ATLANTA – The Particular Council of St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP) is working to provide Thanksgiving dinners for 150 families and Christmas gifts for 400 children affected by the floods in South Georgia.

SVDP is working with St. Clare’s Neighbors in Need ministry, an outreach of the Savannah Diocese, and Bruno’s grocery store in Albany, in a collaborative effort.

St. Clare’s, whose soup kitchen, food pantry and thrift store were flooded this summer, is working out of a Catholic school gym while their center is being rebuilt. Due to the financial, personnel and space limitations St. Clare’s encountered they recognized they would only be able to provide Thanksgiving dinner for 125 families before SVDP of Atlanta offered to provide meals for an additional 150 families.

The Bruno’s store supplied and delivered the food to the distribution center for $23 per family. Vincentians from the Atlanta Archdiocese traveled to Albany to put the food orders together.

Because of St. Clare’s immediate need Sheila Bissonnette, executive director of SVDP, authorized the expenditure of $3,450 to provide Thanksgiving dinners for the additional 150 families.

Members of the Archdiocese of Atlanta are invited to help SVDP defray the costs by mailing a check for $23 to SVDP, 26 Third Street, NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30308. Checks should be marked “Thanksgiving Dinner in Albany.” All donations will be acknowledged.

Those interested in donating a Christmas toy for a child 12 years old or younger, including infants, should deliver it to one of the local SVDP thrift stores. All toys should be new and delivered to the thrift store unwrapped before Dec. 10.

SVDP is also collecting sheets, towels, dishes, flatware, pots and pans and small kitchen appliances for 100 families who will soon be returning to their homes in Albany. Donations can also be left at SVDP thrift stores. Donations should be marked “Families in Albany.”

Thrift stores are located at: 4974 Lawrenceville Highway, Lilburn; 243 Scenic Plaza, Lawrenceville; 5070 Buford Highway, Norcross; 2728 Summers St., Kennesaw and 3660 Clairmont Road in Chamblee. For information call 874-7104.