March 18, 2025 // Diocese

‘Mini Vinnies’ Are ‘Bold in Sharing Love with Others’

Clare Hildebrandt

Reporter

“Our Mini Vinnies are not afraid to go out, hold hands with those in need, and pray with people,” said Shannon Linder, a religion teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Fort Wayne, and a coordinator for the club.

Leaders at St. Vincent de Paul School recently began a local chapter of Mini Vinnies, an extension of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, allowing students in third through fifth grade to actively serve the poor. Boasting 26 members in its first year, the St. Vincent de Paul chapter regularly helps by assisting at food pantries and by visiting the elderly in nursing homes.

“Through Mini Vinnies, our kids can see that there are people in need in our own community,” Linder told Today’s Catholic. “It is so easy to think, ‘Oh, there is poverty downtown but not near us.’ This club shows them people need help locally as well.”

The Mini Vinnies pack and deliver food to the needy, bringing boxes filled with canned goods to those in the area who need a little extra assistance.

“We have done food runs for the St. Vincent food pantry,” Linder said. “We all go to the food pantry, fill up boxes with food, and deliver them to people’s homes.”

Similarly, the students not only bring goodies to the residents in nursing homes but also play games with them.

“We’ve visited Kingston nursing homes a few times and played games and colored with the residents,” Linder said. “In December, we brought Christmas cards, sang carols, and brought treats to the staff and residents there, and the kids loved it.”    

The idea for the parish to begin a student organization came from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which contacted the school and recommended they begin a Mini Vinnies chapter. It officially began in 2024, with students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades allowed to participate.

The club meets twice a month, with the first meeting of the month serving as a time to reflect on previous service days and the second allowing the students to go out and serve the community.

The most amazing aspect of having the young children serve, said Linder, is their “boldness to share love with others.”

The children, no older than 11 or 12, will readily hold hands and pray while they deliver food to the needy. Many are even eager to lead prayer with those they serve.

“Many of them enjoy spoken prayer and are not too shy to lead the group,” Linder said. “They will join hands in a circle to pray.”

Amy Johnson, director of theology at St. Vincent de Paul School and a coordinator of the Mini Vinnies program, stressed the awareness of poverty in Fort Wayne.

“The kids get to see firsthand that some people don’t have enough to eat,” Johnson said. “Those people do exist in our community, and we can help. It is very powerful for them to see.”

She added: “You can read Matthew 25 all you want, but to actually experience it is different. The kids can begin to understand that they’re actually serving Jesus. When they go out into the community, they can see the face of Christ in the poor.”

Another purpose of Mini Vinnies is to teach how to give without receiving in return.

“The kids definitely have to learn how to simply give and not always receive,” Johnson said. “You have to completely empty yourself out to serve someone else. Through the action of serving, what they do receive is joy,” Johnson said.

Johnson gave a prime example of this joy, which occurred during one of the Mini Vinnies’ nursing home visits.

“We went to the nursing home, and many of the kids did not want to leave,” Johnson explained.  “We do have a set time for pickup, so we had to head out. This was an example of joy in serving.”

Another time, the Mini Vinnies delivered food in a neighborhood and noticed something while they were walking: A statue of Jesus, standing in someone’s yard, had fallen over.

“We delivered food to one lady and noticed her statue had fallen – it was a Jesus statue. When we asked her about it, she said ‘Oh, he’s really heavy. Don’t worry about it.’ I then said, ‘OK, we’ll just leave him there.’ But the kids were like, ‘Oh no, we’ve got it.’ And with teamwork, they got the statue back up for her,” Johnson said. “It was really sweet and truly beautiful.”

The chapter at St. Vincent even has an elected student board. Fourth-graders Samuel Coyle and Carey Clark, president and vice president of the club, spoke with​ Today’s Catholic about their time with the Mini Vinnies and what they’ve learned by serving others.

“I like Mini Vinnies because we’re doing the same thing as St. Vincent de Paul [in serving the poor],” Coyle said. “One of the best things you can do is try to copy the saints, because it makes you grow holier.”

Coyle said his favorite trip was delivering food to the poor. He liked traveling to homes and delivering the bags of food from the pantry.

Clark said her favorite service activity was to the nursing home, where she could talk to the elderly residents.

“One of my favorite events is going to the nursing home,” asserted Clark. “We get to see the older people and do activities with them, which is fun.”

Clark said her experience in the club brought about a realization: Despite members of the community differing in age, they are not that different from the students themselves.

“[Mini Vinnies] made me see that having a different background doesn’t mean they’re different from us,” she said.

When asked about leadership on the board, Coyle said he tries to lead through service.

“You can’t be a good leader unless you’re the servant, because if you’re the leader and you’re just bossing people around, that won’t do you any good. You need to focus on serving others and leading at the same time.”

Clark agreed, saying: “We don’t do it because we want people to think, ‘Oh, wow, they’re really good,’” she said. “We do it because, in our hearts, we want to help others.”

Clare Hildebrandt is a staff writer for Today’s Catholic.