From a small center handing out peanut butter sandwiches 60 years ago (long before Father Joe arrived), we have grown to a family of seven large "villages" in the Southwest. And we're still growing. Thanks to the support of our donors, volunteers and dedicated staff, as well as the determination of our clients, what began with a meal has evolved into a model program for serving the homeless. There is still much to do. We invite you to visit each of our villages to see our "one-stop shopping" approach. Join us in helping those in need achieve success.

Compassion: Our concern for others and desire to assist those in need.

Respect: Our determination to give each of our neighbors individual attention or special regard.

Empathy: Our understanding of, and sensitivity to, the feelings of others.

Empowerment: Our commitment to helping others help themselves.

Dignity: Our belief that all people are worthy of our esteem.

We believe in transforming the lives of those who request our help
by applying the values and principles set forth in our CREED.

We envision communities where everyone is able to obtain food, housing, healthcare, and education;
and achieve his or her full potential.

Our Mission is to help our neighbors in need. We provide a "Continuum of Care"
that promotes a pathway to self-sufficiency and independence.

Significant Dates in the History of Father Joe's Villages

• 1950 - St. Mary of the Wayside opens in San Diego, CA as a lunch line and thrift store for the homeless
  
• 1963 - Joe Carroll leaves New York for California
  
• 1964 - St. Mary of the Wayside changes its name to St. Vincent de Paul
  
• 1974 - Father Joe Carroll graduates from seminary and begins life as a parish priest
  
• 1980 - St. Vincent de Paul store on Market Street opens
  
• 1981 - East Village property purchased, site of current San Diego Village
  
• 1982 - Bishop Leo T. Maher appoints Father Joe to create a "preferential option for the poor"
  
• 1985 - St. Vincent de Paul Village and Father Joe Carroll featured on CBS’s "60 Minutes" Father Joe receives Headliner of the Year Award, San Diego Press Club
  
• 1987 - The first St. Vincent de Paul Village facility, the $12 million Joan Kroc Center, is opened, establishing the Continuum of Care, a "one-stop-shopping" approach to rehabilitation Father Joe recognized as an ABC Television "Person of the Week"
  
• 1988 - St. Vincent de Paul Village’s Joan Kroc Center receives "Architectural Record Commendation for Public Interest" from Architectural Record Magazine Board Father Joe recognized as "Fundraiser of the Year" by the National Society of Fundraising Executives First Josue Home established in San Diego
  
• 1989 - St. Vincent de Paul Village’s Bishop Maher Center opens
  
• 1990 - President George Bush recognizes the Village as 42nd "Point of Light"
  
• 1991 - The Golden Ad Altare Dei Award presented to Father Joe by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting
  
• 1992 - Toussaint Teen Center opens in downtown San Diego
  
• 1993 - Second Josue Home opens in San Diego
  
• 1994 - Father Joe receives the AARP Andrus Award
  
• 1997 - Peter F. Drucker Award presented to Father Joe by the NonProfit Innovative Physicians Reach-Out Program
  Village Place opens its doors
  Paul Davidoff Advocacy Award given to Father Joe by the American Planning Association
  Josue Home opens its third facility
  
• 1998 - Father Joe earns the Lifetime Hero Award, presented by The Arthritis Foundation
  President Bill Clinton bestows upon Father Joe the President’s Service Award
  Martha’s Village & Kitchen joins Father Joe’s family
  
• 1999 - Father Joe’s Villages receives gift of 627 acres of ranchland in Campo, CA
  The new Toussaint Teen Center opens
  
• 2000 - The Laureate Award for Lifetime Achievement presented to Father Joe by the Institute for Charitable Giving
  Father Joe’s Villages establishes Padre Jayme International Outreach
  
• 2001 - Martha's Village & Kitchen opens the $10 million Dan Dunlap Center

The Joe Carroll story is the archetypal American epic: A poor kid from the Bronx with a knack for making a buck seeks fame and fortune in California with the goal of becoming a millionaire. But Carroll’s fame, fortune and notoriety were divinely redirected from personal gains to more universal ones.

He arrived on the West Coast in 1963 with $50 to his name and began to reflect on his childhood. Carroll remembered sitting down to dinner with his family in the two-bedroom apartment that sat directly across the street from their parish, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Despite meager accommodations of its own, the family of 10 would pray for the less fortunate.

So rather than making financial investments, Carroll made a spiritual one and entered the seminary. In 1974 he was ordained a Catholic priest and for the next eight years devoted himself to parish work, building a strong group of supporters who found his charisma and gregarious personality hard to resist. But as his congregation grew, so did another group of San Diegans: the homeless. Bishop Leo T. Maher was well aware of the problem and appointed Father Joe to head St. Vincent de Paul in 1982, which at the time was nothing more than a lunch line and thrift store.

Father Joe realized a meal was only the first step; there needed to be a more substantial collection of programs and services in place to positively impact the lives of San Diego’s homeless. With that in mind, he devised the idea of an urban oasis, organizing a board of prominent San Diegans who joined him in putting into action his grandiose plans of building a Village within a city.

Father Joe developed a "one-stop-shopping" approach to rehabilitation that profoundly impacted the entire country’s philosophy of care by placing clients in a respectful and dignified environment, while facilitating easy access to a comprehensive list of services.

In addition to shattering the status quo of second-rate buildings and scattered services, Father Joe and his team developed what has become known as the Continuum of Care, a unique approach to human service assistance combining all of the elements of rehabilitation in one location. This innovative formula for programs and services has been endorsed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a prototype homeless rehabilitation facility.