with the above-referenced usages and submit detailed reports of passes distributed. Please also understand that your Conference will need to record bus passes extended in CMS for the neighbors receiving this assistance. If your Conference wants to learn more about the specifics of this program or request passes, please contact Alec Jewell, Conferences Manager, at ajewell@svdpcincinnati.org , or 513.345.4983.

The CDC has recently released new guidance on boosters for those most susceptible to severe COVID complications. We have the Pfizer vaccine. Want more info? Our Charitable Pharmacy staff is available to answer any questions. You can contact Dr. Rusty Curington at rcurington@svdpcincinnati.org and a Pharmacy team member will respond.

Our Re-Entry Program Manager, Dion Crockett, is eager to work with you to assist neighbors you are serving who have been affected by the criminal justice system. If you would like to host Dion at a Conference meeting, get together with him in another way, or discuss a particular situation, Dion can be reached at 513.562.8851 or dcrockett@svdpcincinnati.org . 

Conferences will again be invited to submit requests for up to six beds in July. These can be emailed to Gabby at rahebedfund@svdpcincinnati.org from July 1 - 6. Please note that our response time may be just a little slower than usual, as our NOC will be closed for the Monday, July 4th holiday. 

Our "new and improved" Conference bed request form (to accommodate up to 6 requests) is now available on the member support and forms page of our website. Here is the direct link to the form: https://www.svdpcincinnati.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Conference-Bed-Request-Form-2022.pdf .

We will again be partnering with WCPO and Morris Home Furnishings for Morris’s Hope to Dream (formally Day to Dream) event. More information will be coming in mid-July, but we will be looking for children (ages 2-17) in need of a twin bed. If you come across any children who fit this description, you may want to hold onto their bed requests and instead submit adults for your July & August Rahe requests. Hope to Dream will occur at the end of August and participating children will receive their bed and a variety of goodies (including sheets, comforter, pillow, etc.) and have it delivered to their home.

If your Conference is considering purchasing beds to extend as assistance, you can get info, including current pricing, or purchase by contacting Dave Chidlow, Stores Retail Resource Manager, at dchidlow@svdpcincinnati.org or 513.853.1002. Your purchased beds will be picked up at our CHRC within our Liz Carter Center. Please be aware that our beds cost and resale pricing have risen significantly.

We still have a limited number of cribs & pack ‘n’ plays available for neighbors with children too young for beds (under age two). These do not count against the limit of two Rahe beds per household per lifetime. If you have a neighbor who is in need of a crib or pack ‘n’ play, please contact Gabby at rahebedfund@svdpcincinnati.org. We will provide the neighbor with a voucher that can be redeemed at our CHRC.

Please click on this link Bed Program Conference Guide to review our most current information, which includes some updates to the way beds assistance should be entered in CMS.

St. Vincent de Paul takes seriously the safety of the children and vulnerable adults who we serve in our ministry. As a Catholic lay organization, we are required to adhere to Safeguarding standards that are consistent with those of our Archdiocese. If you engage with anyone under the age of 18 or with vulnerable adults as part of your work with SVDP, or if you have questions about whether you should complete this training, please reach out to Alec Jewell at ajewell@svdpcincinnati.org for more information on Safeguarding or to register for SafeParish training/background checks. We appreciate your efforts to ensure a safe environment for the neighbors who we serve. 

Our partner La Soupe teams with our Catino Choice Pantry to present monthly Cooking Improv demonstrations in the Teaching Kitchen at our NOC. Instructors from La Soupe engage participants on basic cooking principles and how to use what you have to create delicious, nutritious meals. All recipes are based off ingredients found daily in our Catino Choice Pantry. The demonstrations are on the first Wednesday of every month, 11am-1pm. ​Neighbors are encouraged to sample the delicious dishes and discuss preparation and ingredients with our staff, volunteers, and resident La Soupe instructor Chef Mona! 

The next event is Wednesday, 7/6. No pre-registration is required. Feel free to share this information with your neighbors, or if you’re interested in getting involved in our Teaching Kitchen programming, please reach out to Demi Schoenherr at dschoenherr@svdpcincinnati.org for more information. ​

Christ Church Plumb Line

GCWW's Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program provides funds for assistance for eligible tenants residing in the City of Cincinnati. There are eligibility stipulations. Tenants must qualify by completing an online application at assistance.mygcww.org .

Renters can also call 513.591.7700 to receive assistance from the call center to complete an application. There is also a flexible payment plan through the PromisePay Portal. GCWW customers can visit GCWW.promise-pay.com for details about the program and how to enroll. Renters not residing in Cincinnati city limits but living in Hamilton County can visit https://erap.hcjfs.org/ for utility assistance. If you need additional materials or information, please contact GCWW at GCWWCares@gcww.cincinnati-oh.gov .

Duke also encourages us to direct customers to their summer bills page and to these helpful fact sheets to find helpful programs, tips and tools. Should a customer not meet their qualifications for assistance, please refer them to Duke's customer care organization at 800.544.6900 where they may find assistance through a flexible installment plan.

Additional info on public assistance resources can be found at energyhelp.ohio.gov .

Finally, Community Action Agency's (CAA) Summer Heat program begins July 1; find info at Community Action Agency | Summer Crisis Program (cincy-caa.org) .

Save the Dream Ohio helps eligible Ohio homeowners facing foreclosure and/or who cannot afford to pay their mortgage payments, utility payments or other related housing costs as a result of economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state of Ohio was awarded $280 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for the program. Click here for more information:

Save the Dream Ohio - Managed by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (ohiohome.org)

There is still a substantial sum of COVID federal economic recovery & relief emergency funding available in our area. If you encounter a neighbor who has experienced financial hardship due to COVID, please refer them to https://513relief.org .

The Vision Clinic operates by appointment on certain Thursdays as designated by CEIF. Our Vision Clinic is open, 8:30am - 3pm, tomorrow and next Thursday, 6/30. A limited number of walk-in exams can also be accommodated. To schedule an appointment, or to inquire for additional info, please call 513.207.6140.