The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW has 4,400 members giving of their time each day in communities across the state.

In small towns and large cities, our members can be found offering a hand up in times of need.

For people facing hardship in the Central West town of Forbes, one of the most familiar hands belongs to Helen Smith.

“People need support and care,” says Helen.

“The Society is a way of giving it. It supports people in need, but it supports its own too, and it provides a community for a lot of people.

“It's a wonderful community – we come together and care for each other.”

Helen’s contribution to the Forbes community recently saw her named as the town’s Senior Citizen of the Year for her decades of work with the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW.

First joining the Society in 1996 and currently serving as President of the Sacred Heart Conference, Helen’s role sees her working closely with fellow members and community organisations to assist people in need of support.

Demand for assistance in Forbes, boasting a population of just over 9,300 people, has doubled since the start of the decade. The Sacred Heart Conference supported 850 people in the last financial year, including a quarter who have never sought help from the Society previously.

“There are a lot of people coming and saying their money's just not meeting their needs [with] food and accommodation.”

Helen balances this part of her role by drawing on her professional career as a teacher to encourage the next generation of Vincentians.

Through working with a dozen schools across the Wilcannia/Forbes diocese as part of Mini Vinnies, Helen has helped children understand the importance of caring and being aware of the needs of others.

Some of Helen’s fondest memories of Mini Vinnies are the annual gatherings, bringing together schools from around the region, and hearing children connect social justice teachings to contemporary issues.

“That’s beautiful to hear.”

Other treasured memories come from students she’s encountered in Mini Vinnies who have gone on to be involved with the Conference as adults.

In reflecting on the recognition she’s received for her years of service, Helen credits the connections she’s made through the Society who share her understanding of community.

“Community means working together for the benefit of one another.”

“It means working together to live our faith, it means working together for mutual benefit.

“We come together, we care for one another.

“If someone's sick in our Vinnies community, we do something about it. Even if it's ringing them each day to find out how they are, checking up on them, trying to do something for them, praying for them.

“Community is working just not with the Vinnies community, it's working with the town community.”