About Vinnies

The St Vincent de Paul Society's 40,000 members and volunteers work hard to assist people in need and combat social injustice across Australia. Internationally, the Society operates in 148 countries and has over 950,000 members.

Members of the Society are people who live out their faith in action by visiting people in their homes to provide support, friendship and material assistance. This practice is known as home visitation, and is carried out by local St Vincent de Paul Society conferences. Conferences are typically Parish or school based groups of people who respond to calls for assistance from people in the local community and work closely with the Society's Vinnies Centres.

People who are being assisted by conference members are often provided with furniture, clothing and household goods free of charge through the Society's Vinnies Centres. Centres also offer affordable clothing and goods to the wider community. The profit from the sale of stock from the Vinnies Centres is used to provide resources and support to people in need.

For over 150 years, home visitation has been the core work of the Society. By visiting people in their homes, the St Vincent de Paul Society aims to help men, women and families to break their cycle of poverty and disadvantage.
 
The Society in Australia
The first Australian conference was founded in Victoria by Fr Gerald Ward at St Francis' Church, Melbourne on 5 March 1854, just 21 years after the founding of the first conference in Paris.

Inaugural conferences were established in Australian States as follows: