Times are hard and you have your own worries. But you know that times aren’t any easier for the people who come to St. Anthony Foundation for help.

We have some easy ways you can keep giving, or even give more, to buy food, clothing, and medical care for your low-income neighbors. Here’s Easy Giving Number 2.

If you work for a company or corporation that gives you an option to give through them, ask about the Workplace Giving Campaign kick-off.

Perhaps your company does work place giving by email alone.

But if they run a company campaign to get employees to give – if they hold meetings or parties or presentations – they will be grateful for speaker suggestions.

Suggest us. We can present at any forum, giving fair, or kick-off event in San Francisco and a little beyond.

You’ll add your co-workers’ support to your own gift to St. Anthony’s. You’ll give us a chance to reach your colleagues who don’t know us yet.

Ask your Human Resources staff who does this at your company. Talk to your work place giving campaign organizers and ask them to invite a speaker from St. Anthony Foundation to make a presentation at the kick-off event.

If people like you take simple steps like this, we really will get through the hard times, together.

Why is it that so many people who come to St. Anthony’s to help end up thanking US? The folks from Interaction Associates worked a shift in the Dining Room toward the end of the month (always the most hectic time), thanked us profusely, and are coming back for more.

In many ways, it’s not a mystery. Most people like St. Anthony Foundation once they get in the door. That’s when they discover that all the talk about community at St. Anthony’s isn’t just talk.

And it helps that IA is in the people business. They train leaders in group process, facilitation, and collaborative cultures. Their workshops help companies build teams, grow leaders, navigate change, and increase corporate responsibility.

Three of their values on a list of 7 are “stakeholder voice,” “social responsibility,” and “human dignity.” This sounds familiar.

Interaction people intended to leave early for a team pot luck instead of the usual lunch with our guests, but when the time came, it was hard to get them out of the Dining Room. We had urged a short reflection session on them, very short, to accommodate their schedule, but they just kept, well, interacting.

They want to come back to make gift bags for Dining Room guests. They’ve already collected 200 pairs of new socks and 100 sets of unopened toiletries. We’re talking together about a possible fundraising event.

The email that explained all this to me ended “Once again, THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU and we are very excited about helping out in the future.”

I’m not confused. I understand how it feels down there in the Dining Room. But this is my chance to say, “Thank you, friends, and thanks to Interaction Associates for taking the time.”

Times are hard and you have your own worries. But you know that times aren’t any easier for the people who come to St. Anthony Foundation for help. We have some easy ways you can keep giving, or even give more, to buy food, clothing, and medical care for your low-income neighbors. Here’s Easy Giving Number 1.

If you work for a corporation or large company, find out if they match employee donations to non-profits.

Ask your Human Resources staff for the form. Enclose it with your next gift to St. Anthony Foundation. We’ll complete the form and return it to your company.

(Check it first for questions we might not know the answer to and fill those out for us.)

If your company runs an employer matching gifts program, you will double your gift without giving a dollar more. That will mean your money buys twice the meals, twice the doctor visits, twice the job coaching sessions.

If people like you take simple steps like this, we really will get through the hard times, together.

We’ve been so encouraged to see our friends stand by the poor when they are feeling the crunch themselves. They tell us that if they’re having trouble now, they know our guests must really be struggling.

Here are some easy ways you can help St. Anthony Foundation meet urgent needs in hard times.

Sign up for a small monthly gift. Click here and sign up for a small electronic gift which can become a regular, painless part of your home budget.

Match your gift with your employer. If you work for a company or corporation, find out if they match employee gifts to non-profits. Get a form from your Human Resources department and enclose it with your donation to St. Anthony’s.

Invite St. Anthony Foundation to your work place giving kick-off. Talk to your work place giving organizers and ask them to invite a speaker from St. Anthony Foundation to make a presentation at the event.

Throw a house party for St. Anthony’s. Invite friends, members of your church or congregation, or members of your club or professional association to your home.  Get materials and giving envelopes from St. Anthony Foundation. Serve food. Enjoy yourself and your company.

Do a sock drive or toiletry drive. Our guests always need new socks and personal care products. Always. Collect new socks, new toothbrushes, or unopened travel shampoo, lotion, and bath gel from your friends or co-workers. Deliver them to our Clothing and Housewares Program at 101 8th Street (@ Mission).

We’re fortunate to have such determined friends. Because of people who think like this, we really will get through hard times. Together.

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.