This post is from Alvin at St. Anthony’s drug and alcohol recovery program, the Father Alfred Center:

On Wednesday July 14, 2010 the St. Anthony Dinning Room sponsored one of the quarterly outings for the residents of the Father Alfred Center-The All Star Staff and Guest Baseball Playoffs. This year, as in years in the past, the Dining Room staff brought a very delicious meal for all to enjoy during this event, which is usually held in one of the nearby parks.

The staff all-stars started out on fire scoring 4 runs in the first inning showing their competitive side and giving the message’’ that we were here to defend our title’’. In the second inning the residents came back to make it a game by scoring three runs to make the score 4-3. In the third the residents went ahead scoring three more runs to make it 6-4. Then 1 more in the fourth. Down 7-4 in the fourth staff went on a tenacious hitting, fielding and base running display to out last the residents 11-9.

It was a lot of fun, with gratitude held by residents and staff alike. (the Father Alfred Center especially thanks the Dining Room staff for their kindness and generosity in making these events memorable and special).

Go Team!

On the first Wednesday of every month a special event takes place at St Anthony’s Father Alfred Center. It’s a day when friends and family gather together along with residents, staff and guests from St Anthony Foundation’s many other programs. They gather to give congratulations and to say a few words to (and about) those residents who have completed the year long residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. This day is better known as Graduation.

Graduating residents typically dress up their best attire, though some choose to dress more casual. The Ceremony starts with a blessing from the Chaplin’s department.

Staff from peripheral programs with in the St Anthony Foundation such as the Dining Room, Tenderloin Tech Lab, Social Works Center and others come up next to share stories about the graduates, and thank them for their service.

The MC next invites up volunteers who facilitate groups to talk about their experiences with the graduates and addiction in general. Alumni and residents in the 4th phase are then encouraged to say a few words. Sometimes residents will perform a song, or poem that they have worked on.

Family and Friends are welcomed to come up to the microphone and talk about their experiences with the graduates. This is followed typically by the Father Alfred Center Councilors and staff. Staff comments and stories finish off with the 4th phase councilors giving their clients a certificate of completion and their 1 year sober chip.

Finally the graduates themselves have a chance to say their peace. This is often heartfelt and sincere with thanks and gratitude to spare. At the end the Staff gathers around the mic to read the Creed. The Creed is followed by the Serenity prayer and a fantastic meal prepared by the Father Alfred Center Kitchen Crew

CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) was founded in 1957 and currently is a 2,400-plus member national organization comprised of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.

In San Francisco. CoSIDA Convention attendees or spouses are encouraged to attend the service project at the St. Anthony Foundation where they will volunteer time in the dining room plus have a chance to interact with the Father Alfred Center, which helps homeless men with addiction from drugs and alcohol. This moving experience will hopefully leave an impact on you and help CoSIDA reach out to the San Francisco community.

“We have worked hard to coordinate this project with the St. Anthony Foundation and hope that CoSIDA members take a hour or two out of their convention schedule to volunteer their time towards a worthy cause,” said CoSIDA Goodwill Committee Chair Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University sports information director. “We had a good start last year with our first-ever service project in San Antonio and we hope to have more people come out and help this year and show why ‘CoSIDA Cares’ about giving back to our host city.”

Learn more about CoSIDA’s work with St. Anthony’s by clicking here.

On Tuesday, June 8th, 2010, students at the Tenderloin Tech Lab got a V.I.P. tutoring session with twenty of Google’s finest employees. For the second year in a row, the Tenderloin Tech Lab hosted GoogleServe, a week dedicated to introducing Google employees to the myriad opportunities for community service in the Bay Area. Twenty Google volunteers returned to the Tenderloin Tech Lab to provide a hands-on training to residents of Fr. Alfred Center, a year-long drug and alcohol rehabilitation program run by St. Anthony Foundation. Google volunteers worked one-on-one with residents to show them first hand how Google and other internet sites can bring them a little closer to finding their dream job. The Tenderloin Tech Lab, a partnership between St. Anthony Foundation and San Francisco Network Ministries, offers classes six days a week to help bridge the digital divide for homeless and low-income residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. With the help of Google volunteers, we showed first hand how a ‘Google Search’ may make just the difference in opening up a virtual world of possibility.

Sunday May 30th is the Annual Narcotics Anonymous Men’s Breakfast put on by the East Bay Central NA committee. This will be the 10th annual breakfast and 350 men from around the country are expected to attend.

The Father Alfred Center has had a proud affiliation with the men’s breakfast since it was started back in 2000. A resident of the St Anthony Foundation Rehabilitation Center (then known as Seton Hall), named Darryl Smith painted the very first banner. The banner and that first breakfast were a big success and every year a handful of tickets are donated by alumni of Father Alfred Center, to some of our current residents. As part of the decorations that first banner (along with every banner since then) are rolled out and hung up for display.

This years theme is “Vision with out limits”. It appears on the banner as well as on tickets next to the Men’s Breakfast Motto “Diversity Makes a Difference”. The motto represents the variety of men from every walk of life, ethnicity, and social status who can be found in attendance. The exchange of experiences and the formations of friendships are the hallmark of the NA Men’s Breakfast.

Along with what I am told is an impressive spread of food, speakers from around the country are flown in to talk on the subject of recovery. As they speak a CD is cut for purchase. Some copies of the CD along with books and other Narcotics Anonymous literature are given away to those in attendance who are newest to recovery.

For the first 8 years of the Breakfast up to 500+ men would be in attendance. As N/A members from other area’s have attended the men’s breakfast and experienced the miracle that takes place there, they have begun putting on their own versions. So although the number of participants has dropped in the last two years, the phenomenon is growing.

St Anthony Dining Room staff is sponsoring a baseball game & Cookout on May 12 for the Father Alfred Center Residents as a way to thank them for their volunteer service at the Dining Room.

This event gives residents at Father Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s drug and alcohol treatment program, a chance to socialize not only with the staff, but also with each other.  Sometimes our residents have a tendency to feel confined by the routine of their day.  The game gives them a chance to get away from that routine and interact with each other & staff in a unique setting.

When asked his opinion Charles Sommer told me, “Each quarter we like to do something nice for the guys.  They work very hard down here at the Dining Room every day.  This gives us a chance to hang around with them in a different setting and have fun.”

A baseball game between St Anthony Staff & Father Alfred Center residents is the focal point of the event. Staff from Father Alfred Center & the St Anthony Dining Room are joined by colleagues from the Social Work Center & Tenderloin Tech Lab for the game.

The great food and competition with staff are something the Father Alfred Center residents look forward to.  So far the staff team is undefeated.  Will this remain the case?  Only time will tell.

With the convention behind us I wanted to take a moment to look back and get the perspective of the Father Alfred Center staff who attended the Convention.

Administrative Coordinator Raynette Page Johnson says:

“I had the privilege and honor to greet our clients at the Northern California Convention of Narcotics Anonymous XXXII in Santa Clara, California.  Forty six  residents of Father Alfred Center attended.  We were in the company of thousands of recovering addicts from all over California and other states.  The Northern California Convention of Narcotics is the largest convention in California. The first convention was formed in 1979 in San Jose California.  There were approximately 350 recovering addicts in attendance.  This celebration of unity, simply known at NCCNA, now hosts between 6,000 to 8,000 recovering addicts annually.”

Manager Michael Hurd writes in:

“It is an awesome opportunity for Father Alfred Center residents to experience a NA Convention. I think it is surreal to imagine over 5,000 recovering addicts in one place at one time from all different cultures, races, backgrounds, beliefs to gather together for one common goal ,that goal being to help the addict who wants to recover is unimaginable until they see it. Then I think there can be a physic change where they can really start to believe that being clean for them is possible. I witnessed the stoic glow in several of our residents at the convention there expressions said it all. For me to witness the joy, hope and relief I see in the faces of our Father Alfred Center residents is priceless! I look forward to exposing new residents to this awesome experience again next year.”

Saturday April 3rd, 2010 is the date of the widely anticipated State Wide NA Convention in Santa Clara, CA. Each year Father Alfred Center, St. Anthony Foundation’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, throws a dinner for Alumni, families and friends to raise the money for our residents to attend this event.

Father Alfred Center Assistant Manager Eric Clark tells us:

“At Father Alfred Center we treat drug & alcohol addiction and one of the strongest indicators of continued recovery from addiction after residents leave the program is their participation in 12-Step recovery groups. Addicts rarely get clean alone and rarely do they stay clean all by themselves. The opportunity to be present at an event where there may be more than ten thousand other recovering addicts present has been truly awe inspiring for our guys. There is no better way to present the message that any addict can recover than in this environment of unlimited support that is available virtually anywhere. The gratitude our residents express for the ability to attend this event & the message of hope that they receive there has been worth every effort to get these guys to the Northern California Narcotics Anonymous Convention.”

Excitement is growing as the days countdown to the convention. The Father Alfred Center Kitchen Crew will be preparing bagged lunches, snacks & drinks for the guys on the way down and back. The bus leaves at 2PM promptly for Santa Clara, CA under the supervision of Father Alfred Center counselors. Some off duty staff will be attending the convention as well.

When they arrive, residents will be able to attend workshops, marathon meetings, an ice cream social & even a golf tournament. Live music, Karaoke, comedy shows, and an illusionist will also be there, in the spirit of fellowship with other addicts in recovery.

The highlight of the convention is the main speaker who is scheduled to go on at 8pm, Followed by a dance at 9pm.

When asked for a few word about the benefits of the convention; Father Alfred Center Councilor Alvin Emerson said:

“Recovering addicts from all over the world will be in attendance, making this a rare opportunity for our guys to see the beauty & power of what recovery from addiction can do for them.”

Residents will re-board the charter bus after the dance and return home around 1am that morning. All and all it will be a long day for Father Alfred Center Staff and residents. But one they will not soon forget.

Tomorrow is the day of the Father Alfred Center’s, St. Anthony Foundation’s inpatient drug and alcohol treatment center, Annual Fundraiser Dinner. The Dinner is to raise money for our residents to attend the annual Northern California Narcotics Anonymous Convention (being held this year at the Santa Clara Convention Center April 1st -4th).

Every year we put together a nice dinner and ask people to sponsor one (or more) of our residents, so they may attend the convention. Family and friends can sit together with sponsored residents and enjoy a restaurant quality meal prepared and served in house.

Families are often badly damaged by the disease of addiction/alcoholism. This dinner is one of the ways that the healing process between residents and their families takes place here at Father Alfred Center.

Here’s the menu for tomorrow’s dinner (prepared by yours truly).

Appetizer

Italian Wedding soup
Shrimp Cocktail
Fresh Salad

Main Course

Seafood Alfredo over Linguine
Garlic Bread
Mixed Italian Vegetable Medley

Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake

I’ve done all my shopping. Tomorrow we get down to business and create some seriously good food. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ed. Note: This week’s entry was written by Ryan, a JEVA intern and student with the Franciscan School of Theology:

Last week on Ash Wednesday began the season of Lent. It is generally thought of in terms of penance and fasting leading eventually to the Easter time of celebration. This season is a good reminder that as with many things in life and faith, the way to joy and celebration can lead through the path of pain or suffering. Christ certainly dealt with that, but I also see that in the men that go through the Fr. Alfred Center, a year-long drug and alcohol rehab center at St. Anthony’s.

Twice a week, I am blessed to listen to the stories of those making their way through the Father Alfred Center program who struggle daily with the disease of addiction. These men come to share their stories with not just me, but usually a group of twenty or more from high schools, colleges, and other career organizations. They often reveal their inner most pain and weaknesses as they share their immense struggles battling with their disease. Prison, homelessness, poverty, violence, knife and gun wounds, broken relationships, loss of dignity, shame and regret have been their unwelcome companions on their journey. For many it has taken years to recognize their addictive illness as the source of their misfortunes and often times even more years to admit that they cannot get well on their own. When that time comes however, their season of Lent begins especially once they begin at the Father Alfred Center. Certainly there is suffering as they fight their illness, but what I hear more often is that the healing process provides for them a time to examine how their illness has influenced their past decisions, and how it has affected those around them and themselves. They begin to accept the past, recognize where they failed to love others or themselves, ask forgiveness and learn to forgive themselves. Eventually, they begin to dream about the exciting future possibilities for their life. Their journey through pain and suffering is nothing to celebrate, and yet it contains the seeds of joy and brings them to their Easter!

I think we can learn a lot from these men and their Lenten journey. As human beings, we are most truly human when we become what we were created for, to love and to serve God by loving and serving each other, and their season of Lent is bringing them back to that sense of wholeness and purpose. They struggle with a disease that is very misunderstood in our society as choice and illness become intertwined. However, like any disease, it involves a period of recovery and for them their prescription for health requires a lot of soul searching and brutal honesty. Each time I listen to them I’m astounded at their courage to share their vulnerabilities with so many people. Do I have the strength to admit, even to myself, my own weaknesses and failings? These men and this season remind me that it is in my best interest to do so. Lent is very real for them and evident in their words, and they challenge me to make Lent real in my own life. Too often, I let this season go by without really examining where my life is headed, where I failed to love others, where I need to ask forgiveness. Yet, Christ reminds us that, “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12:24) As these men make their Lenten journey, I am challenged to journey with them during this season. What needs to die in me so that when Easter comes it will be a time to rejoice because Lent has remade me and produced as much good fruit in me as I see in the men at the Fr. Alfred Center?