Harvest Festival marks celebratory month

A Churchyard Harvest Festival on Sept. 21 will help honor two holy men who inspired the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Omaha.

The festival is one of several events during September, which the charity designates as St. Vincent de Paul Awareness Month, celebrating feast days of its founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and its namesake, St. Vincent de Paul.

The festival will run from noon to 3 p.m. at Holy Family Church, 1715 Izard St. in Omaha. Food trucks, live music and performances, artists and a farmers market are all part of the celebration.

The society has been busy in recent months providing furniture, clothing and other items to victims of spring flooding and by volunteering at shelters.

The organization also gave more than 1,200 vouchers to low-income families to buy basic clothing for children, built a new community garden at its offices at Holy Family, and opened a new thrift store in northwest Omaha, according to Paula Crozier, the society’s director of marketing. Plans to expand or improve other thrift stores are in the works.