Our dear volunteer and USF student, and now alumnus graduated on Friday from the University of San Francisco. Toby can lay claim to helping in the computer switchover when the lab upgraded to new machines in March. He also spearheaded an advanced level class in Lynux operating systems.

Toby’s parents came to America for the first time every to witness Toby’s special day. Ryan, Chris, and former TTL volunteer and USF graduate, Shir was also their to lend their support.

Come get your summer season outdoor gear at Sports Basement on Bryant Street this June 16th and support St. Anthony Medical Clinic! From 6-8pm on Thursday, June 16th Sports Basement will be hosting a shopping event for staff and friends of St. Anthony Foundation with special donation and discount rates. Come join us for this event and not only receive 10% off your Sports Basement purchase, but Sports Basement will donate 10% of the proceeds from your purchase to St. Anthony Medical Clinic!

This is a great chance to pick up that new tent, or a much-needed new pair of running shoes, or some new cycling gear! You can save 10% on that equipment purchase you’ve been putting off and donate to St. Anthony Medical Clinic at the same time. Spread the word and bring your friends! More details the week of June 16th…

Over the weekend the Tenderloin Tech Lab had individuals from Reliatech in to help clients with their computer issues. This is the only event the Tenderloin Tech Lab hosts where computer maintenance is performed. In addition to maintenance, four different classes were offered. 30 computers were examined, 20 of which were fixed, and over 35 individuals took part in one of the four classes offered.

Hunger Action Day 2011 was a great success.  This year, St. Anthony’s brought a busload of 50 participants to Hunger Action Day, the highest number of participants that we’ve ever had!  St. Anthony’s guests, volunteers and staff joined community partners from St. Boniface, Community Housing Partnership, and  Dolores Street Community Services to educate our legislators about hunger in our communities.

Here at St. Anthony’s, as we have seen an unprecedented growth in demand for our food programs.  We respond to this growing need not only by serving more food, but also by working together with our community for social justice.  On Hunger Action Day, we asked our legislators to make fair budgeting decisions, to reform California’s under-performing CalFresh program, to support local growers who want to donate produce to California food banks, and to support community reentry by removing the ban on CalFresh from people with drug related convictions.

Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (pictured above, addressing Hunger Action Day participants) authored two of our Hunger Action Day bills: AB 6, which simplifies and improves the CalFresh program and AB 152, which encourages California growers to donate fresh produce to food banks to distribute to people in need.

In the afternoon, we met in small groups with representatives from the offices of our four San Francisco legislators: Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma and Senators Mark Leno and Leland Yee.  The legislative visits are always my favorite part of Hunger Action Day because people who are directly experiencing hunger get a chance to talk to policy makers about their experiences and ideas about how the state can improve anti-hunger programs.

Check out our Hunger Action Day photo album on our Facebook Page and stay tuned to our blog for more information about how to support our Hunger Action Day bills.

This is all we have in the protein section of St. Anthony’s Social Work Center Food Pantry. In recent months pantry visits have increased by 60%. Many of those coming to our pantry are seniors who already eat their main meal in our Dining Room. In July, SSI recipients will see their grants reduced by $15 per month, which will make it even more difficult for many seniors to make ends meet. Families also come seeking food assistance. It is not uncommon for parents in food insecure households to go without food in order to have enough for their children.

We need your help!

Donations of:
Tuna and Canned Meat
Cereal
Peanut Butter
Soups and Stews
Canned Fruits

May be dropped off in San Francisco at
150 Golden Gate Ave.
(between Golden Gate Ave. and Jones St.)

Monday through Friday
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday
10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

If you would like to conduct a food drive for St. Anthony’s Social Work Center Food Pantry at your workplace or house of worship, please contact Dolores Gould at 415-592-2704.

“The trend I see in culinary schools is bringing together social justice and food,” stated Tannis Reinhertz, the moderator for Slow Food for the People, St. Anthony’s first symposium to celebrate our 60th anniversary. And to help her answer that question were three knowledge, passionate panelists who collectively work to prepare 3,000 hot meals a day to hungry people in the Tenderloin; distribute 24,000 lunches daily to kids in San Francisco public schools; and ensure delivery of 43.5 million pounds of food a year to families, seniors, and struggling individuals in our city. Charles Sommer, Manager of St. Anthony’s Dining Room; John Curry, Food Resources Manager at the San Francisco Food Bank; and Paula Jones, Director of Food Systems at the SF Department of Public Health spoke to a captive audience who were gathered in person and on twitter to discuss how prominent nonprofits in San Francisco adopt principles of the Slow Food movement.

Shari Roeseler, the executive director for St. Anthony’s pondered that, “we didn’t know Slow Food would be so hip when we opened our Dining Room in 1950.” What was clear after last night’s panel was that nonprofit food providers in San Francisco are at the forefront of adopting incredibly innovative ways of ensuring healthy, fresh food makes it from the fields of the central valley into the mouths of hungry people in the fastest, most efficient way possible. If you didn’t get a chance to be at this exciting event, stay tuned to our blog and facebook page to see how this discussion progresses. Or come visit any one of the organizations featured in this panel to find out how you can be a part of this incredible collaboration, all of whom ensure a healthier San Francisco, one meal at a time.

Executive Director Shari Roeseler’s editorial in the Chronicle earlier this month urged San Francisco city government to balance the municipal budget with the understanding that “budgets are not merely financial documents, they are statements of our values as a community.” Writing on behalf of the San Francisco Interfaith Council CEO Roundtable, Shari stressed the fact that “in every faith tradition, it is understood that poverty hurts the entire community.”

Similar urgings were directed toward Speaker of the House John Boehner last week by faculty of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where Boehner is scheduled to give the commencement address later this month. A self-professed devout Catholic, Boehner helped pass a 2012 budget through the House that will be devastating to low-income people and the programs and services they rely on. In a letter addressed to Boehner, professors at the university point out the ways that his legislating fails to square with his religious faith:

“Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.”

The letter to Boehner does more than call our Speaker out on his hypocrisy, it also underlines our current confusion about faith and politics and how they inform one another. Our constitution ensures a separation of church and state in our government, yet current politicians don’t stand much of a chance of getting elected if they don’t claim an adherence to a religious (very preferably Christian) faith.

What if, instead of wearing their faith on their sleeve during election season as evidence of their solid moral character, politicians drew on it away from the public eye, as a source of personal guidance when it comes time to make difficult legislative decisions? How many crucial programs for the poor might be saved? Both Shari’s article in the Chronicle and the letter to Boehner argue that, whether here in San Francisco or over in Washington, claiming faith as part of our lives will necessitate fighting for budgets and policies that help the poor.

“I may be slow” said the turtle to the hare, “but I am sure!” Do you remember this story—the one of the race between the turtle and the hare? As a kid, I heard it often from my parents after I raced from one childhood predicament into the next. Or “haste makes waste!”, and the one I heard most often—“Marie; think before you speak!” Oh well, not to go any further into memory lane, but geez! These old adages (except maybe for the last one) are music to my ears these days, and rarely heard music at that. More like a million forms of “Hurry!” along with mega multi-tasking are the accent of the day for many of us…And, in some ways—sure, this pace and multiplicity of doing can be a good thing, but something dear and creative can be realized by slowing down too.

Hence, the “Slow Movement” is resonating with more and more folks world wide. We were having a little discussion about the meaning of “slow food” at work here the other day, and though it’s an actual historical endeavor (beginning in 1986 with Italian resistance to a certain fast food establishment opening in Rome), the nuances of meaning in most folks’ super hectic lives are inviting all sorts of relevance 25 years later. Here at St. Anthony’s, we are recognizing “Slow Food” as the theme of our May 17th Symposium—part of our celebration of 60 years (and counting!) of service. We say this is something that we’ve been doing for 60 years, and that’s true—our Dining Room meals are “slow cooked”, nutritious meals, but it’s not only the way we prepare our food that’s the ticket here. The name “Dining Room” implies that the meals are for sitting down at the table and sharing a meal together—actually slowing down, sharing a conversation, making real time connection with each other. It’s amazing to me that first decade of service at St. Anthony’s, the 1950’s, was the decade of a revolution in home kitchen meals, ala new kinds of frozen foods and quicker fixins, as well as a boom for kitchen appliances that has only mushroomed ever since. As much as this kitchen revolution made things a little easier for my mom and so many of us since trying to juggle a jazillion things in complex & fast paced times, I’m very grateful! However, we all know the losses of not having “time at the table” with one another.

Fr. Alfred Boeddeker didn’t found the St. Anthony’s and the Dining Room because the pace of living was too fast. He opened the Dining Room to feed people that were hungry for actual food and for genuine belonging. Here we are 60 years later with more people than ever hungry for both, but in addition, more people than ever are also hungry not only for Facebook—but for face-to-face and enough time to be present for each other (and even for ourselves!). It’s so often that it is the guests of St. Anthony’s and the volunteers who serve that most important ingredient of every meal: recognizing and welcoming one another as kindred. Bless this food, slowly and surely!

Fr. Floyd Lotito would often say St. Anthony’s Dining Room was a social barometer that signaled larger changes in our city. Although we do not receive government funding, we feel the impact of related cuts to crucial services in our city. The number of meals served in St. Anthony’s Dining Room spiked a whopping 9% in March 2011 compared to March 2010. On the busiest day in March, we served a total of 3415 meals, up 200 meals from the year before. (Click here to read our Executive Director Shari Roeseler’s moving OpEd article published in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 4th) As San Francisco prepares to close a $380 budget gap, we are braced to see our numbers continue to rise. We invite you, our faithful volunteers and donors, to be a part of the solution. Come down and volunteer a day in the Dining Room or post a message in the comment box letting other readers, community members, and lawmakers know why it’s so important for San Francisco to maintain a critical safety net for our most vulnerable citizens.