What comes to mind when you think of an Eagle Scout? I think of wilderness camping and daring feats of strength…Imagine my surprise when Joshua Nascimento, a young high school student contacted me about fulfilling his Eagle Scout project at St. Anthony’s! Talk about daring feats of strength…and I don’t mean scaling the walls of our building. I mean the courage and compassion of responding to the needs of the impoverished—and helping to break down the walls of misunderstanding, or even simply of “not knowing” that some more fortunate members of society are held within.

Joshua, well on his way to earning the highest ranking possible in Boy Scouts, learned more about the deeper experience of poverty that many of our guests and clients are keenly familiar with. He chose to help meet some of the most basic needs that many of our guests encounter day in and day out—access to basic hygiene products. Lacking the resources to buy these item (soap, shampoo, lotion, etc. ) many folks—housed and not, go without. The consequences of not having these simple basics can aggravate health problems and can certainly contribute to increased isolation. Thanks to Joshua and his fellow troop members, his campaign to collect these items and more (combs, toothbrushes and paste, and even snacks …) resulted in enough materials to fill more than 100 handmade tote-bags chock full of these supplies and more, topped off with a hand written greeting card. Joshua’s troop assembled these together, having fun while learning the deeper issues and reality. Joshua’s project makes a positive difference now for those receiving the tote bags. His Eagle Scout project also makes a difference going forward for those who understanding of daring feats of strength has been deepened by young Joshua’s vision.

Our guests will be receiving these wonderful “care packages”, as Joshua calls them—and they are truly that. Joshua and his Mom pulled up to deliver all these gifts on a cold and rainy Tuesday, 2/20. They’d also packed the car with boxes of food donations that were given to Joshua from private vendors and businesses in support of his project. It doesn’t take “eagle eyes” to see that Joshua’s kind nature has been nurtured by caring parents. I met with Joshua and his Mom and Dad at the beginning of this project and it was clear from the start that this family could see that some of the most severe challenges in today’s world are found in our own cities and neighborhoods. Rather than turning away, they responded with real support to those in need. I had asked Joshua to share a few words about his experience with his Eagle Scout project, and this is what he had to say:

“I first learned of the charitable work of St. Anthony’s a couple of years ago when I had the opportunity to serve meals in the Dining Room as part of a school service learning project. This participation led to subsequent volunteer visits during which I gained further understanding of the plight of some of St. Anthony’s guests. Humbled by my first-hand experience of St. Anthony’s mission of service and compassion, I aspired to find a way to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than me. I put my dream into action in the form of care packages, continuing a unique St. Anthony’s tradition of personalized hospitality. Containing basic daily necessities of socks and personal hygiene items, as well as candy and an individualized birthday card, these care packages will be presented to the guests of St. Anthony’s on their birthdays. I hope that this small act of kindness will brighten their day and show appreciation for their inherent value and dignity as children of God.

I am really grateful for St. Anthony’s support in allowing me to give this gift of service. I would also be remiss if I did not acknowledge the support of the many who contributed to this undertaking. They include the scouts, parents, and adult leaders of Troop 12, the dental office of Dr. Bruce Newman, and the many vendors from the Travis Air Force Base Commissary and Base Exchange. Without their kind and generous support, my service project would remain just a dream.”

Eagle Scout indeed! … “Raising (others) up on Eagle’s Wings” to borrow from a beautiful song. Thank you, Joshua!

In the Jewish faith, ‘tzedakah’ is the concept of righteousness or justice, at the center of which is a spiritual obligation to give to charity. Seventh graders at Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Rafael put tzedakah into practice each year through a special project. Each student chooses a local charity whose cause they feel passionate about, arrange a visit to the agency to speak with staff and see services in action, and then present about the charity to their classmates using a poster board or a video. After the presentations, the seventh graders then allocate monetary gifts to the different charities. All organizations get a base amount of money, but this year eight organizations were selected to receive more than the base amount. 

This year, Brandeis Hillel seventh grader Victoria Ginzburg (pictured) chose to research and present on St. Anthony’s. ”I decided to choose St. Anthony’s because of their clear msision statement, their sense of community, the programs they offer, and the impact they have made and will make,” said Victoria, who visited St. Anthony’s while conducting research and put together this video on poverty and homelessness in the Bay Area. Thanks to Victoria’s hard work, St. Anthony’s was awarded a gift of $115 from the Seventh Grade Tzedakah Project.

We appreciate Victoria and the Brandeis Hillel 7th graders for practicing smart philanthropy and for embodying tzedakah in our Bay Area community!

What do Macy’s, Chevron, and Bank of America all have in common?  They all support St. Anthony Foundation through their corporate employee giving programs!  Did you know that thousands of companies offer corporate employee giving programs?  Have you ever participated or do you currently participate in a corporate employee giving program?

These corporate philanthropic programs are setup by companies as a way to give back to local organizations, where their employees donate either their time or money back into the local community.  In 2011, U.S. corporations gave $15 billion to charities with about 20-25% of that coming from employee giving programs.

There are several ways corporate employers can support St. Anthony Foundation through these philanthropic programs. Would your company consider matching your contributions to St. Anthony’s? Does your employer participate in a payroll deduction where you could make a tax free donation to St. Anthony’s?

Who knew that you could double or triple your donation to St. Anthony’s when your company or employer matches your gift!

Processing a company match is easy. All you need to do is complete the matching gift form supplied by your company and mail it to St. Anthony’s with your donation — we’ll handle the rest!  

If you’ve already made your donation, you can still mail us the completed matching gift form, and we’ll verify receipt of your donation and mail it back to your company to request the matching funds.

Please send matching gift forms by email here, or mail to:

St. Anthony Foundation
Attention: Development
150 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102

If you are interested in participating in payroll deductions, you can donate through your employer by making either a one-time or an ongoing gift to St. Anthony’s. Please check with your employer to see about donating through payroll deductions or to explore other ways your corporate employer might support St. Anthony’s.

As we see year after year at St. Anthony’s, the abundance of gifts from people in the Bay Area is truly awe inspiring. If you’re a return donor to curbside, you’ll notice many changes this year as we are operating out of our temporary Dining Room at 150 Golden Gate Avenue. In addition to the new location for drop-off donations, we are asking for a specific list of essential items for our guests.

Please bring donations of food, hygiene items, new socks, and hand-knit scarves and hats specifically during the Curbside Donation Drives. Please help us to fill this critical need by focusing on donations of these items for 2012. All other donations are accepted throughout the year, Monday-Friday from 8am-4:15pm at our Free Clothing Program at 8th and Mission.

2012 Curbside Dates:
Saturday, November 17th – Thursday, November 22nd
Weekends: 9am-3pm; Weekdays: 8am-5pm

Saturday, December 22nd – Monday, December 24th
All days: 9am-3pm

Stay tuned as we announce details on activities, entertainment, and spreading holiday cheer to our guests through musical performances, gift bag giveaways and tree decorating. And thank you to the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and Nothing but Treble for joining St. Anthony’s on December 22nd and 23rd to bring holiday music to our guests.

Morgan Moore here from St Anthony Foundation Free Clothing Program! We recently met and interviewed the founder of Project Jazzy J 2015 and wanted to spotlight her great work here. She is a great kid with great ambitions of helping those who really need it. Check out the interview:

Morgan: How did you come to the idea for Project Jazzy J?

Jazzy J: I wanted to give something people really needed. I initially thought blankets but not everyone has blankets lying around to give. I felt like more people would have jackets and because it gets so cold it seemed like a really good way to help.

M: Who are you looking to target with this Project?

J: I am looking to target low-income and homeless people… those who really need them.

M: How many jackets are you looking to collect?

J: 2015 jackets by the year 2015

M:  How have you gone about collecting jackets thus far?

J: I started just asking my mom’s friends, my dad’s friends.. stuff like that. Then we set up a table in front of our house and began asking neighbors and anyone passing my. We created a Facebook page and so far social networking has really helped us. I intend to work with my school and my peers to meet my goal.

Jazzy J has raised 227 jackets thus far and St Anthony Foundation has been the proud recipient of her efforts.  With winter just around the corner, we really need them! Coats and jackets are in such high demand with our guests so we often have trouble keeping them in stock. Project Jazzy J is really helping us address that high need and get many more people into warm jackets.

If you have new or lightly used coats and/or jackets that you would like to donate to Project Jazzy J you can drop them off here at the Free Clothing Program (101 8^th St. making sure to mention they are intended to support Jazzy’s goal) or check out Jazzy’s Facebook page for more information Project Jazzy J 2015

Thank you Jazzy for all you are doing and let’s continue to work together to clothe those in need. We all deserve to be warm this winter!

A special thank you to Sybil Hunt from One Warm Coat for connecting us with Jazzy!

We challenged you to raise $50,000 in 50 days to match the Francis K. and Charles D. Field Foundation Challenge Grant!

You met that challenge and almost doubled it, coming through to raise $92,320.50 in donations for The New St. Anthony’s Dining Room!

Early in the summer, St. Anthony Foundation partnered with the Field Foundation – a civic minded community foundation committed to providing funding to several organizations that help low-income people as well as to education and the arts. The Field Foundation pledged to double your gifts up to $50,000 if you could match them.

An enormous “Thank You” to everyone who stepped up to meet the challenge.  We are one step closer to reaching our total goal of raising $22 million for the Dining Room! Thank you from everyone at St. Anthony’s.

If you have not joined us in this landmark project, we still need your help to raise the remaining funds.  We plan to finish this campaign in the next few months. Meanwhile, construction will begin on the New St. Anthony’s Dining Room.  Click here to DONATE NOW and feed the future of San Francisco.

Morgan Moore here! I am the new Volunteer and Processing Coordinator for the Free Clothing Program here at SAF and I am honored to dedicate my first blog post to the amazing St. Anthony Stitchers!  Last Friday, I had the privilege to sit in on one of their monthly motivational meetings. For those of you that do not know The Stitchers they are a group of people that have provided SAF with home sewn clothing, knits and crocheted items, and other personal clothing donations for twenty seven years.  They meet once a month to showcase their finished projects, pick up new supplies, and to support and motivate each other to continue doing this impactful work.

I sat down with long time member Dorothy Molumby to find out more about what motivates her to keep on stitchin’:

M: How long have you been A Stitcher?

D: Eight years now

M: What was your initial draw to this kind of selfless work?

D: My mother. She raised 12 children and instilled in us the importance of making time to give to others. No matter how busy our lives get, it is important to make a point to give as much as we can. Every little bit counts. It was my mother’s legacy to do something for someone else and I carry that out every day.

The Stitchers generously help clothe a large portion of our guests each month. All of their materials are donated or purchased through fundraising efforts. They are currently in need of new storage spaces in the Pacifica area as well as new Stitchers! Dorothy made it clear that you do not have to knit or sew to be involved! Please contact me at (415) 592-2826 if you have materials, storage space, or are interested in becoming a Stitcher. On behalf of SAF I want to thank The Stitchers for their tireless efforts to help keep our guests warm and fashionable month after month.

Learn all about this wonderful organization on their website.

In photo: Dorothy Molumby of the Stitchers and the Free Clothing Program’s Siphai Phommavongsay.

This blog entry is the second installment of Free Clothing Program Manager Allan Shapiro’s blog series covering “A Day in the Life of the Free Clothing Program.” The following details a scene outside the FCP as Allan arrives at work.

In my short time here at the Free Clothing Program, I’ve already walked out three sleeping bags to gentlemen either unable to make it to us, or unaware that we’re even here.

One of them was asleep on the sidewalk with but a blue plastic tarp to cover him. There was an empty bottle of wine in a bucket beside his head, so I left the sleeping bag beside it, not wanting to startle him, along with some shirts, a pair of pants, a pillow, a pair of socks, and a pamphlet with our information and hours. I have yet to see him come for service, but he has been using the sleeping bag.

Another was a young man sleeping on cardboard beneath some scaffolding. His friend had a sleeping bag, but he did not. I asked him if he needed one, which may have been a stupid question, becuase his answer was a definitive “yes.”

And the third gentleman was David. David also needs surgery. A brace covers his right leg, but the swelling won’t go down enough to allow the doctors to operate. His hands are also swollen. I have no idea how he pushes around his shopping cart all day. I also have no idea on any given day if I will ever see him again. Sometimes he sleeps in the sunlight on the sidewalk of the NW corner of 8th and Mission. Sometimes he doesn’t recognize me when I walk past him. Sometimes I worry that we won’t have ablanket or a sleepign bag the next time he needs one. They are one of those items that are always in high demand and that we never get enough of.

We recently received a very large donation of what I called Captain and Chenille blankets from the Marriott (Thank you again, Marriott!), but at the same time Episcopal Community Services was also in desperate need of blankets for their shelters, so we outreached the majority of the donation to them. Luckily there was also enough for our guests and for our own residential recovery program, the Father Alfred Center. But not even Captain and Chenille can keep you warm on a cold and windy night in San Francisco, and we only have a handful of sleeping bags left.

In photo: Free Clothing Program staff with blankets donated by the Marriott

In 1950, thousands of San Franciscans pitched in to help Fr. Alfred convert an old auto repair shop into St. Anthony’s Dining Room.  After 38 million meals and 62 years, we need a new building that will serve more people and change more lives.

Today, we have great plans to build the New St. Anthony’s Dining Room.  If you haven’t joined us in this campaign, now is the time to act.  We are closing in on the final months and we need your help to begin construction.  If you donate before August 1^st, the Field Foundation will generously match your gift up to $50,000.  Help us feed those in need; help us build a New Dining Room for San Francisco.  Click here to learn more and donate today.