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.

After being hospitalized for 13 months, Dudley was discharged to the streets. With the help of St. Anthony’s Dudley now has a place of his own.

Subscribe to the St. Anthony Foundation YouTube Channel and watch more first hand the stories from St. Anthony’s guests and clients.

Venita is a senior in the Tenderloin who is raising her 6 year old grandson, who this year will start first grade. Tran, another Tenderloin resident and single parent, is helping his 9 year old son get ready for the new school year as well. While back-to-school time is exciting for both families, it is also a time when the added expenses of school clothes and supplies can create an added economic strain. A list of school supplies expected from students and parents including binder paper, notebooks, book covers and pencils, in addition to classroom supplies such as tissue paper, copy paper and Band-Aids, often come from the teacher weeks before school begins. Not having a second income to rely on in a tumbling economy, or enough from a primary income to cover basic necessities, the free backpacks offered to neighborhood children by St. Anthony Foundation come right on time. According to the last census (2000), single parents account for 27 percent of family households with children under 18; it is anticipated that number will increase in the 2010 census.

With one of the citys highest concentrations of children and some of the lowest income levels, Tenderloin children have many challenges to accessing basic needs such as education, healthy food, and school supplies. To help students and parents work together on building a successful school year, St. Anthony Foundation handed out free backpacks filled with dictionaries, notebooks, and school supplies to neighborhood children in St. Anthonys Green Services Building located at 150 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on August 27, 2009. Single parent families were on site to share their stories of single parenting in the Tenderloin, and how critical social services support is for filling in the gaps for their children.

The backpacks ranged in colors, sizes, and shapes, as did the students who received them. The backpacks were donated by groups or individuals through Family Giving Tree and Raft, and were filled with school supplies.

“Volunteering at St. Anthonys is like recharging. When you are here you are making a difference, and you really feel it.”

Subscribe to the St. Anthony Foundation YouTube Channel and watch more first hand the stories from St. Anthony’s guests and clients.

“Indian Joe”, a longtime guest and friend of St. Anthony’s, has a story filled with tears and triumphs, and throughout it all he’s managed to keep to keep a stiff upper lip.

“You can’t keep a good man down!” quips Joe.

Joe talked with me today and gave me his thoughts on the uncertainty sourounding the current financial crisis.

As we have been rallied, warned, encouraged and informed by our resident advocacy expert, Colleen, the state budget deadline is upon us.  By midnight tonight California’s legislature and governor must reach an agreement on this both  fiscally and emotionally draining budget dilemma.

Democrats have rallied behind the idea of raising taxes on oil and tobacco to help meet the $24.3 billion deficit; however, the governor has resolved to veto any revenue increasing measures.

Read more about the countdown to the budget deadline here.

Everyone in California will be affected by this budget.  The proposed cuts will deeply impact several communities, many of them are groups that we already see in St. Anthony Foundation programs; the elderly, the mentally and physically  ill, people struggling to overcome addiction, families in need of food, clothing and health care.

We wait in solidarity with our guests, our community, to see what the governor’s tomorrow will look like.  And, remain steadfast in our mission and commitment to be the hands below that safety net, providing services to  sustain and stabilize those most in need.

Earlier this month, Silicon Valley’s very own Google came by to volunteer during a day of computer repairs and training at St. Anthony’s Tenderloin Tech Lab.

St. Anthony Foundation has had the privilege of partnering with members of the corporate community for many years. We have worked with a variety of corporate service projects from company wide service days to individual volunteers offering time and professional skills through their company. Corporate volunteers have served meals in our Dining Room, planted gardens in our residential programs, conducted mock interviews in our Employment Program and hosted bingo games at our senior center.

To inquire about your company partnering with St. Anthony Foundation contact the Justice Education/Volunteer Advocacy Manager, Angelina Cahalan, at abcahalan@stanthonysf.org or (415) 592-2727.

Former St. Anthony Dining Room guest and volunteer Mumu on how budget cuts in California and San Francisco will hurt poor and homeless people. While St. Anthonys does not accept any government funding for its programs and services the impact will be felt hard here. Our guests will have less support in their communities and our programs and their staff will serve even more people to make up for the closure of near by services.