Our latest contribution to St. Anthony’s Scarving Artists is  one from Sally C, Bloomfield, NY. And we’ve had pledges come in from Texas, Virginia, Ohio, and Arizona.  The folks in New Orleans have pitched in because they understand the value of a warm scarf during difficult times.  We have scarves from Pennsylvania, Illinois, and of course many from California. Nine states are represented.  Can we get scarves from all 50 states? Invite all your friends to join our event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142704175750360

I work in a cubicle.  Instead of walls, I am separated from my co-workers by partitions covered with thumbtack-able fabric.  Each of my co-workers has a different strategy for making their cubicle look less sterile and more like “home”.  My favorite corner of my cubicle is this poster, which gives me a daily reminder of one of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.”

Tomorrow, August 28, 2010, is the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  There will be a variety of groups in Washington DC tomorrow who are using the anniversary of the march and of the famous “I Have A Dream” speech to promote their own agendas.  Instead of getting sucked in to the controversy surrounding this year’s anniversary, I’ve decided to reflect on the words of Dr. King and to think about how his words inspire me in my work here at St. Anthony Foundation.

Dr. King spoke about service, and the following quote reminds me of our wonderful and generous volunteers and interns:

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

It was exactly the type of audacity that Dr. King describes below that led to the founding of our free Dining Room almost 60 years ago.

“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

As St. Anthony Foundation’s Advocacy Coordinator, I am especially inspired by Dr. King’s words about taking difficult stands on important issues:

“Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different.”

I’ll end this post with a call to action!  Dr. King said that, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  I hope that the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom will inspire people to stop being silent and to speak out about what matters to them.  Whether you “speak out” by volunteering your time to help someone in need, making a donation to a cause you believe in, contacting an elected official about an issue that matters to you, or talking to your children about poverty and justice, I hope that you’ll take a moment this weekend to interrupt the silence with your powerful voice!

Social Security has got some changes coming in the near future.  With the wave of “baby boomers” getting closer and closer to retirement age the system is plain and simple not prepared to pay out as it has for other generations.

The maximum monthly Social Security Income benefit for a senior is $845 per month, $57 less than the federal poverty level.

A recent 2010 survey by The Senior Citizens’ League reported that more than 76% of seniors in the U.S. survive on smaller monthly incomes as a result of the annual cost of living adjustment being denied in 2010.  Ninety-two percent of those seniors’ monthly expenses increased between $40 and $120 in 2009, while their income did not increase at all. Nearly half reported having difficulties paying their electrical and utility bills; 46% cut back on hospital and doctors visits to make up the difference.

The bottom line is that seniors relying on Social Security Income are no longer living on a fixed income, but a shrinking income.

An article in today’s The Washington Independent examines the options being laid on the table to salvage, strip or scrap the program all together.

There are several schools of thought on how to fix this benefit, the two front runners being to raise the age requirement to receive the benefit, the other is to change the annual cost of living adjustments to adhere to the consumer price index rather than the wage index.

“This logic works in theory,” the article contends, “But in practice, it would seriously impact lower-income Americans. Why? Seniors spend differently than average-aged workers: They buy more healthcare goods and services. And healthcare costs are skyrocketing well above the average inflation rate, so lowering benefits would make it more difficult for retirees to cover their costs. The more economically strapped the American, the more it would hurt.”

As far as raising the age to receive the benefit, supporters argue that the average American lives longer than they once did and therefor would spend more years working.  “The hardship of raising the retirement age falls disproportionately on low-income workers who work in physically demanding professions, jobs they may not be able to continue through their seventh decade.”

In fact, low-income Americans’ lifespans have increased only two years, while their wealthy counterparts’ have increased seven years.

Hopefully there will be discussion of what these proposals mean to the daily lives and survival of the most vulnerable in our society, not just dollars and cents in a budget.

After the devastation that 1989 earthquake had on the Bay Bridge, rather than simply retrofit the bridge it was decided that an entirely new structure would be needed in order to protect against future quakes. On Friday, August 20th, the staff at the Tenderloin Tech Lab took a boat tour of the new Bay Bridge currently under construction. Cal Trans, the government agency responsible for overseeing the development of the bridge, hosted the half day tour.

For those who have not yet seen the sections of the new bridge that have been put in place, they are a sight to see. The ‘skyway’, a section of the bridge which extends from the Oakland mudflats, will connect to the Self-Anchored Suspension Span on the north side of Yerba Buena Island. The skyway itself is comprised of two separate highways, one northbound and one southbound, that together contain over 200 million tons of steel. It is quite an experience to witness such a remarkable thing in the process of it’s creation. The completed bridge will have two 15.5 foot pedestrian bike lanes, a new and welcome upgrade, that will finally open up movement between the East side of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. Although the bridge is still a few years away from completion, it is an exciting moment to be able to watch the development of such an integral component of the San Francisco Bay Area.

At St. Anthony Free Clothing Program, we always appreciate the donors who bring us clothing, especially from a distance — the North Bay, the East Bay, the Peninsula, and the South Bay. Once in a while we get donations by mail from as far away as the East coast. But a donor set a new record last week when he sent us clothes from Seoul, South Korea! Thanks for thinking of us and our guests!

A St. Anthony Scarving Artist Knitter takes a stand against the San Francisco Sit-Lie Ordinance (Prop L)which is on is also known by its supporters as the Civil Sidewalks proposition.

The ordinance would restrict sitting or lying on sidewalks citywide from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Police officers must give a warning before they can give a citation and the ordinance cannot be used to restrict the people’s rights to free speech and peaceful assembly (if they have bought city permits). A single offense will result in \$100 ticket, while subsequent ones may result in 30 days in jail.

However this knitter joins others who believe:

1. That it is always wrong to write laws that criminalize people just for being poor;
2. That it is an especially bad idea when those laws make criminals out of all of us; and
3. That the focus on sit/lie is making it harder for San Franciscans to find out about the real solutions that our
   communities are putting forward

And don’t forget to join us for a “Flash Mob Knit” on Saturday, September 25th promptly at noon —we’ll be there and gone in  a flash! at the Powell St. turn-around—for an adventure in domestic activism!

When we knit together together we can improve the world one scarf at a time. Those who will receive our scarves as gifts will know that there are people in the world who care for others and that love not ignorance trimuphs.

What’s cooking this week at St. Anthony Dining Room!

Monday August 23th – Pork Sausage Cassoulet
Served with pistou and white beans

Tuesday August 24th – Chef’s Choice
St. Anthony’s Dining Room turns Iron Chef as we churn out dishes made from seasonal ingredients

Wednesday August 25th Turkey & Vegetable Casserole
Cooked in a light cream and cheese sauce

Thursday August 26th Pad Indian Chicken Curry
Lightly spiced chicken in a tomato and yogurt sauce

Friday August 27th Chicken Sausage Pasta
Served with summer vegetables and parmesan cheese and herbs

Sunday August 28th Orange & Chinese Black Bean Chicken
With a rice and vegetable salad

Tuesday August 29th – Chef’s Choice
St. Anthony’s Dining Room turns Iron Chef as we churn out dishes made from seasonal ingredients

Check back for weekly installments of On The Menu!

People from all over the world come to SF and the Bay Area to visit and to live. In fact, meeting folks who were actually born here is rarer than not. The Tenderloin, with its significant 1st generation Immigrant population only amplifies our global community. Our guests, volunteers, and staff naturally reflect this diversity. Personal connection to what’s going on all over the world can typically be found in the lives of St. Anthony Foundation community members. In this spirit of the REAL World Web, our hearts go out to the people of Pakistan who are suffering desperately from the massive flooding—estimated to be affecting 20 million people!

Far from being insulated from global affairs, our community members are integrally linked. Frequently I hear from our dedicated volunteers how moved they are by those, who struggling with enormous challenges of their own are quite tuned in to far reaching events and are very concerned about the welfare of others. And just as often, I hear from volunteers how it is that serving others in need helps them to cope with their own personal challenges.

Being here at St. Anthony’s is a daily and genuine reminder that the heart doesn’t shrink with caring—it expands, and seems only to be more intent on doing what we can to care for each other and to recognize our “family” locally and world-wide.

Wow!  So far we have received 660 pledges for hand knit scarves, reaching 26% of our total goal of 2,500.  Great progress!

We have received 251 scarves to date That’s 10%of our goal. Thanks to all you early knitters for getting us off to such a good start.

We welcome these new organizations who have joined the St. Anthony Foundation Scarving Artists project. Thank you!

National Charity League
Bobbin’s Nest Studio
Pearlessence Yarns
SF Renegade Craft Faire

Do you have an organization who would like to participate? Let us know!

On Wednesday August 11th, State Legislators & other politicians in Sacramento met with everyday people to discuss alternative ways to balance the CA budget with out cutting money from vital social programs. Residents at Father Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, residents went there with the Jusice Education, Volunteer and Advocacy program and The Health and Human Services Network to show the face of those in treatment.

HHS Came to the talks with three stated goals.
• “To Invest in and protect the health and human services vital to California’s economy and families.”
• “To champion alternatives to dismantling our health care and human services including targeted state revenues and federal recovery funds.”
• And finally, “To reform and re-invent the states broken budget process.”

Father Alfred Center Residents who attended spoke on a number of issues related to these goals.

For example, California currently imposes a lifetime ban on food stamps for individuals who are convicted of drug related felonies (even those in recovery). One resident who spoke at the event told me, “Food Stamps help Stimulate the economy among other things. By keeping them from those seeking treatment, the economy is denied that stimulation effect.”

Other ideas proposed were a nickel tax on all alcoholic beverages sold in CA, and a tax on imported oil.

When I asked her to comment Colleen Rivecca of St. Anthony Foundation’s Jusice Education, Volunteer and Advocacy program told me:

“One of the budget balancing strategies in the Governor’s Budget Proposal is to cut the benefit levels for people receiving SSI/SSP grants. SSI/SSP recipients are low-income blind, elderly and disabled people, and they are ineligible for Food Stamps. People receiving SSI/SSP have already received 3 grant level reductions within the past year. The guys talked about the growing numbers of seniors and people with disabilities that they see every day while working in at St. Anthony Dining Room – they said that these people are already struggling to make ends meet, and a further reduction in their benefits would make it even more difficult for them to survive.”

A lot of good ideas were exchanged at the meeting, and as always Father Alfred Center Residents and St Anthony Foundation was there to do their part.