St. Vincent de Paul Breaks Ground In West Windsor

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Nick Rosati, Tony Rosati, Councillor Ron Jones Co-Vice President for the Windsor Essex Central Council and chairs person of the Stores Committee, Kim Teskey, General Manager, Alexis Baksi, and President of the Windsor Essex Central Council for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Pamela Baksi all break the ground at the new location for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

A local charity broke ground in Windsor’s west-end this morning to kick-off a rather large new project.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has their shovels deep in the soil at the location of the former Blessed Sacrament Church, located at 3714 King Street. When the church gave notice of it’s closing doors, President of the Windsor Essex Central Council for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Pamela Baksi, quickly drafted a letter to Bishop Ronald P. Fabbro of the Diocese of London.

Bishop Fabbro came back to the society, commending them on their good work and told them the only thing he needed to make the deal official was a payment of $1. Kim Teskey, Co-Vice President for the Windsor Essex Central Council and chairs person of the Stores Committee said at that moment, everyone was willing to reach in their pockets and hand him that dollar.

“This project coming to the west-side is something that is very important,” said Teskey. “Our stores are located in places of need. It’s been needed out here in this area and we haven’t been able to get a place so this has worked out wonderful with the Bishop helping us and giving us this, and the Rosati family helping us out is just wonderful.”

As of right now, the church is planned to remain standing and will be home to meeting rooms and a food hub. Teskey and Baksi hope to expand the services in the church as they are needed, after finding out from the residents what they want to see and what services they need.

The new building however will be a re-sale store, as well as warehouse holding things the society needs.

“This is sort of a multi-purpose building that we’re putting up here,” said Baksi. “Right now we don’t have all of the money that we need to make all of our visions and dreams come true but the fact is we’ve been planning for this moment for at least ten years.”

When the project began, Tony Rosati came forward as the contractor for the project. Baksi said she believes the family sees the same values they do and they are truly showing their support for the St. Vincent de Paul cause.

Rosati’s mother, Olivia, said the entire project brings her nearly to tears. This church was her and her husbands first church, so this project has more meaning to their family than they can begin to explain.

“I find it gives your wealth more meaning when you are fortunate to have a better life,” said Olivia. “We worked hard for it, we started from nothing and that’s why we can appreciate this because someone also did something good for me as a young girl when we migrated over from Italy…I know it’s really important for the community. It’s going to make a big difference in a lot of people’s lives.”

Baksi expects the project to be operation mid-way through the summer, with a kick off scheduled for September 27th, which also happens to be St. Vincent de Paul feast day. They have a large celebration planned and are looking forward to instilling their services of “love, justice and joy,” this project is just a part of that.

Many people showed up April 9 to support the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and their ground breaking ceremony at their new location.

Pamela Baksi ,President of the Windsor Essex Central Council for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, gives a speech at the ground breaking ceremony April 9th, thanking the Rosati family for all they have done to make the project possible.