The following is a reflection from St. Ignatius students participating in a two week immersion at St. Anthony’s.

Hey There! This is Caroline and Camille writing for San Francisco Immersion on day 4. The past three days we have worked at St. Anthony’s Dining Room, two different senior centers, two clothing distributors, and a homeless shelter. In addition to these, we have attended learning workshops at St. Anthony’s to understand issues surrounding and causing poverty and homelessness.

We have been here for technically three days and four nights. One of the most interesting things we have observed is time. We spend a lot of our days waiting like many people in this neighborhood do every day. Whether waiting for a shower, dinner on a hotplate, or in line at St. Anthony’s for lunch have been on our feet for most of the day. However, through this period of focus we have met many amazing people. As a group we have listened to two recovering addicts speak and realized how easy it is to take our family and friends at home for granted. Personally we have been surprised with how easy it is to make connections to people we are serving. We met an elderly woman who fled Ukraine because of violence and told us many times how much she appreciated us being there. At St Anthony’s we met many people more than eager to give us life advice and who were some of the kindest and smartest people who couldn’t have been more gracious, including a man who traveled all through Europe and a woman who was from Cuba and had been painting art since she was a young girl.

Overall, the past four days have helped us grow closer as a community both within our immersion group and within the Tenderloin. We’re excited to see what happens next.

Can using social media like Facebook and Twitter really change the world? Or are we losing ourselves in a world of constant distraction? If you have ever wondered how nonprofits balance technology innovation without losing their personal touch, join us for an exciting discussion on this topic. Our panelists include Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org and more recently craigconnects; Sam Birney, a senior engineer for Kiva.org; Jake Levitas, Program Director for the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts; Megan Trotter, Manager of the Tenderloin Technology Lab; and Ossama Hassanein, CEO of the Rising Tide Foundation in San Jose.

Where: 5M Building/Hub; 925 Mission Street; San Francisco,CA 94103
When: Tuesday, July 19th: 7pm - 9pm

Find out more/rsvp on our Facebook page or contact St. Anthony’s Events Manager, Leigh James:
ljames@stanthonysf.org    415.592.2768

On my first day as an intern, I was told that there is not such thing as an ordinary day at St. Anthony’s, and boy were they right! Whether I find myself in our Tech Lab, Medical Clinic, Clothing Program or Dining Room, the implications of this statement ring true throughout all of our facilities and programs. But no one at St. Anthony’s encounters a greater diversity of people and experiences than our Client Safety Services (CSS) Staff.

Last week I spent a day shadowing Ken, who is one of our CSS staffers who has worked at St. Anthony’s for about 3 years. From an outsider’s perspective, his job may look as simple as overseeing the order of the dining room. But spending just one day behind the scenes provided me with a whole new insight into the world of CSS, one that only scratches the surface of what their job truly entails.

It is without a doubt that the best part of CSS is not the cool walkie-talkies that they get to use, or the navy blue t-shirts that (only) they get to wear: instead it is the people who make it what it is. Ken is just one of the 16 incredible people who work as CSS, and like each of them, he has his own story of how he got to work there. (more…)

The Tenderloin Technology Lab in collaboration with their new intern, Antonio Renteria, and the St. Anthony Foundation Social Work Center will be beginning a new series of workshops that are focused on encouraging our guests to become more self-sufficient. These workshops will focus on finding housing, medical/dental, and mental health resources online. The three classes are running on Monday afternoons from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm starting July 11th. We are all excited about the prospect of expanding the possibilities in the Tech Lab to improve the lives of our guests by giving them access to the internet “help buttons” that can help alleviate  some of their issues.

The following blog entry was written by Kendra Capece, Micah Fellow from St. Mary’s College who is interning with St. Anthony’s advocacy program this summer.

As St. Anthony’s Advocacy intern, today in the Dining Room I began outreach around a new issue, the Restaurant Meals Program. This service allows people who are homeless, disabled or seniors to use their food stamps (called CalFresh in California) in participating restaurants. (CalFresh benefits are stored on EBT cards, as pictured above.)  This is an incredibly necessary program because as one can imagine, being homeless, living in an single room occupancy hotel with no kitchen or not being physically able to cook presents serious hardships around fulfilling the basic need to eat. There has been talk at the federal level, however, that this program should be cut because of its lack of nutritional value, as many of the participating restaurants serve fast food.  (In my conversations with beneficiaries of the program, it was suggested that the government should be working to expand the program by getting more local, nutritious restaurants on board rather than cutting it. )  In response to the proposed elimination of the Restaurant Meals Program, a group of activists have started work on video testimony of people who use the program and don’t want to see it perish, in the hopes of educating the public and providing policymakers with a face behind the issue.

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For almost 20 years now St. Ignatius College Prep has sent a group of rising seniors to spend two weeks living and working in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. This year’s group arrived yesterday morning. They are living in a small room at a local non-profit. They all sleep in one small room on mats on the floor and have small kitchen to cook and eat their meals. They have a small budget to cover their food and other necessities. For many of the students this is their first taste of living on their own; doing their own shopping, cooking and laundry. They spend their days with St. Anthony’s Justice Education Program; doing service in the Tenderloin and participating in educational workshops about poverty and homelessness.

They will be writing about their experience right here on our blog.

Follow-them on their journey of service and solidarity over the next two weeks.

A dedicated and energetic crew from Bain & Company volunteered at St. Anthony’s today helping out with all things food-related in our Dining Room and Social Work Center Food Pantry. Whether sharing a smile with our guests, serving up trays, or bussing tables your work was much appreciated by guests and staff alike.  You showed us that there is strength in community!  Thank you.

Today at the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee, members of the public are providing testimony about the effects of proposed budget reductions to health and social services for low-income San Franciscans.

Public comment is a long and tiring process, but it is also a great way to learn about the significance of programs that support some of the most vulnerable people in our city from the perspective of the people themselves.

Today, I witnessed an especially touching moment that I wanted to share with readers of St. Anthony’s blog.   A man who uses the services of the Shanti Life program, a support program for people who are HIV positive, spoke about the significance of the program on his life.  He spoke  about how the support he received from this program helped to keep him alive during one of the most difficult times in his life.  When his two minutes of public comment time had run out, he began to walk away from the microphone and almost immediately burst in to tears.  By the time he walked out of the Board Chambers, he was sobbing almost uncontrollably.

As soon as this man walked out of the board chambers, several members of the public rushed out of the chambers to follow him and see if he was all right.  I was one of them.  When I got outside, I saw that the man who had began crying  was being hugged and comforted by other members of the community.  I hugged him too and thanked him for sharing his story, and with tears streaming down his face, he thanked me too. (more…)

It’s City Budget advocacy time!

We still have a little ways to go to get to a fair budget: we are facing about $10 million in cuts to substance abuse treatment, mental health, homeless drop-in, senior services, violence prevention, support services in supportive housing, and employment services for homeless and formerly homeless people.

Although St. Anthony’s receives no government funding, we stand up with our clients and our community partners for a fair budget that helps to support low-income and homeless San Franciscans.  Without these vital services, our community will suffer: we want to work together with our community to create a city where everyone can achieve stability and have the chance to succeed.

Today at noon we’ll be at the sidewalk in front of the Polk Street City Hall steps for a budget bake sale to remind our City leaders that the budget needs to be just a little bit sweeter for poor folks, homeless people, and seniors.

Tomorrow we’ll be participating in the hearing before the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee. Tomorrow’s hearing is a chance for anyone from the public to provide comments on the proposed budget.  Public comment will go from 10:00 am – 12:00 noon and from 1:00 pm until the last person is heard.

If you want to make your voice heard, but can’t make it to the hearing, please take a moment and write an email to Supervisor Carmen Chu, Chair of the Budget Committee.

We’ll keep you updated with the latest updates on the City Budget as we continue to support vital services for seniors, homeless people, and other low-income San Franciscans.

Here at St. Anthony’s, our attempt to sweeten up the San Francisco budget continues! Last week, we reminded our staff about the Beliensen hearing with cookies. This week, we’re letting people know about two important budget events with cupcakes!

The yummy cupcakes, made by our St. Mary’s College intern, Kendra, serve to sweeten up a budget proposal that tastes very bitter to homeless and low-income San Franciscans. There are about $10 million worth of cuts in the proposed budget that will be harmful to poor and homeless San Franciscans, including cuts to homeless drop-in services in the Tenderloin, mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, employment programs for homeless and formerly homeless people, senior services, and supportive services in supportive housing.

Join us for a budget demonstration and bake sale on the sidewalk in front of the Polk Street steps of City Hall on Thursday June 23 at 12:00 pm.  The bake sale will include drumming, singing, and educating our community about proposed cuts that will affect homeless and low-income San Franciscans.  Then, on Friday June 24, join us for public comment on the City budget before the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee.  Public Comment will be held in the board chambers (room 250 at City Hall) from 10:00 am – 12:00 noon and from 1:00 pm until the last person has been heard.

If you aren’t available to testify in person, please consider sending an email to the members of the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee to tell them to continue funding for mental health, substance abuse treatment, supportive housing, employment programs for homeless people, and homeless drop-in centers.   Go to the Board of Supervisors website to find the supervisor who represents you and send him or her an email. If you don’t live in San Francisco, send a message to Budget Committee Chair Carmen Chu. (We know that many of our volunteers and supporters live outside the City of San Francisco but still care deeply about health and social services in the City. Please explain this to Supervisor Chu when you write to her.)

If you’re not feeling inspired to make your voice heard yet, perhaps a picture of a delicious cupcake will do the trick!