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'Heart exercise' good for souls: St. vincent de paul sponsors walk

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

More than 150 people put their soles on the line for the poor Sept. 25 at the second “Friends of the Poor” walk at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville.

The walk was sponsored by the Belleville Council of St. Vincent de Paul. The council is made up of 21 conferences in the diocese, and 14 were represented at Althoff with the St. Boniface Council in Germantown doing a “satellite” walk at a park in Germantown.

All of the money collected — more than $10,000 this year — will be returned to the individual conferences to be distributed by them in their outreach to the poor, Pat Hogrebe, diocesan St. Vincent de Paul development director, said.

The walk, sponsored by the national office of St. Vincent de Paul is traditionally held in the fall, near the saint’s feast, this year on Sept. 27.

Hogrebe said she hopes the number of participants in the walk will expand and will begin gathering a committee to plan next year’s event soon.

Queen of Peace parishioner, Kathy Schaefer, said the parish’s conference is walking to honor Marilyn Reed, a long-time parishioner who died. Mrs. Reed was very active in the parish with social justice issues.

Calls are coming in, Schaefer said, “dealing with people who have lost their jobs, and many are losing their homes.”
To help, call your parish and ask about St. Vincent de Paul.