SSVP New Zealand holds Annual General Meeting
Refoundation and return to the SSVP origins were themes at Workshop.
On March 22 and 23, 2025, the SSVP of New Zealand held its 2025 Annual General Assembly in Tauranga, a city located in the east of the North Island. The meeting was attended by brother Frank Brassil, CGI Territorial Vice-President for the Oceania region. Also present were the President and Treasurer of the Tonga National Council, a country that maintains twinning relations with New Zealand.
This year’s meeting, led by National President brother Gerry Stevens, was divided into two parts: on the first day, the Annual General Assembly was held and on the second day, a Workshop was held with the theme “Refoundation”, to discuss issues related to the aging of the SSVP conferences and the return to the fundamental values of the SSVP. During the Annual Assembly, the annual report of the New Zealand SSVP was presented, as well as information on twinning activities with the twinned countries (Samoa, Tonga and Sri Lanka), debates on the proposal for a new Strategic Plan and various reports on Health and Safety, Safeguarding, the status of the National Council and financial statements. During the Annual Assembly, the CGI Territorial Vice-President for Oceania gave a presentation addressing issues related to the governance of the local SSVP.
In the Workshop on “Refoundation” there was an excellent debate on the mission of the SSVP as expressed in Part I of the Rule. The urgent need to renew existing conferences was also discussed, with the founding of new vincentian units and greater support for currently active conferences. Participants expressed their ideas on these issues, reinforcing that the local SSVP should increase its focus on supporting the activities of SSVP conferences that directly assist the needy, to the detriment of the effort spent on other services such as the retail stores maintained by the Society in New Zealand.
“I congratulate National President Gerry Stevens for opening the discussions on this refoundation process and hope that the focus on returning to the Society’s fundamentals will be successful and will help SSVP in New Zealand to recruit new members and strengthen SSVP conferences,” said the CGI Territorial Vice-President.
SSVP has been present in New Zealand since 1867, when the first SSVP conference was founded in Christchurch. The 2024 Annual Report indicates that the SSVP’s local service structure is made up of a National Council, 22 Area Councils and 105 conferences with 1509 members. SSVP also maintains 55 retail stores in New Zealand spread throughout the country.
