Some days are harder than others.

For some reason when the rain returns after a glimpse of sunlight it seems a little darker than if we just had a few rainy ones in a row.  You need that morning coffee to kick in a little harder those days.

Reading the headlines of the paper there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of uplifting news.  Budget cuts, another round of teacher pink slips, and an unrelenting concern for profit juxtaposed with a disappointing negligence toward our country’s everyday people.

As one can imagine, working in the fundraising department of a non-profit during these times is an emotional and logistical challenge.  It is my job, however, to keep faith.  And  I must say, I am in a pretty good place for that.  At St. Anthony’s I am surrounded by people keeping faith and having hope that it may be dark today, but there will be light.  Our staff, guests, supporters and neighborhood friends are all amazing reminders, and believers.

As so many know and have been touched by the gratitude expressed by our guests, I too am thankful that there is a mission and movement that I can be a part of to keep faith and remember the sunnier days ahead.

It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible.    –Thomas Robert Gaines

Ed. Note: This entry was written by Noah, a junior at University of San Francisco. Noah’s role is to help coordinate the service-learning program for his peers who serve with St. Anthony Foundation:

My favorite days at St. Anthony’s are the days when someone takes you completely by surprise and teaches you a lesson about yourself. I had one of those days just last Friday at St. Anthony Dining Room. A guest sat down in front of me and we began eating our burritos together. I never got his name, but for the sake of this blog post, we’ll call him Ray, because he reminded me of my Uncle Ray. After we exchanged a smile, Ray saw my nametag and asked me what I did as an intern at St. Anthony’s. I told him that I went to USF and worked with students who do service-learning. He asked me my major; I told him that I was in International Relations. His response was, “Well, you better hurry up before it’s too late!” We shared some of our views over current events and the international order. Talk over politics and policy quickly turned to history and culture, and in order to emphasize some of his arguments with visual aids, Ray whipped out his iPhone to show me some pictures of late-Medieval and Renaissance art. Eventually, we ran out of things to talk about and were resigned to agree to disagree on certain issues. Ray finished his meal and went on his way. I was left a little bit surprised that a guest at St. Anthony’s might have an iPhone. But as I kept thinking, I became even more shocked by my own prejudice. It just goes to show that as much as we like to classify and categorize people with preconceived criteria, no demographic group is 100% homogenous. Most of the guests are St. Anthony’s probably don’t have iPhones, (just as most of my colleagues at USF probably don’t) but why shouldn’t some? St. Anthony’s serves all people, with and without homes, jobs, educations, families, legal resident statuses, cars, and yes, even iPhones. It takes individuals like Ray to remind me of this. You can bet that the next time I meet a guest in St. Anthony Dining Room, I won’t be making any assumptions about his or her mobile provider.

This summer I had the privilege of (interning) at St. Anthony’s, a non profit organization that helps underserved people of Francisco. Their mission is to feed, heal, shelter, clothe, lift the spirits of those in need, and create a society in which all people flourish. During my internship at St. Anthony’s I was able to work in many different areas o service. My first experience was in the Dining Room. I was terrified of the setting because I had never been in the Tenderloin area, so I did not know what to expect. Very soon, I found that it was a joy to work there. There is just something about giving a meal to someone who really needs it, but the best reward for me was simply a smile and a “thank you.”

I really loved that the Dining Room at St. Anthony’s was actually called a “dining room,” instead of a soup kitchen. Just the name made it feel like it was a family setting, somewhere you could come home and feel safe, like a home with your own family. And, as time progressed, I felt like I had joined the St. Anthony Family because each time I can to volunteer there was always someone calling out my name. I never knew how much it meant to me that someone knew my name until I started working there. I felt loved because someone actually took the time out of their day to learn my name and remember my face.

Working at St. Anthony’s taught me so much about life. It helped me break down the barrier of my fear of homeless people. I learned that when you are on the outside looking in, you can sometimes be so quick to judge, but when you are inside, taking on the emotions of others, you can identify with them and become more understanding. At first, I thought this internship would feel just like community service, but I feel that I have walked away with so much more than that. Now I fully understand the causes and effects of homelessness, I can really look at all people with respect and not judge them.

Reno D. and friends just donated almost 8,000 pounds of turkey, along with a cash donation. Happy Holidays, Reno!

If there one thing that St. Anthony’s serves up 365 days a year, it is the connection between food and community. In the St. Anthony Dining Room, people rely on the social connection almost as much as they do a hot, healthy, filling meal. Almost.

Today we celebrate a little known tradition at St. Anthony’s: The staff holiday meal. This year, as the last few years, the meal is being hosted and prepared by Tom Saber, our neighbor at Al Sabeel Masjid Noor al-Islam mosque.

Tom says it is not a thank you for loaning him our kitchen during Ramadan, when our Muslim brothers and sisters fast in order to be reminded of all of of our hungry neighbors, but a gift of thanks for the work that is done here 365 days a year serving the hungry in the neighborhood we share: The Tenderloin. All we can do is say thank you, and bless you Tom and our wonderful community.

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, St. Anthony Dining Room opens it’s doors to it’s neighbors at Al Sabeel / Masjid Noor al-Islam Mosque. Hours after the last guests at St. Anthony’s have finished eating Tom and the rest, along with other volunteers, prepare the Mosque’s evening meal.

“As Muslims, we have great respect for the service that St. Anthony offers to the poor and hungry.”, noted chef Tom Saber, who each year prepares food for more than 150 people at Alsabeel Masjid Noor Al-Islam during Ramadan, the month long Muslim holiday during which participants fast in order to be reminded of the experience of hunger that many of the poor experience every day.

At 8:45 am on September 11, 2001, I was getting off the M4 bus at 79th and 5th on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. I was on my way to class at CUNY Hunter College School of Social Work, where I was an MSW student. I remember hearing the radio of a car parked along 79th Street. The radio announcer said that there was a hole in the World Trade Center. I remember thinking, “Morning radio DJs are getting really desperate. That’s not a funny joke.”

Our class took a break just before 10:00 am, and one student who came in late told us that she heard that an airplane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers. I imagined a tiny private plane had grazed the building, and figured that the plane probably had sustained more damage than the building. (more…)

Brad Hatton is a realtor who signs ASL and works primarily with deaf clients. He also volunteered at St. Anthony Foundation. Here are some of his thoughts about it.

Jesuit Jon Sobrino says, “God is more interested in justice than in sacred rites. God is more in tune with the cry of the oppressed than with the praises of the pious.  Actions are what count, not homilies.”

It was the quest for that kind of action that led me to volunteer at St. Anthony’s Dining Room. The orientation alone was enough to ignite my spirit.  Our group learned of St. Anthony’s history, the neighborhood, the services provided and policies that would make us an informed group of volunteers.

The Tenderloin consists of more than 20 blocks of residential hotels and apartments with close to 30,000 inhabitants.  Many of San Francisco’s homeless people also “hang out” in the Tenderloin, not just because of the services, but because it remains the one area of the city where the homeless feel least likely to be harassed for simply having no where else to go.

On my first day I was assigned to the main Dining Room serving the guests their meals.  After they ate, a new group was ushered in to be served.  My team leader encouraged us to simply be kind and make eye contact with everyone we served.  Before our time was up, we were asked to help ourselves to the food and sit with our guests and share. (more…)

This new year, our Nation’s voice has renewed her call to volunteerism, heightened by the growing needs of so many people in the current “economic downturn” . Our new President, Barack Obama, invited all who could to honor Martin Luther King Day as a National Day of Service. The phones here at St. Anthony Foundation rang off the hook!

As individual volunteer coordinator here at St. Anthony Foundation, I answer our Holiday Phone Line–a special number dedicated to Holiday volunteering interest during the Season. This past year, I heard something much more frequently than in previous years: “I’ve been laid off, and want to volunteer while I’m looking for work…” Even after the Holidays, that statement continued to be repeated on the year round volunteering voicemail. And I’m still hearing it. In addition to this “voice of the times”, we’ve been contacted of late by wonderful organizations who “want to do something” to address the current climate of hardship by inviting St. Anthony’s to participate in customized volunteer fairs. We’ve been happy to attend and blessed to meet the many people “who want to do something” to make a difference for the better.

A “light bulb” went on for me at one of these recent events, during a conversation with a radio journalist who was asking me about volunteer demographics and St. Anthony Foundation needs. There seems to be a notion gaining ground that Volunteerism is an answer to the economic casualties of the “Great Recession”. You’d assume that a volunteer coordinator would be all about that, yes? Not quite, and thanks really to the strong Justice Education framework that girds our volunteer programming here at St. Anthony’s–both for groups and individuals– I’ve been mentored in the model that views service from the zoom-in personal to the wide big picture. Our volunteers do have eyes AND hearts “wide open”! Volunteering to serve a tray of a hot, nutritious, and tasty meal to each person waiting in line and at last sitting down in our Dining Room invites a birds eye view of every person served as well as a recognition of just how long that line is, and what that says about our devastated “safety net”.

(more…)

Today is the day folks, get out and VOTE! There are six propositions dealing with the budget deficit and six opportunities for you to voice your opinion with your vote.

What are we voting on? For an quick and easy break down of the six measures click here.

Who is affected by these measures? Teachers, students, at-risk youth, foster kids, seniors, people with mental illnesses, you and me, and probably the person next to you right now.

How long does it take you to draw 6 one-inch lines? About thirty seconds.

Go to your polling place and VOTE!

Don’t know where your polling place is? Click here and enter your home address to find out.