When you give, you get more in return.

It’s true. You do get so much enrichment from giving. Millions of people and thousands of organizations have these “giving return” experiences. At St. Vincent de Paul, giving to others and receiving positive enrichment from those experiences are fundamental parts of our mission and our work.

We recently had a wonderful “receiving experience” with a group of young engineers from Skanska, one of the largest construction companies in the world. Their organization has a number of projects in the Seattle market right now. A young engineer visited our website in search of something he and his team could do to give back to the community. He contacted us and asked about a program we had advertised called “clean your closets and help the poor.” We have an ongoing need for men’s clothes and Skanska really helped us out.

Over the period of a month, this young engineer and his team did a significant amount of giving work on our behalf. They generated over 1,250 pounds of clothing donations. We estimate the total value of their donations at over $10,800. That is a huge effort and one that produces significant benefits for the less fortunate among us who need help. We are very grateful!

Most people don’t know that a donation of $25 has significant impact in our organization. This level of donating can provide a week of housing, partial payment on a month of utility bills, food for a family for a few days and more. Similarly, a gift of $100 may provide rent or utility help for a month. When you see your donations through the lens of the $25 level, then you can begin to see that your organization and your employees are helping make a major difference in the lives of hundreds of people in our area.

Let me reiterate some other things about the value of giving to St. Vincent de Paul. First, over 90 cents of every dollar donated to us goes to programs to help people. Second, since we are keeping people in their homes, we offer significant return to taxpayers through reductions in social service payments associated with services for the homeless. Third, we know people want to control to whom they give.

As a result, Skanska and all of our donors are assured their generous gifts are making a difference in the lives of people who need help.

Thank you Skanska! You are a credit to the community.