Thank you for hosting a drive for the St. Vincent de Paul Society!
The St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Vincentian Help Desk gives out free food and clothing to over 1,200 homeless and working poor individuals every month – that’s over 14,000 people every year! We rely solely on donations to provide clothing and food to those in need. By holding a drive, you are helping us help the most fragile people in our community.

Below you will find the information you need to help coordinate a drive at your organization. If you have any questions about the drive or how the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco is working to help the poor and homeless, please call Sally Rosen or Daniel Soria at the Vincentian Help Desk at (415) 202-9955. Printable Donation Drive Instructions

Information available for your drive
Items marked with an * will be dropped off with the bins or mailed to you, or you can download where prompted

o      Clothing and Food Drive Registration Form

o      Donation Flyer – Men’s Clothing

o      Donation Flyer - Food

o      Vincentian Help Desk brochures / information pamphlets*

o      St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP) Donation Form (for monetary donations)

o      SVdP donation receipts (for clothing and food donations)*

o      Letter / email to notify people in your organization about the drive (download here)

o      SVdP Fact Sheet

Easy Steps for Holding a Drive

1.     Fill out the Clothing and Food Drive Registration Form (download here) and send it in
Determine what kind of drive you’ll hold and when you’ll hold it. The items we most desperately need are men’s clothing, and monetary donations are always appreciated. Please call us first if you would like to hold another type of drive. Drives can last for as long as your organization permits (e.g., some are for two weeks; in other cases, we have been able to leave a bin in place to continue to accept donations). Email your completed form to or fax it to us at (415) 202-9956.

2.    Determine How You would Like to Promote Your Drive
We are here to help you make your drive a huge success! We have flyers available for you to post around your organization. We have letters that you can use to send to those in your organization – by mail or email. We have fact sheets about the work we do at the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco and how we are able to help over 1,000 people every day suffering from homelessness, poverty, domestic violence and addiction. If at any time you need additional information, please contact us at (415) 202-9955.

3.    Let us Know if there are Other Ways You or Your Organization Would Like to Help
Clothing and food drives are a great start, but if you would like to help in other ways, we would love to talk with you! We can coordinate a tour of our programs, coordinate a sorting day at the Help Desk (for groups of about10 people), or help you choose other volunteer activities for your organization. And any monetary or other in-kind donations from your organization are always welcome. Please contact Meredith Lierk, our Development Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator at (415) 977-1270 x3018, or  send an email, to discuss other ways you can help.

That’s it! As soon as we receive your Clothing and Food Drive Registration Form, we’ll be in touch to drop off your bins. Thank you again for your caring and support. We’ll be in touch soon.