Kids. That word usually begins or ends a diatribe about people who are currently children or teens. There’s supposed to be something wrong with them. At present, the word is that they spend all their money on video games and all their time texting and they have no attention span, no attention span at all.

Someone forgot to tell the very young supporters of St. Anthony’s how kids behave.

Amy does not spend all her time texting. She spend a lot of it in December organizing a coat drive. She collected 500 coats for St. Anthony’s guests, enough so that her father had to rent a truck to deliver them at Curbside. Amy is 10.

Anthony is about the same age. He did not spend all his money on video games. He received $50 for Christmas and spent it on socks for the guests at St. Anthony’s. He was one of many people, most of them much older, who helped us fill 2500 Christmas bags with a pair of new socks.

Angelo, 8 years old, saved his allowance all year. He came in a few days before Christmas with a family member and $100 in cash. That’s the food for about 227 meals. One-tenth of all the meals we served at St. Anthony’s on Christmas day. Saving it must have required a certain amount of attention, not to mention self-discipline.

Kids are much the same as other people; they come in all mind sets and temperaments. At St. Anthony’s, we’re lucky. We get to meet the Amy’s, Anthony’s, and Angelo’s. From what we’ve seen, the season looks bright and the future very hopeful. Happy New Year.

It was a typical St. Anthony surprise. Deborah drove up to the Curbside Donation Drive in a van and asked if we could use some hand knitted shawls. She had never heard of our knitting drive to have 2500 scarves knitted by hand to give to our guests in the Dining Room Christmas day. Deborah knits shawls and had knitted some that she wanted to give to us, if we had any guests who could use them. I took a quick look, thanked her profusely, and sent her home with a stack of cards about the knitting project for her friends.

Later, we looked at the contents in earnest. A knitter who was helping us sort said, “There’s knitting and there’s art. This is art.” No jealousy, no competition, just heartfelt admiration. We spread them over cubicle walls and decorated the volunteer office with them for days until it was time to pack them up for our guests. It wasn’t the first time someone met a need at St. Anthony’s without knowing it was a need. Actually, it’s typical of life in this organization. But it was one of the more enchanting experiences of a fairly enchanting holiday season.

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

Monday, December 27th – Chef’s Choice
St. Anthony’s Dining Room turns Iron Chef as we churn out dishes made from seasonal ingredients.

Tuesday, December 28th – Baked Sweet Potatoes
With cheese and sour cream

Wednesday, December 29th – Saigon Chicken
Braised chicken with mushrooms in an Asian sauce

Thursday, December 30th – Lentils with Turkey
Lentils simmered with Turkey and spinach

Friday, December 31st – Shepherd’s Pie
A classic dish made with ground beef and potatoes

Check back for weekly installments of On The Menu!

We’re clearing space to receive another 500 pairs of new shoes from Chrome later today. Our homeless veteran guests really appreciated the ones they gave us to give away on Veterans Day. It’s great to have even more to give away to the rest of our guests. Thanks!

Christmas is a challenging time for many families. Today St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic and McKesson Corporate Citizens Department will give out hundreds of toys, beautifully wrapped and age appropriate, to families in need.

St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic is one of the many free, life-sustaining programs and services of St. Anthony Foundation that helps to heal individuals and families. The Clinic, which is the only free pediatric clinic in the Tenderloin, provides over 12,000 patient visits annually, of which approximately 25% are pediatric visits. St. Anthony Foundation is not funded by federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely supported by private donations.

WHEN: TODAY, DECEMBER 22, 2010
1:00PM to 4:30 PM
WHERE: St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic
150 Golden Gate Avenue
WHAT: TOY GIVEAWAY
(for patients of the St, Anthony Free Medical Clinic)

CONTACT: Francis Aviani, 510-301-4634

Last week, one of the Tenderloin Technology Lab’s most dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, Shirshendu (Shir) Chakrabarti, graduated with a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of San Francisco. Over the past year and a half of Shir’s volunteer service here at the Tenderloin Technology Lab the staff has watched him struggle through important classes and vital examinations. More impressively, we have witnessed him consume countless cups of coffee and hot coco at an almost alarming rate. Thanks to Shir’s dedication and commitment at the Tenderloin Technology Lab, there are a long list of accomplishments and improvements. Only the epic enthusiasm that stems from the personality of an individual like Shirshendu, could our accomplishments have been reached.

Shir’s parents reside in India and were not able to make the long trip out to California for their son’s graduation so Karl, Chris and Ryan set aside time from their work schedules to spend a few hours with Shirshendu in an effort to loudly cheer him on during his graduation ceremony. Many pictures were taken during the event in order to provide Shir’s parents with concrete evidence of their only son actually graduating.
What does the future hold for Shirshendu Chakrabarti? We at the TTL can be certain that this young man’s future will be full of happiness, prosperity and service to others.

Compassion and goodwill abound here at St. Anthony’s this week as thousands of hand crafted scarves  have been received.  And  now Pricewaterhousecoopers and Macy’s have been busy volunteer elves helping us wrap, write handmade cards, and organize all our scarves for giving out on Christmas Day.  Wow!  We are inspired by the generosity of our community!

Among the most cherished items that will be collected are hand-knit scarves which will be given out to Dining Room guests on Christmas Day. To date, over 3,000 scarves have been received from 20 states. The curbside donation drive opens on Saturday, December 18th at 9am, where clean, cared-for warm clothing, canned or dried bulk foods, and monetary donations can be dropped off to St. Anthony’s “donation valets”. As more and more people turn to the 60-year old non-profit for basic necessities as a result of the current economic crisis, the support from everyday citizens is needed, welcomed, and appreciated. (more…)