Fr. Joe Will Mark 20th Year at St. Vincent’s
Many Changes Over the Years, Including Office Hours

   SAN DIEGO — Fr. Joe Carroll will mark his 20th year as the president of St. Vincent de Paul Village on Monday, Jul. 1, without fanfare. There will be no party, not even a cake. Simply, there’s too much work to be done, leaving no time for celebration.

   In 1982, Fr. Joe took the reigns of the organization that under his direction would eventually become the largest provider of homeless services on the West Coast.

   "I was completely happy with life as a parish priest and didn’t want to leave," he says. "But I was appointed by the bishop himself to build a facility that would house programs for the homeless, so I had to accept the position."

   Quite unexpectedly, his lofty vision for the development of St. Vincent’s – the one he hoped would be a flop – soon became reachable.

   "I came right out in my commercial and said I was a hustler and needed money to help the less fortunate – there was no strategic planning in developing my message," Fr. Joe says. "I really hoped there would be no response so I could return to my duties at the parish, but almost immediately the donations came pouring in."

   And with the support of the people of San Diego came a new responsibility to ensure the completion of the project.

   "When I first started at St. Vincent’s, I was in at 9 a.m. and out in less than a half hour," Fr. Joe says. "My days definitely became longer."

   By 1987, the first of three new buildings for the homeless, the Joan Kroc Center, located on the corner of 15th Street and Imperial Avenue, was completed. The Bishop Maher and Paul Mirable Centers followed in 1989 and 1992 respectively.

   Today those facilities provide housing to 855 children, families and single adults nightly. In addition, on-site services include a career and education center, medical and dental clinic, children’s services department, counseling programs and more than one million meals annually.

   In addition to its main East Village facility, St. Vincent’s also owns the Toussaint Teen Center, a downtown facility for homeless youths, Josue Homes, San Diego county’s largest residential-care program for individuals with HIV and AIDS, Martha’s Village & Kitchen, a facility located in Indio whose programs and services mirror St. Vincent’s, and Padre Luis Jayme International Outreach, which provides basic life necessities to the poor and needy of Mexico.

   For more information on Fr. Joe’s 20th anniversary at St. Vincent’s, please call (619) 525-1608.

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