MIDDLEBORO — The St. Vincent de Paul Society of Middleboro is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. The society’s work includes support of the food pantry at Sacred Heart Church and the Giving Tree holiday program.

In the early summer of 2004, Rev. Richard Crowley, then pastor of Sacred Heart Church, announced at Mass that he would be holding meetings to form a local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He invited parishioners to join him.  

The initial meetings took place through the summer with more than a dozen in attendance.  Rev. Crowley and the group solicited input from area conferences and churches that had their own food pantries.  

After numerous meetings, the consensus was to move forward with the formation of the local council and Bill Pye was selected as president of the conference. 

On Feb. 2, 2005, Middleboro’s conference, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, was officially established.  

At that time, the Middleboro Parish Outreach was providing food assistance to local residents on an emergency basis. St. Vincent de Paul agreed to co-operate with them in running the operation.  

Pye and his team envisioned having a food pantry that would be open on a regular basis.  They applied to the Greater Boston Food Bank to become a member agency, met all the requirements and passed all inspections. 

In the beginning, Pye would pick up food from Boston using his own car.  Soon, he was using a borrowed pickup truck because the volume was too much for his vehicle.  

A used van was donated by the Central Council and as the size of the food pantry grew, so did the need for a larger vehicle.  A gift of $15,000 from an anonymous donor and a matching amount from a local bank allowed for the purchase of a new box truck. 

In 2005, St. Vincent de Paul also took over the running of the Giving Tree Christmas gift program which in the 2024 Christmas season was able to provide over 4,000 gifts to some 800 children and nursing home residents.

All services of the conference are available to residents of Middleboro, Lakeville, Carver and Rochester, regardless of their personal religious affiliation.    

In celebration of the 20th Anniversary, plaques were presented to Rev. Crowley and Pye as thanks for their vision and commitment to the formation and continued success of the St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Conference.