And what a holiday donation drive it was. The Ramallah Club kicked off the giving spree on the first day with 96 turkeys.  Eighteen young people from The Joint Youth Ministry came all the way from San Jose with 26 bags of clothing which some of them spent their day sorting and bagging while others unloaded donations from people driving up to our doors with food and clothing for our guests.  We received a record 1163 turkies over the week before Thanksgiving and hundreds of deliveries of clothing and toiletries over Christmas week.

Our friends heard our cry for socks. More than 3,000 pairs, in every size, color, and pattern, with plenty of plain but very warm crew socks and work socks to fill Christmas gift bags for all the guests who came to the Dining Room. Gymboree donated hats, chocolate, bags, and labels that said “Happy Holidays” and put the bags together. The Palace Hotel came through with 2800 mineral washes for the bags and cartons of other useful gifts for St. Anthony residential programs. The Hilton and other hotels gave shampoo and lotion. And Jane and John Doe just kept giving and giving and giving.

Anything that didn’t go into a gift bag will be given to our guests for months to come, as the rains continue and the cold grows sharper. This is how the 5,000 get fed. And clothed and healed and living better, safer lives: when people of good will are not too afraid for themselves to open their hands and share what they can.

At St. Anthony Dining Room we are a buzz preparing a Christmas feast for 4,000 of our friends, family and community here in the Tenderloin.

And we could not have done it with out you. Your response to our call for food and socks means that every guest who comes on Christmas will get a delicious filling meal and a gift bag with socks and other necessities. The cans of food, peanut butter and tuna are filling our pantry shelves which will help fill the cupboards of seniors and families in need.

Your support makes a difference this holiday season, and in the year to come. When you make a gift to St. Anthony’s you make a change in someone’s life. Whether it provides food that day, groceries for that month, doctor visit for an uninsured child, or life-changing recovery and job training, you can know that your support is a gift that meets real needs.

Thank you for reaching together with St. Anthony Foundation to extend this season of hope to all.

Gymboree was here on Monday to fill 2200 bags with 2200 warm hats and 2200 chocolate bars they brought for our guests. They completed 1,000 bags with socks and travel shampoo donated by others, as well. The Palace Hotel has now donated 2700 bath gels to add to each bag.

WE STILL NEED 1200 NEW SOCKS, TRAVEL SHAMPOOS AND TRAVEL LOTIONS BEFORE DECEMBER 24.

Men’s crew socks or other warm socks are the best; women can wear them, too. (But new women’s and children’s socks won’t go to waste at St. Anthony’s.) Travel shampoo and lotion should be unopened.

If you’re thinking of doing a drive, if you’ve haven’t opened the shampoo or lotion you picked up on your last trip, if you’re shopping at a drug store or chain store for something else and can buy a few travel size shampoos or lotions or a package of new socks, please bring them over to 150 Golden Gate Avenue and tell the Front Desk Guy (Eric or Darren or Jerry) that they’re for gift bags.

Or you can wait until December 19 – 23 and bring them to Curbside, our special holiday donation drive. Just drive up to 119 Golden Gate (other side of the street from the offices). Volunteers will be waiting to take them in and give you a receipt.

Sign up to work Curbside, and you may end up filling bags yourself. Contact Alina: 415-592-2737 or atrowbridge@stanthonysf.org

I only wish you could be here to see how our guests react. Thank you in advance.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA The sound of revving engines will be a call to start carving turkeys on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 when the Hells Angels come to St. Anthony Dining Room to help out for one of St. Anthony’s biggest days of the year. And on Thanksgiving Thursday the historic nonprofit will serve more than 3,500 turkey dinners to the poor and homeless; even Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is stopping by to lend a hand.

“With the economy in the state it has been the last 2 years, we anticipate many more people will be spending Thanksgiving at St. Anthony’s,” noted St. Anthony’s Interim Executive Director Linda Pasquinucci. “We are very thankful that more volunteers and donors are coming through the doors as well, because we have never needed them more.”

In conjunction, St. Anthony’s 22nd annual curbside donation drive is kicking off on Saturday November 21st 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 59-year old non-profit for basic necessities as a result of the current economic crisis, the support from everyday citizens is needed.

For 59 years St. Anthony Foundation has provided free, life sustaining support for the poor and homeless. St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway to solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2,600 meals every day, an Employment Program/ Technology Lab, Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program, and a Free Medical Clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely funded by private donations.

AS UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS, MORE GO HUNGRY
ST. ANTHONY’S HOSTS 22ND ANNUAL CURBSIDE DRIVE TO HELP MEET THE NEED FOR SAN FRANCISCO

With the unemployment rate at its highest rate since 1983, organizations like St. Anthony’s have become critical in helping everyday people meeting their needs of basics such as food, warm clothing, and medical care.

To help meet the need, St. Anthony’s is preparing for its 22nd anniversary of St. Anthony’s Curbside Holiday Drive. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars. Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

“We have 35% more people coming for emergency boxes and 60% more people coming to our clothing program than we did a year ago. And we continue to be amazed and heartened by the generosity of those with even a little extra stepping up to help meet the need,” noted St. Anthony Foundation Executive Director Linda Pasquinucci.

St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway for solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2600 meals every day, a free clothing program, a technology lab,  residential drug and alcohol recovery program, and a free medical clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money for its programs, and is entirely funded by private donations. (more…)

There’s something about the holidays that switches people’s giving instincts from Cash to Carry. (Yes, people do have an instinct to give.)

They want to give objects more than money. Maybe it’s the idea of a giving a present rather than something that looks like payment. More likely, it’s because they’re already out shopping.

St. Anthony Foundation can always use objects. And during Thanksgiving and Christmas week, we make it easy for you to donate. Drive up to 119 Golden Gate (between Leavenworth and Jones) and pull over. Volunteers will unload your donations and give you a receipt.

VOLUNTEER: Unload donations from arriving cars. Sort items to get them to the right St. Anthony program and onward to our guests. Organize a donation drive at your school or worksite.

Company groups:  415-592-2737 or email atrowbridge@stanthonysf.org
Individuals, families:  415-592-2829

DONATE
Food
Turkeys, hams, and other large meats
25 lb. bags of rice, beans or flour
#10 cans of almost anything: beans, tomatoes, etc.
Family and individual size canned goods:
Tuna, canned meat, hearty soups, vegetables

Clothing
New socks
New underwear
Travel size toiletries: shampoo, bath gel, lotion
Blankets
Ready-to-use clothing, especially men’s, especially jeans

DON’T BRING
Housewares (even small ones)
Furniture (including baby furniture)
Baby car seats
Thank you and we’re sorry, but we can no longer accept these items.

DATES
Saturday, November 21 – Thanksgiving, November 26
Saturday, December 19 –Thursday, December 24
Weekdays 8:00 AM  – 6:00 PM
Weekends 9:00 – 3:00

Oh yeah. We take money, too.

One of my favorite things in this life is pulling clean laundry out of the dryer, and slipping my cold feet into a pair of snug warm socks.  There’s really nothing quite like it.  Torrential downpour and chilly wind in the city’s dismal winter months makes the experience that much more rewarding.

As we prepare for the holidays, and gear up for what is traditionally the busiest time for St. Anthony’s, we take note of these items like socks that make a big difference in such a small low-cost way.

Imagine if instead of out of a drawer or dryer, the socks you were sliding on in the morning were the same wet ones you braved the rain in last night, and for the previous few days for that matter. Many of our homeless guests at St. Anthony’s are on their feet and perhaps don’t have a place to rest and recharge. A clean new pair of socks are not an accessory or afterthought, they are a piece of refuge and reenergizing that we can offer to make that day better.

You can be a part of that refuge, bring in clean new socks for guests at St. Anthony Foundation.  Or hold a drive with friends, coworkers or church groups and gather socks to bring in for our Curbside Donation Drive.

At holiday time, we at St. Anthony Foundation discover friends we never knew we had.

San Francisco Federal Credit Union was the first to sign up for our Christmas Curbside Donation Drive. After patiently standing just out of the rain waiting for donors to bring used clothing and canned food, and sorting clothing, dishes, and appliances in the back, they loaded our truck, bound for the program that distributes these things for free.

Employees from Wells Fargo and PG&E, who had volunteered with their colleagues this Fall or helped out last Christmas, came back to unload food and clothing from cars as they arrived and sort donations to go to four of our programs. The San Francisco Coalition for Responsible Growth covered half a dozen shifts, and when they caught up with the flow, marched off to the Clothing and Housewares Program to move mountains of clothing and free up work space.

It really helps St. Anthony’s when people volunteer or donate as a team. People who work together, share a religion, or socialize through an organized group, are more likely to talk about us to their friends and colleagues who couldn’t make it to a donation drive or volunteer event. Maybe that’s where all these new friends come from: old friends who spread the word.

Holidays at St. Anthony Foundation can be hectic endurance events. Now that we can stop for breath, we’re looking back with real pleasure at the generosity our friends showed during the festival of light.  

Before Thanksgiving, the Ramallah Club (well, actually the American Ramallah Federation and Education Fund) donated more than 4,000 pounds of turkey.  They arrived in the vendor’s truck promptly at 9:00 AM on the opening day of our Curbside Holiday Donation Drive and all but ended our turkey drive at the start. (But of course, we can always use the food.) Their message: Happy Holidays – The Palestinian American Community.

On Christmas Day, there were gift bags for everyone who came to eat in the Dining Room, donated and assembled by a team from Gymboree.  State Fund came to prepare something for the children. And several corporate teams, as well as our individual supporters, unloaded and sorted food and clothing as it arrived at our Curbside Drive.

Volunteers and donors all gave us the impression that they are just as concerned about their low-income neighbors in hard times as they are about themselves. It’s enough to restore anyone’s faith in people. 

Hat’s, Socks, And Chocolate Bars Are Under The Tree For San Francisco’s Poor

SAN FRANCISCO, CA December 23^nd, 2008 Every guest that walks through the door at St. Anthony Dining Room on Christmas Day will be given a gift bag with a hat, pair of socks, and chocolate bar to go with their ham dinner.

“Our guests are grateful for the smallest things- a hot meal, a new pair of socks. Some of our volunteers and donors really wanted to offer a little something for our guests on Christmas Day, and with the numbers of people that are coming to us, we are fortunate to be able to do anything at all.” Donations are making the difference for San Francisco’s oldest private social services agency which is dedicated to serving the poor, and which anticipates serving close to 4,000 meals on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day marks the last day of St. Anthony’s Curbside Holiday Drive, where donations of food, clothing, and monetary donations can be made by driving up at curbside, so donors don’t even have to leave their cars, from 9am to 3pm. Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

For 58 years St. Anthony Foundation has provided free, life sustaining support for the poor and homeless. St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway to solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2,600 meals every day, a Technology Lab/Employment Program, a Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program, and a Free Medical Clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money for its programs, and is entirely funded by private donations.