The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a Catholic lay organization offering tangible assistance to those in need on a person-to-person basis. It is this personalized involvement that makes the work of the Society unique. In the Twin Cities, the St. Vincent de Paul Society operates three thrift stores and helps thousand in the community through its local parish conferences. The dignity of each individual is maintained by accepting donations and in turn, offering shoppers items of quality and in working order. The St. Bonaventure conference of the Minneapolis/St Paul St Vincent de Paul Council currently has 24 members. In addition to helping at the thrift store, St Bonaventure conference maintains a food shelf and assists families with monetary needs. They meet the 2^nd Tuesday of each month.