Request Assistance

Thank you for connecting with St. Vincent de Paul. We are able to provide financial assistance to households within our service area. Because our assistance depends on both available funding and volunteer availability, we cannot accept requests at all times. Please carefully review our intake process and eligibility requirements below.

HOW ARE REQUESTs ACCEPTed?

All requests must be submitted through the online form. Phone and email requests are not accepted.

When ARE REQUESTS Accepted?

When we have the capacity to receive a request, an online application form will appear at the bottom of this page.

If no application form is visible, we are not currently accepting new requests that week. Please check back at the beginning of next week.

What are the ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS?

To be eligible to be considered for assistance, you must meet the following requirements:

You live within our service area or are a parishioner of Sacred Heart.
- Our conference can only assist individuals residing in zip codes 23224 and 23234 OR registered parishioners of Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Perry Street.
- If you reside in the zip codes of 23060, 23059, 23228, 23294 or 23233, please contact the St. Michael's Conference.
- If you reside in the zip codes of 23222, 23223, 23226 or 23229, please contact the St. Teresa Conference.
The financial amount requested falls within our assistance guidelines.
- If our conference is able to provide assistance, the maximum amount we can contribute is $700 per household.
  - For Rent Assistance Requests:
    - If your outstanding rent balance exceeds $1,000, please wait until the balance has been reduced to $1,000 or less before submitting a request.
    - Our conference can provide up to $700 in rent assistance. Because landlords do not typically accept partial payments toward larger balances, requests with balances above $1,000 will not qualify.
    - Exception: You may still apply if another organization(s) has committed assistance that would reduce your balance to $1,000 or less. Documentation confirming that commitment will be required in the online application.
  - Utility and Other Financial Assistance Requests (e.g., Dominion Energy, water bills):
    - You may submit a request regardless of the current balance due. While our maximum contribution is still $700, utility companies and other service providers are often willing to accept partial or progress payments. Eligibility will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
  - Hotel/Motel Bills: Unfortunately, we are not able to provide assistance for hotel or motel expenses.
You are able to provide the required supporting documentation.
- You must complete the online Assistance Request form completely and accurately. We do not accept assistance requests via phone or email.
- In the online application, you will be required to upload documentation of the amount owed (i.e., a ledger, a bill, etc).
You have not received assistance from St. Vincent de Paul within the last year.
- We can only help a household one time per year.
You can be reached by phone or email if additional information is needed.
- If we are unable to reach you after multiple attempts, we will not be able to consider your request.

What Information Will I Need?

Please have the following available before starting the application:

Contact information
Details about the assistance being requested
Supporting documents that show the current amount owed (i.e., ledger, bills, or notices)
Information regarding the party that will receive payment (i.e., landlord, leasing company, utility company, etc.) Please know we will not directly reach out to a leasing company, landlord, or bank without speaking with you first.
If other organizations are contributing to bring your balance within our required limit (see eligibility section above for more details), supporting documents that confirm their contribution.

Applications that are incomplete or missing required documentation may be delayed.

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What happens after i submit my request?

Your application will be reviewed to determine eligibility.

If your request is eligible, it will move forward to the next step in our process which is a home visit. A volunteer will contact you to discuss your request and schedule a convenient date, time, and place for the visit.
- What is a home visit? A home visit is an informal meeting, typically lasting 15 to 45 minutes, that helps us better understand your situation and ensure we have the information needed to evaluate your request for assistance. During the visit, we may ask questions about your current circumstances and collect any additional information needed to process your request.
If your request is not eligible, a volunteer will contact you to explain why we are unable to provide assistance and may share information about other community resources.

We do our best to contact you within one week and no more than two weeks from receipt of your request. Thank you for your patience as we process requests.

Important Information about FOLLOW-UP phone calls

When we follow up with you to confirm your eligibility, we will very likely contact you via a phone call. St. Vincent de Paul does not have an office phone system and because of this, calls from our volunteers may appear as "Unknown Caller" or "Private Caller."

We understand the hesitation to pick up a call from an unknown number, and we will leave a voicemail message if we are unable to reach you. Please check your voicemail regularly and make sure you are able to receive voicemails (i.e., your inbox is not full). Our volunteer will share a proposed time they will call you back so you can be ready to pick up the call from an "Unknown Caller" or "Private Caller" at that time.

WHY ARE THERE ELEGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS?

Every request is reviewed by volunteers who seek to serve all people with dignity, compassion, and respect. Because St. Vincent de Paul is funded through donations and operated by volunteers, we have limited resources available to assist those who contact us. Our eligibility requirements help ensure that assistance is provided fairly and responsibly.

We are generally limited to $700 per request. This limit is based on tax and organizational requirements that govern the assistance we can provide.

For rent assistance, we typically cannot make partial or "progress" payments when a balance is significantly higher than the amount we can contribute. In many cases, a landlord may accept a partial payment but still proceed with an eviction if the remaining balance is not paid in full. Our goal is to ensure that any assistance we provide meaningfully improves your situation.

While we wish we could assist everyone who reaches out, these guidelines help us use our resources so we can continue serving as many neighbors as possible. Thank you for understanding.

ASSISTANCE REQUEST APPLICATION

We are currently at capacity and are unable to accept new assistance requests for this week. Please check back at the beginning of next week to see if applications have reopened. Thank you for your understanding.