Restoring Hope Community Breakfast Recap 2022
On a brisk November morning, sounds of laughter, conversation and reconnection could be heard drifting out of the ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore. After three years apart, the St. Vincent de Paul family came together again at last for its Restoring Hope Community Breakfast — a cherished annual tradition and fundraiser headed into the holidays.
This year’s theme centered on the idea of home. As the speakers throughout the morning said, home is about much more than just a physical structure. It’s about people and the community with which you surround yourself.
Nearly 1,000 supporters flocked to the Arizona Biltmore to celebrate all the ways that SVdP is home for its guests, volunteers and donors who support the mission each day.
Many guests got to meet Shannon Clancy in her new role for the first time as SVdP’s Rob and Melani Walton Endowed CEO.
“St. Vincent de Paul is a home — that offers the kind of care and compassion that feels like the warm embrace of family,” Shannon said. “That creates a space for all of us where we can come together and be reminded of how powerful a community is when it cares for one another — and puts LOVE at its center.”
Shannon shared the important work that SVdP is doing to help people find home through new shelter and rehousing efforts, and just as important — the millions of dollars SVdP’s distributed to families to help them stay in their homes and avoid the difficult cycle of eviction and homelessness.
Dr. Ken Snyder and Dr. John Anwar illustrated the critical health care gaps that the Virginia G. Piper Medical and Dental Clinics, in partnership with Creighton University, provide for the community. These clinics serve as a medical home for the uninsured population in Arizona. The crowd got to learn of one uninsured patient, Ernesto, who came into the clinic in a wheelchair and now ends his physical therapy sessions dancing with his wife, Hermila.
And last, but certainly not least, is the home found in the SVdP family, who was there for Nina Lindsey and so many others who don’t have a family or support system in times of crisis. SVdP provided one-time assistance of $2,500 to help repair Nina’s AC while she was recovering from brain surgery. That support helped her get out of crisis and avoid a permanent setback in her life.
As quickly as the morning started, it came to an end, leaving the SVdP family of supporters inspired and filled with hope thanks to all the everyday miracles SVdP and the community make possible.
