Charles Schwab Corporation calls a company-wide volunteer week every year. This year, one Schwab group called us. They trotted and sweated in the Dining Room, serving trays, sorted clothing at the Clothing Program, coached job seekers in the Tenderloin Tech Lab, and brought extra meal delivery help to our neighbors around the corner. They made it easier for one guest to wait in line; talking to people in Charles Schwab tee shirts distracted him from his fears.

Everyone knows that Charles Schwab Corporation helps people save, invest and manage their money and helps companies with retirement and stock plans. Individual employees also donate their time and talents throughout the year, in addition to volunteer week. Their focus is nonprofits that lift people out of poverty and improve the financial well-being of low-income people. Their specialty is financial literacy.

St. Anthony Foundation’s clothing supply is still moving straight through from donation to distribution. Charles Schwab employees organize company-wide food and clothing drives. Faces in the group lit up when we talked about the need for clothing. Our faces lit up, too, when we realized we’d struck a chord.

Then over the weekend I got this from a participant. “Hi, Alina. Thanks again for letting us join your community last week. It was an awesome experience. I’ll check into the idea of a clothing drive.” Imagine: financial wizards who focus on people in poverty and specialize in clothing drives.

Yesterday, volunteers from Charles Schwab came into the Tenderloin Tech Lab and helped both Drop-in clients and individuals from the Father Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

Volunteers were available for 2 hours to help folks learn the process of searching for jobs, e-mailing potential employers, and editing their resume and cover letters. The volunteers from Charles Schwab were able to pass on their computer knowledge while simultaneously learning how difficult it is for individuals with limited or no computer access to learn how to do what we consider “simple” tasks.

Yesterday’s event was relatively small from a numbers standpoint (4 volunteers, 7 students), but the relationships that were formed during these few hours is immeasurable. As was proven today, volunteering is quite humbling and very rewarding. It is our hope that the group volunteers from Charles Schwab come back and help out on a regular basis and become part of our faithful volunteer base!

A few months ago the folks at iProspect came through to St. Anthony Dining Room to volunteer as a corporate team. They were so moved by the work we do that they offered their support in the relaunch of St. Anthony Foundation’s website.

When they heard about the shortage of clothing at St. Anthony’s Free Clothing Program they were quick to start up a drive of their own, collecting 10 bags within two weeks!

“Our employees at Aegis Media and iProspect find St. Anthony’s to be an incredibly worthy cause. It is so rewarding to be able to directly impact the local residents of San Francisco through clothing drives, volunteering at the dining room, and utilizing our specialized skills to increase awareness.” said Shannon McCarty, Client Services Manager of iProspect.

Encourage your co-workers to clean out their closets this month for St. Anthony’s.

Stone & Youngberg is one of the oldest private financial institutions in the country, started right here in San Francisco. They’ve been in the city even longer than St. Anthony’s: 1931. They helped St. Anthony’s build our new facility at 150 Golden Gate.

Stone & Youngberg also supports their employees in volunteering with organizations and government agencies to make communities stronger. Earlier this month, 50 Stone & Youngberg employees converged at St. Anthony’s from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Big Bear Lake, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Albany, Annapolis, and Richmond, VA to help us out with just about everything AND the kitchen sink.

Some went to the Social Work Center where they researched and created recipes for clients utilizing the contents of the pantry. These recipes will be available for clients to take home with them to create healthy and balanced meals.

Some worked in the Tenderloin Tech Lab, providing one-on-one tutoring, tailoring their help to each individual. The room was abuzz with questions and conversation.

St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic is working on a huge database project that a group of Stone & Youngberg employees pushed several more steps toward completion.

They organized our green library to make it more user friendly. They volunteered in the clothing program sorting and hanging donations. And as if that were not enough, the company did a clothing drive and brought with them a very large donation.

They even volunteered to help us celebrate volunteers. St. Anthony’s Volunteer Appreciation Event was on the way, and Stone & Youngberg employees put together volunteer gifts, made centerpieces, and strung lighting for a Roaring 20’s party in honor of 200 regulars who keep the Dining Room and other programs running.

In short, the folks from Stone & Youngberg just kept throwing things into the pot. The result was the rich stone soup that is the St. Anthony’s community. And one industrious volunteer day.

Gymboree is in the business of children’s clothing, playtime, and music, but for the last two years they’ve been packing presents for adults, here at St. Anthony Foundation.

Gymboree employees are a lot of the reason we could give a gift bag to every person who came to St. Anthony Dining Room on Christmas Day. They donated the bags, colored hats, and chocolate bars, in addition to labels they had printed with “Happy Holidays.” They collected hundreds of travel size shampoos, bath gels, and lotions. Then they came in person to label and fill the bags with the ingredients they had brought, plus socks St. Anthony’s had been collecting for weeks.

The Gymboree values statement promotes making a difference, being creative, passionate, and authentic, and acting like a family.  “We care about one another,” they say. “We have a sincere respect for one another and we foster trust and camaraderie.  We like to have a good time and celebrate success.”

Twenty-two-hundred bags. Twenty-two-hundred very low-income people whose day was brightened by a special meal at St. Anthony’s and a present. Yes it was a useful present; practical. It was also colorful, warm, and unexpected. Like the sticker that said “Happy Holidays” and the chocolate bar in among the socks and bath gels.  It was a success to celebrate.

We tell groups who help us with Christmas projects that Christmas is the hardest day of the year for our guests. On other days, you’ll see a cheerfulness and sense of community you might not expect. But on Christmas, you just hope that whatever we can do sinks in by the day after and cheers people up.

This Christmas, it seemed to me our guests on the whole were in better spirits than I’d seen since I started here. More people wished me a merry Christmas or responded to my own “Merry Christmas” with a big smile; more people thanked me for one thing or another than I remember from previous years. Gymboree reminded us that that one day of kindness and thoughtfulness can make a difference; one gift on one day of the year. And don’t forget the chocolate.

Yes, the holidays at St. Anthony Foundation are a little different from holidays anywhere else.

We need 2200 travel size shampoos, bath gels, and lotions to make a gift bag for everyone who comes to the Dining Room on Christmas day. One of each will go into a bright gift bag with a pair of socks and a warm winter hat.

Our friends at Gymboree are donating the hats, bags, gift stickers, and their time to assemble the bags. Very soon. We’ve collected a lot of items, but there’s more to go.

If you’ve got unopened travel size toiletries, bring them to 150 Golden Gate and mention Gift Bags. You’ll brighten someone’s holiday.

Times are hard and you have your own worries. But you know that times aren’t any easier for the people who come to St. Anthony Foundation for help.

We have some easy ways you can keep giving, or even give more, to buy food, clothing, and medical care for your low-income neighbors. Here’s Easy Giving Number 2.

If you work for a company or corporation that gives you an option to give through them, ask about the Workplace Giving Campaign kick-off.

Perhaps your company does work place giving by email alone.

But if they run a company campaign to get employees to give – if they hold meetings or parties or presentations – they will be grateful for speaker suggestions.

Suggest us. We can present at any forum, giving fair, or kick-off event in San Francisco and a little beyond.

You’ll add your co-workers’ support to your own gift to St. Anthony’s. You’ll give us a chance to reach your colleagues who don’t know us yet.

Ask your Human Resources staff who does this at your company. Talk to your work place giving campaign organizers and ask them to invite a speaker from St. Anthony Foundation to make a presentation at the kick-off event.

If people like you take simple steps like this, we really will get through the hard times, together.

Why is it that so many people who come to St. Anthony’s to help end up thanking US? The folks from Interaction Associates worked a shift in the Dining Room toward the end of the month (always the most hectic time), thanked us profusely, and are coming back for more.

In many ways, it’s not a mystery. Most people like St. Anthony Foundation once they get in the door. That’s when they discover that all the talk about community at St. Anthony’s isn’t just talk.

And it helps that IA is in the people business. They train leaders in group process, facilitation, and collaborative cultures. Their workshops help companies build teams, grow leaders, navigate change, and increase corporate responsibility.

Three of their values on a list of 7 are “stakeholder voice,” “social responsibility,” and “human dignity.” This sounds familiar.

Interaction people intended to leave early for a team pot luck instead of the usual lunch with our guests, but when the time came, it was hard to get them out of the Dining Room. We had urged a short reflection session on them, very short, to accommodate their schedule, but they just kept, well, interacting.

They want to come back to make gift bags for Dining Room guests. They’ve already collected 200 pairs of new socks and 100 sets of unopened toiletries. We’re talking together about a possible fundraising event.

The email that explained all this to me ended “Once again, THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU and we are very excited about helping out in the future.”

I’m not confused. I understand how it feels down there in the Dining Room. But this is my chance to say, “Thank you, friends, and thanks to Interaction Associates for taking the time.”

Times are hard and you have your own worries. But you know that times aren’t any easier for the people who come to St. Anthony Foundation for help. We have some easy ways you can keep giving, or even give more, to buy food, clothing, and medical care for your low-income neighbors. Here’s Easy Giving Number 1.

If you work for a corporation or large company, find out if they match employee donations to non-profits.

Ask your Human Resources staff for the form. Enclose it with your next gift to St. Anthony Foundation. We’ll complete the form and return it to your company.

(Check it first for questions we might not know the answer to and fill those out for us.)

If your company runs an employer matching gifts program, you will double your gift without giving a dollar more. That will mean your money buys twice the meals, twice the doctor visits, twice the job coaching sessions.

If people like you take simple steps like this, we really will get through the hard times, together.

We’ve been so encouraged to see our friends stand by the poor when they are feeling the crunch themselves. They tell us that if they’re having trouble now, they know our guests must really be struggling.

Here are some easy ways you can help St. Anthony Foundation meet urgent needs in hard times.

Sign up for a small monthly gift. Click here and sign up for a small electronic gift which can become a regular, painless part of your home budget.

Match your gift with your employer. If you work for a company or corporation, find out if they match employee gifts to non-profits. Get a form from your Human Resources department and enclose it with your donation to St. Anthony’s.

Invite St. Anthony Foundation to your work place giving kick-off. Talk to your work place giving organizers and ask them to invite a speaker from St. Anthony Foundation to make a presentation at the event.

Throw a house party for St. Anthony’s. Invite friends, members of your church or congregation, or members of your club or professional association to your home.  Get materials and giving envelopes from St. Anthony Foundation. Serve food. Enjoy yourself and your company.

Do a sock drive or toiletry drive. Our guests always need new socks and personal care products. Always. Collect new socks, new toothbrushes, or unopened travel shampoo, lotion, and bath gel from your friends or co-workers. Deliver them to our Clothing and Housewares Program at 101 8th Street (@ Mission).

We’re fortunate to have such determined friends. Because of people who think like this, we really will get through hard times. Together.