Turkey Bowl

Two days prior to Thanksgiving, pro bowlers, sports celebrities and the community gathered together at Serra Bowl in Daly City to volunteer their time and skills as they bowled strikes for turkeys at the eleventh annual Turkey Bowl. This event raises money to buy turkeys to benefit the St. Anthony Dining Room as well as the North Peninsula Food Pantry & Dining Center of Daly City. Rex Golobic and his family – the owners of Serra Bowl – created this event to help feed the hungry over the holidays.  It has been successful since its very beginning and over 1,000 turkeys are contributed every year to help those in need.

Nancy Pelosi visits the Dining Room

On the day before Thanksgiving, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her grandchildren graciously volunteered in our Dining Room. She has been donating her time to St. Anthony’s for many years and we are very thankful for her support. After serving, Pelosi reflected that “On Thanksgiving, we come together with family and friends to honor a spirit of gratitude: offering thanks for the blessings in our lives; giving back to the less fortunate in our communities.” Congresswoman Pelosi and her family captured the spirit of giving that we at St. Anthony’s cherish so much.

Turkey Carve

Later that day, recently re-elected Mayor Edwin Lee, Police Chief Greg Suhr, and Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White joined St. Anthony Chefs to put the final touches on our 61^st Thanksgiving Day meal.  The Mayor, Chiefs, and uniformed members of the San Francisco Police and Fire Departments carved the last of 4,800 pounds of turkey and added the final garnish of whipped cream to our 4,000 pumpkin pies.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving Day and all other days, St. Anthony’s opens its doors to any and all San Franciscans.  Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, joined over a hundred volunteers and thousands of guests to serve and enjoy a delicious meal prepared for 4,000.  As St. Anthony’s prepares to serve a growing number of needy residents, Executive Director Shari Roeseler commented, “These are difficult times.  At St. Anthony’s we see increasing numbers of people seeking services from all of our programs. The dining room alone saw a 15% jump in the number of guests in October.  Despite the challenges people of San Francisco are facing, I also see hope on a daily basis as donors, volunteers, and guests come together to celebrate the holiday season.” The Dining Room was full of hope and holiday cheer on Thanksgiving Day, as guests ate all the food off their plates, had second helpings of pumpkin pie, took more food home for leftovers, and walked out of St. Anthony’s with full stomachs and smiling faces.

With 4,800 pounds of turkey, 1,250 pounds of mashed potatoes, 1,250 pounds of yams, 1,000 pounds of stuffing, 4,000 individual pumpkin pies and more, this may have been one of the biggest thanksgiving meals you’ve ever seen!

Have you ever tried to explain why a website crashed to someone who is terrified of touching a computer?  Or maybe you want to know how Facebook and Twitter emerged as the tipping points in toppling the regime of the former President of Egypt?  If you ever ask yourself these questions or wonder how social media (like Facebook and Twitter) can change our world, you might have found some answers at St. Anthonyís symposium, Social Change 3.0:  Transforming the world one click at a time.

Roughly 140 people, representing a diverse group of nonprofits, businesses, and venture capitalists, convened at The Hub on Mission Street last Tuesday to be regaled by stories, facts, and anecdotes from experts in social media who use these tools every day to create positive change in our world.

Our panelists shared myriad examples of ways we are changing the world every day: Jake Levitas, Research Director at the Gray Area Foundation, opened the evening with a sharp perspective on how social media can influence our democratic process. “Our current model of democracy is thousands of years in the making. Today we’re in a modality of instant change.”

Megan Trotter, Manager of the Tenderloin Technology Lab, highlighted the importance of digital inclusion within the arc of innovation. “Technology is important, but equally important is the human contact needed to help people learn how to use it.” (more…)

Can using social media like Facebook and Twitter really change the world? Or are we losing ourselves in a world of constant distraction? If you have ever wondered how nonprofits balance technology innovation without losing their personal touch, join us for an exciting discussion on this topic. Our panelists include Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.org and more recently craigconnects; Sam Birney, a senior engineer for Kiva.org; Jake Levitas, Program Director for the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts; Megan Trotter, Manager of the Tenderloin Technology Lab; and Ossama Hassanein, CEO of the Rising Tide Foundation in San Jose.

Where: 5M Building/Hub; 925 Mission Street; San Francisco,CA 94103
When: Tuesday, July 19th: 7pm - 9pm

Find out more/rsvp on our Facebook page or contact St. Anthony’s Events Manager, Leigh James:
ljames@stanthonysf.org    415.592.2768

Giving is contagious. This is especially true in the internet age, when an audience can multiply at the push of a button and social media like Facebook and Twitter make it fun to spread the word.

St. Anthony’s put out a few requests this year that “went viral,” sometimes without the help of the internet. If you ever think your gift is too small or your project too limited to make a difference, think again. It just might catch on.

Blogging for Socks

St. Anthony programs are always asking for socks. Every program at St. Anthony’s gives out socks, an urgent need of most of our guests.

One such request was picked up by Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist) and broadcast on his blog. The result was a nationwide response and enough socks to make up the gap for our Christmas gift bags. Children’s socks are still coming in regularly from Planet Sox in New York. Long after Christmas, but well into winter, our Free Medical Clinic and Free Clothing Program still give away children’s socks in bright colors and cartoon patterns, as well as flip flops, slippers, and sunglasses, to the families we serve.

craigslist founder Craig Newmark joined Julien Cornil from Comcast to visit the Tenderloin Technology Lab today to see firsthand the dramatic improvement in the Tenderloin Technology Lab’s internet speed. This improvement resulted from Craig’s first tour of the Tenderloin Technology Lab and his follow up effort to connect us with the right people at Comcast.

Craig joined students in one of our daily basic computer skills classes who were learning how to navigate the features of Craigslist. Craig spoke to the class about his role in the company and answered some of the students’ questions.

Thanks to the generosity of Craig and Comcast, we at the Tenderloin Technology Lab have greatly improved our efficiency to provide residents of the Tenderloin with technology skills that increase opportunities for employment, access to essential community resources, and connections with family and friends. The Tenderloin Technology Lab is a partnership between St. Anthony Foundation and SF Network Ministries.

Craig Newmark just visited us at the St. Anthony Dining Room. What a gracious fellow. We talked about the digital divide and how to get more people on line so they can get jobs.  As Craig left the Dining Room, someone extented their hand to him an said “Are you Craig from Craigslist? I got my last job from Craigslist. Actually, I got my last 5 or 6 jobs from Craigslist.”  We are trying to make that happen at the Tenderloin Tech Lab with Network Ministries, and Craig is obviously making that happen on his end.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA The sound of revving engines will be a call to start carving turkeys on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 when the Hells Angels come to St. Anthony Dining Room to help out for one of St. Anthony’s biggest days of the year. And on Thanksgiving Thursday the historic nonprofit will serve more than 3,500 turkey dinners to the poor and homeless; even Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is stopping by to lend a hand.

“With the economy in the state it has been the last 2 years, we anticipate many more people will be spending Thanksgiving at St. Anthony’s,” noted St. Anthony’s Interim Executive Director Linda Pasquinucci. “We are very thankful that more volunteers and donors are coming through the doors as well, because we have never needed them more.”

In conjunction, St. Anthony’s 22nd annual curbside donation drive is kicking off on Saturday November 21st at 9am, where clean, cared-for warm clothing, canned or dried bulk foods, and monetary donations can be dropped off to St. Anthony’s “donation valets”. As more and more people turn to the 59-year old non-profit for basic necessities as a result of the current economic crisis, the support from everyday citizens is needed.

For 59 years St. Anthony Foundation has provided free, life sustaining support for the poor and homeless. St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway to solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2,600 meals every day, an Employment Program/ Technology Lab, Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program, and a Free Medical Clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely funded by private donations.

Tune in on Thanksgiving Day to KGO AM 810 between 12pm-2pm for KGO’s 21st Annual Thanksgiving Charities Drive.  Hosted by radio celebrity Gil Gross, the show will be airing live from St. Anthony Dining Room, where regulars, volunteers, and special guests (like Craigslist founder Craig Newmark ) will share their holiday stories. The show is part of a holiday season fundraiser for St. Anthony’s and 3 other Bay Area organizations (St. Vincent De Paul Free Dining Facility in Oakland, Sacred Heart Community Services in San Jose, and Fresh Start in Walnut Creek.).