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open door policy

Stephen Zabilski
Executive Director of the Phoenix St. Vincent De Paul

'Tis the season for giving, and in honor, our Open Door Policy crew paid a visit to one of the noblest of Valley organizations. While there would be too many to list, many organizations do their part to help the Valley’s less fortunate, and not just during the holidays. This is a tribute to them all.

St. Vincent De Paul in Phoenix has been serving the homeless and economically disadvantaged since 1946 through home visits, shelter, food assistance, employment services, thrift stores, medical care and outreach programs. Additionally, the kitchen serves more than 3,000 meals each day, 365 days a year. But this is no soup kitchen.

“We serve our guests in the dining room, as you would in a restaurant,” says Executive Director Stephen Zabilski. For 11 years, Zabilski has been working full days and leading by example, volunteering his time and talents.

St. Vincent de Paul is always looking for volunteers. For more information, call 602- 261-6869.


Text By Martha Camacho-Schulzinger
Photography By Craig Price
 
   
 
1. Stephen and his wife, Denise, with Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
2. Glass pyramid. “I used to work for 11 years as a senior vice president with Trans America. The corporate office in San Francisco is shaped like a big pyramid.”
3. Photo of his father and mother, Hal and Joyce Zabilski. “They are great role models to me on being charitable, on volunteering.”
4. St. Vincent de Paul statue.
5. “This is one of my favorite thank you cards.” Every year St. Vincent de Paul closes their thrift stores to the public and invites over 1,000 children to take what they want or need for the holidays. “These are poor children … and they can come in and get anything they want for their brothers, sisters, grandmothers, moms.”
6. “This is some of my fancy, expensive artwork from my children.”
7. When Stephen graduated college, he worked as a CPA for six years at the accounting firm KPMG.
8. “Muhammad Ali has been to our dining room – this dining room and our other downtown dining room – a number of times, over the years.”
9. These are children who come from a private school, privileged background ... and yet they are down here volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul and the point of St. Vincent de Paul is that this is a place that anyone in the community can come either to get assistance or to offer assistance.”
10. “This is [from] our special Christmas Day that we do at one of our thrift stores – our Christmas shopping spree. You can see how happy they are.”
11. Box filled with a small portion of the thank you cards.
12. A child-drawn picture of a house and a car that was found in the dining room. The car is labeled as ‘home’ and the house is labeled as ‘dream home.’
13. “What’s really special about this award was that we were voted by the public as the number one best place to volunteer your time. And that goes with our mission to give others the opportunity to be of service. We received this from AZCentral.com. It means a great deal to us.”
14. “[Bil Keane] did this [illustration] for us when we celebrated our 60th anniversary [last year] with all of his characters and he wrote a little personal note to me.”
Stephen Zabilski in his office
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Copyright 2008, Strickbine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
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