Did you happen to see this past Sunday’s (3/6/2011) episode of “60 Minutes”? If you did, you were probably as moved as I was by the segment “Homeless Children:  the Hard Times Generation”.  US Census states that the number of children living in poverty in the US has gone up from 14 to 16 million in the last 2 years:  “. . . the fastest fall for the middle class since the government started counting 51 years ago.”  (Scott Pelley, episode transcript).  “Reality show” indeed!  This story was especially compelling because the kids in it told of the experiences of homelessness and hunger in their own words.

During the reflection discussions we typically have at the close of a Justice Education Day with a volunteer group at St. Anthony’s, it’s not unusual to hear someone mention that it was hard to see the number of children and families eating in the Dining Room.  So much of what we witness and respond to here at St. Anthony’s in the Tenderloin has at least a couple of sides to it, and all the perspectives are important to recognize.  What I mean is that our “Dining Room” is called that on purpose:  our founder, Fr. Alfred used those words very intentionally.  Anybody have a Dining Room at home?  Who usually eats there?  You got it:  family.  In the Dining Room, we honor the reality that we are all family.  That doesn’t lessen the concern at all however, that we see more families coming in–or the concern that many of our guests are separated for all kinds of reasons, from families of origin.

A story I like to share during these reflections is one of a gentleman who grew up in the Tenderloin.  He and his Mom ate at “Tony’s” regularly, and far from any sense of feeling outcast, as a child this fellow looked forward to coming to the Dining Room where he and his Mom felt welcome.  He’s told me that the stability and comfort he felt here were instrumental  in allowing him to live through that time with dignity intact.

In Sunday’s “60 Minutes”, there was some mention of the bonds of “family” that are showing up during the rippling losses of the Great Recession: one of these is the number of relatives, friends, and neighbors who are taking folks into their own homes.  The relatives and friends, I am aware of.  I didn’t know that there are actually many people who have been extending their own homes to neighbors who’ve been foreclosed upon, or lost their homes for other reasons.  I was very, very moved to hear that—people sacrificing their privacy and personal routines to bring in their homeless neighbors.

I know we can’t all do that.  I don’t think I could.  But we can all do something to recognize and nourish kinship with each other.  This 60 minutes episode, as heart-wrenching as it was, reminded me very much of the caring exchanges in the Tenderloin such as those that happen day in and day out at St. Anthony’s.  The fact that this show was on National prime time with the faces of these children looking out and speaking out to the Nation, gave me reason to hope that we can address the human costs of poverty for all generations.

Rosa Maria Cordova’s second grade class at Arrowhead Elementary School wanted to do something special for the holidays. Thanks to the miracle of the internet, they found St. Anthony’s. They decided to bring socks to school for our guests. The interesting thing is, Arrowhead Elementary School is in Phoenix, Arizona. The class collected and shipped socks for people in need a good 600 miles away. We sent them a video so they could see some of the people who come to St. Anthony’s for help and learn more about how people get poor.

We stashed the box away to save the socks for Christmas. All of them went into Christmas bags and were given out to our guests on Christmas day. Each and every person who ate at St. Anthony’s on Christmas, about 2500 people, got a big red bag with a hand knitted scarf, a donated chocolate bar, and a pair of socks. About 50 of those bags had socks from Arizona. Thank you, Mrs. Cordova’s class.

Kids. That word usually begins or ends a diatribe about people who are currently children or teens. There’s supposed to be something wrong with them. At present, the word is that they spend all their money on video games and all their time texting and they have no attention span, no attention span at all.

Someone forgot to tell the very young supporters of St. Anthony’s how kids behave.

Amy does not spend all her time texting. She spend a lot of it in December organizing a coat drive. She collected 500 coats for St. Anthony’s guests, enough so that her father had to rent a truck to deliver them at Curbside. Amy is 10.

Anthony is about the same age. He did not spend all his money on video games. He received $50 for Christmas and spent it on socks for the guests at St. Anthony’s. He was one of many people, most of them much older, who helped us fill 2500 Christmas bags with a pair of new socks.

Angelo, 8 years old, saved his allowance all year. He came in a few days before Christmas with a family member and $100 in cash. That’s the food for about 227 meals. One-tenth of all the meals we served at St. Anthony’s on Christmas day. Saving it must have required a certain amount of attention, not to mention self-discipline.

Kids are much the same as other people; they come in all mind sets and temperaments. At St. Anthony’s, we’re lucky. We get to meet the Amy’s, Anthony’s, and Angelo’s. From what we’ve seen, the season looks bright and the future very hopeful. Happy New Year.

Christmas is a challenging time for many families. Today St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic and McKesson Corporate Citizens Department will give out hundreds of toys, beautifully wrapped and age appropriate, to families in need.

St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic is one of the many free, life-sustaining programs and services of St. Anthony Foundation that helps to heal individuals and families. The Clinic, which is the only free pediatric clinic in the Tenderloin, provides over 12,000 patient visits annually, of which approximately 25% are pediatric visits. St. Anthony Foundation is not funded by federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely supported by private donations.

WHEN: TODAY, DECEMBER 22, 2010
1:00PM to 4:30 PM
WHERE: St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic
150 Golden Gate Avenue
WHAT: TOY GIVEAWAY
(for patients of the St, Anthony Free Medical Clinic)

CONTACT: Francis Aviani, 510-301-4634

On the 13th of December, neighborhood children of various ages descended upon the St. Anthony Dining Room for the annual Kid’s Party. Children came from the Kroc Center, the Boys and Girls Club, Hamilton Family Housing, De Marillac Academy, and other organizations to join in playing copious amount of games, eating delectable food items, and meeting Santa.

This event was made possible by the hard efforts of different work units within St. Anthony’s, including the Dining Room, Clinic, Tech Lab, Client Safety Service, and Fr. Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s drug and alcohol recovery program . It may have been a Kid’s Party, but plenty of fun was to be had by parents, staff, and our benevolent friends and volunteers from Skyline College.

Asthma in the Tenderloin
The Tenderloin has the highest citywide rate for ambulatory hospitalizations associated with COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and the second highest rate for asthma. According to a 2007 UCLA Health Policy Research Brief, one in six of California’s 2.8 million residents with active asthma live below poverty level. In addition to having poorer overall health, low-income residents also miss more school and work because of asthma, visit the emergency department for asthma care more often, and experience more frequent symptoms.

“Tenderloin residents live in old, poorly maintained buildings whose dust, mold, and other environmental factors dramatically increase asthma incidents.” noted St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic Director, Dr. Ana Valdés. “We try to address those factors through education, active medical care, and asthma management techniques.”

St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic
Established in 1956, the St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic is the first Free Medical Clinic in the United States. The clinic provides 12,000 patient care visits annually, nearly 3,000 of which are chronic care visits, Asthmatic patient account for about 9% of total visits.

Wednesday, August 4th is “Teddy Bear Clinic” day here at St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic! California Pacific Medical Center is joining us in hosting this special clinic day to teach asthmatic children about how to manage asthma at school, at home, and in case of an attack.

At the “Teddy Bear Clinic,” located at 150 Golden Gate in the 1st Floor, kids can come in to adopt their very own teddy bear and join clinic staff for an afternoon of play and learning how to take care of their bear.

This special clinic teaches kids to take care of the asthma symptoms for their new teddy bear friend and then provides kids with the opportunity to work one-on-one with Asthma Educators to learn how to better manage their own asthma.

A special thanks to California Pacific Medical Center Child Life Services for helping us put on this fantastic event!

We just received 10 $100 scholarships for the children and youth that come to St. Anthony’s during the summer.

I Googled $100 to see what else $100 would buy , besides back-to-school survival for low income families that includes a medical checkup and vaccination at St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic , meals in the St. Anthony’s Dining Room, and a set of back-to-school clothes from our clothing program. Oddly there were pages and pages of what $100 million or even $100 billion can buy, like Google’s quiet $100 billion investment in social gaming behemoth Zynga; American International Group Inc. 2010 bonuses totaling $100 million, or the expansion of military special operations headquarters in northern Afghanistan estimated to be about $100 million.

That all may sound over-the-top, and totally unrelated to a regular citizens life. But that is also how over-the top a pair of name brand athletic shoes, a “budget” weekend getaway, or a trip to Home Depot sounds to a family that is coming to St. Anthony’s clothing program for back-to-school clothes or meals for their children because the school lunches that they rely on aren’t available during the summer.

We are extremely grateful for the 10 scholarships. Because there are 1500 children that we are working with this summer that need scholarships just like that.

Your donation of $20 can provide 2 weeks of lunches in the Dining Room during the summer months when a student is unable to rely on a school cafeteria.

Your donation of $50 can cover a medical check-up, back to school clothes, and a meal in the Dining Room.

Your donation of $100 can cover one child’s back-to-school support including vaccinations and a medical check-up; a trip to the clothing program; and a meal in the Dining Room.

Your donation of $1000 can provide a full day of back-to-school check-ups in the clinic, a full children’s service in the clothing program, and a day’s worth of children’s meals in the Dining Room.