‘When we see a need, we have to help’

A servant’s heart was fostered in Gwen Chambers from a young age.

So when she showed up one day to volunteer at the food pantry at the former St. Bridget of Erin Church and noticed the floor could use some love, she simply grabbed a mop and went to work.

Soon, she was coming early every Tuesday morning to make sure the floors were sparkling clean for the pantry’s clients. That was her doorway to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

“As a kid, I always saw my mother helping people, and she always stressed to us that when we see a need, we have to help,” Chambers said.

Chambers, a parishioner at St. Josephine Bakhita in St. Louis, has now been serving with the society for more than 20 years. After retiring from Affinia Healthcare in 2018, she was able to dedicate more time to the society; she served as conference vice president and now coordinates home visits and the food pantry at Sts. Teresa and Bridget Church.

On Mondays, she grocery shops to supplement the donations the pantry receives. And every Tuesday and Thursday, she’s working the food pantry, making phone calls, doing paperwork or out in the neighborhood visiting neighbors in need.

“It is God’s work — that’s how I look at it,” she said.

On Nov. 12, Chambers, clad in a black T-shirt featuring portraits of the six African-American Catholics currently on the path to sainthood, and fellow Vincentian Byron Willis paid a visit to Emmanuel Mitchell III at his apartment in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of St. Louis.

Mitchell welcomed them in with a smile and enthusiastically agreed to begin the visit with a prayer.

“We do always like to start with prayer, because we wouldn’t be here without God,” Chambers said.

Mitchell, who had recently moved into his senior housing community, was in need of a bed and some living room furniture. He heard about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul through a health insurance representative and felt like his prayers were answered when he received a call back from Chambers.

“It’s a blessing. I was asking God, ‘Lord, I trust in you, I believe in you,’” he said. “And here you are!”

“You know that’s right,” Chambers replied.

As they talked about his current needs, the conversation flowed into topics of faith. Chambers invited Mitchell to come check out St. Josephine Bakhita Parish at any time and let him know when the food pantry was open. Mitchell shared about his involvement as a greeter at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church and his prayers for his children to start attending church services with him again.

Chambers gave Mitchell a Schnucks gift certificate to help with groceries and made plans to return with furniture vouchers. They ended the visit with a prayer of gratitude. Then, it was on to the next neighbor in need.

Utility assistance is a big necessity right now among people they serve, Chambers said, as well as rent assistance. But the opportunity for personal connections is just as important, she said.

“We do a lot of just sitting on the couches with them and just listening to the stories,” she said. When she meets mothers with young children, “I’ve been a single parent myself, and I don’t mind letting some of the young ladies that I meet know, ‘Hey, I’ve walked in these shoes before, so don’t think that you are alone.’ I just try to make them feel as comfortable as possible, and let them do a lot of the talking if they want to. A lot of times, they really do just need somebody to talk to.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Chambers and other St. Vincent de Paul Society members volunteered for eight years with Winter Outreach at Sts. Teresa and Bridget, an overnight shelter that opened for people without housing when the temperature dipped below 20 degrees. Her daughter and two granddaughters regularly served alongside her, and Chambers would like to help start the program back up.

“I felt like I just wanted to contribute to the homeless community,” she said. “My brother had been homeless at one time in Atlanta, and I was so worried about him. So I know the feeling that family members have when they don’t know where a family member is, or things like that, and that’s really what spurred me to do it.”

Being part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society over the years has helped her to look beyond the surface of people she meets, she said, whether that’s someone she encounters while volunteering or elsewhere.

“Even away from here, a lot of times I’m talking to my daughters, or somebody else will say something, and I find myself now saying, ‘Well, we don’t really know what’s going on with this person,’” she said. “(St. Vincent de Paul) is just good for me and good for my soul.”

The St. Josephine Bakhita conference includes Vincentians from the former St. Nicholas, Most Holy Trinity and Sts. Teresa and Bridget conferences. At age 72, Chambers is one of the youngest members, she noted with a laugh.

“The blessing of it is we are senior citizens that still have some energy,” she said. “I truly look at it as a blessing.”