About Youth SVP

The St Vincent de Paul Society (or as it is often known - the SVP) is an international Christian voluntary organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and disadvantage by providing practical assistance to those in need – irrespective of ideology, faith, ethnicity, age or gender.

The SVP encourages Christians to put their faith into action. SVP members offer one-to-one help and support to people in need in their local community. Today there are about 600,000 SVP volunteers in 144 countries throughout the world, and about 10,000 volunteers in England and Wales.

Youth SVP is a branch of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. The youth programme was set up in 1999, and since then has assisted over 10,000 young people to take a role in addressing local needs. Our young members identify people that are in need in their local community, and then take an active role in helping them. Whilst some groups engage in fundraising activities, the main emphasis of their SVP volunteering is action. To see some examples of the great work our members do please visit our works page.

This work is crucial, as it not only helps address local needs, but also builds the capacity of our young members. As a result of their volunteering they grow in confidence and start to take a more active role in society.

Presently there are over 120 Youth SVP groups in schools and parishes all over England and Wales. You can see if there is a group near you on the map.

Our Works

Our groups do a wide variety of good work. The type of volunteering they do can be broadly grouped into four catagories:

Helping the Elderly
Working with the Homeless
Supporting local Children
Assisting the Disabled

To find out more about the work that our group members do, please feel free to have a look at some of our group casestudies, or view the Youth SVP film.

Are you interested in setting up a group? If so, visit the Start a Group page to find out more about the ways we can support you to do this.