KENT – Members of Divina Providencia start their meeting by lighting a candle and saying a prayer. Then they get right down to business — testing out their help line, discussing training needs and deciding how best to welcome new members.

Although the first Spanish-speaking St. Vincent de Paul group in King County has just a dozen members, they serve an important purpose in a county with a Hispanic population that’s grown an estimated 13 percent since 2010.

“There are a lot of Latinos who don’t get the help because there aren’t Spanish-speaking volunteers,” said Divina Providencia member Maria Baylon of St. Philomena Parish in Des Moines.

Help lines at the main council office of St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County are in English, Baylon said, and the voice mail is always full. Spanish-speaking people “have to go a different way to get the help,” she explained.

While most Vincentian groups, called conferences, are parish-based, Divina Providencia is based at Centro Rendu, a Hispanic social service center established by the Seattle/King County council in 2013. Divina Providencia serves people in three Kent ZIP code areas, home to some 10 percent of King County’s Hispanic population.

Like other Vincentian conferences, Divina Providencia members visit people in their homes to determine what their needs may be. The members provide things like rent and utility assistance, and connect clients to services through Centro Rendu and other organizations.

So far, the conference has provided rent and utility assistance to 59 families, said Mirya Roach, Hispanic outreach director for the Seattle/King County council. “There are many needs in these areas, but we can only do so much,” she said.

Conference members also try to find the root of why someone is in need, whether it’s lack of education, English language skills, or other hurdles. “We try to bring them from where they’re at to where they can be,” Roach explained.

Baylon and other members say they feel like they’re making a difference by communicating with clients in their native language. “They can open to you in a different way, and you can even bring them closer to Jesus,” Baylon said.

The group has been operating nearly for a year, but is still figuring things out with the help of Thomas Wagner, director of Vincentian support for the Seattle/King County council. “They’re a great conference,” Wagner said. “These folks have really exemplified Vincentian values.”

The conference members are eager to grow so they can meet the needs of the growing community. But they need to focus on training themselves, said Laura Navarro, the group’s vice president and a member of Holy Spirit Parish in Kent.

“That’s the way we want to do things,” Navarro said. “Grow ourselves first, then help people to come and join us and see what this mission is all about.”

Members say their work has enriched them spiritually as they serve God by serving those in need. 

“The person who opens the door is not just a person, it’s God who’s opening the door,” Baylon said. “We are there to serve him.”