Christmas Curbside Donation Drive Starts Next Weekend:

Saturday, December 17th – Saturday, December 24th!

St. Anthony’s 24^th Annual Christmas Curbside Donation Drive begins on Saturday, December 17^th. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars! Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

Your donation of NEW SOCKS, clean and ready-to-wear clothing, canned and dried foods are all much needed and appreciated! And if you’ve been working on hand knit scarves as holiday gifts to our guests, bring them in!

WHEN: December 17th-24th, 2011 – Weekends from 9-3 & Weekdays from 8-6

WHERE: St. Anthony Foundation - 105 Golden Gate @ Jones

NEEDED ITEMS:

Clothing
We need all kinds of clothing for men, women, and children – our most critical needs are for the following items:

Socks, Shoes
Underwear
Winter coats
Jackets
Hats

Monetary Donations

St. Anthony’s is happy to accept cash or checks for donation during Curbside and is prepared to issue receipts onsite for tax purposes.

ITEMS WE CANNOT ACCEPT:

Empty clothes hangers
Knick knacks
Used toys
Children’s car seats
Furniture
Medical equipment
Dirty, stained or torn items
Books and magazines
Exercise/sports equipment
Housewares
Computers, electronics

If you have any questions about donations, please call us at (415) 241-2600.

And in case you’d like to volunteer and join us for the holidays, call the St. Anthony Holiday Line at 415-592-2829. We look forward to seeing you!

To kick off the season of giving, St. Anthony’s will launch our 24^th annual Curbside Donation Program.  Each year, St. Anthony’s relies on the generosity of people all over the Bay Area to donate clean, cared-for warm clothing, canned or dried bulk foods, and monetary donations.  Our donation valets, clad in bright red jackets, will gladly greet donors curbside at St. Anthony’s to receive donations.

This year, St. Anthony’s would like to send a special thanks to our friends at the Institute on Aging.  What began as a small gesture of generosity several years ago has grown exponentially through the tireless efforts of their staff and supporters.  We are blessed to have the IOA as members of the St. Anthony community and we wish them hope and happiness this holiday season.

Curbside donations begin tomorrow at 9 A.M.  Have a wonderful weekend!

St. Anthony’s 24th Curbside Holiday Donation Drive kicks off on Saturday, November 19th. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars! Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

Your donation of turkeys, clean and gently worn clothing, canned and dried foods are all much needed and appreciated!

WHEN:
November 19th-24th AND December 17th-24th

• Weekdays from 8-6
• Weekends from 9-3

WHERE:
St. Anthony Foundation
105 Golden Gate @ Jones

NEEDED ITEMS:

Clothing
We need all kinds of clothing for men, women, and children – our most critical needs are for the following items:

Socks, Shoes
Underwear
Winter coats
Jackets
Hats

Monetary Donations
St. Anthony’s is happy to accept cash or checks for donation during Curbside and is prepared to issue receipts onsite for tax purposes.

Other
We also need these items:

Shopping bags – with handles
Blankets, comforters, sleeping bags
Luggage, bags, backpacks
Toiletries – new only, please
Towels, washcloths
Stuffed animals – good condition only
Children’s toys – new only, please
Strollers – in good condition
Canes – not crutches, walkers, wheelchairs

Items We Cannot Accept
Empty clothes hangers
Knick knacks
Used toys
Children’s car seats
Furniture
Medical equipment
Dirty, stained or torn items
Books and magazines
Exercise/sports equipment
Housewares
Computers, electronics

If you have any questions about donations, please call us at (415) 241-2600.

And in case you’d like to volunteer and join us for the holidays, call the St. Anthony Holiday Line at 415-592-2829. We look forward to seeing you this holiday season!

When St. Anthony’s staffers coined the phrase “knitting is the new smoking”, they had no idea the impact of their brace themselves for the new year, St. Anthony’s is preparing as well by stocking up on donations of food and clothing that will be in even greater demand in the new year. St Anthony’s 23rd Curbside Holiday Donation re-opens on Saturday, December 18th, 2010 until December 24th. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars. Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

Among the most cherished items that will be collected are hand-knit scarves which will be given out to Dining Room guests on Christmas Day. To date, over 5,000 scarves have been received from 20 states. The curbside donation drive opens on Saturday, December 18th 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 60-year old non-profit for basic necessities as a result of the current economic crisis, the support from everyday citizens is needed, welcomed, and appreciated.

For 60 years, St. Anthony’s has offered a gateway out of poverty through a network of life-sustaining services. By addressing immediate needs such as hunger and clothing, as well as long term needs such as employment, drug and alcohol addiction, and physical and mental health, St. Anthony’s supports people in need as they pursue training, work, sobriety, and purpose. St. Anthony’s does not accept any federal, state, or local government support. We are entirely funded by private donations. (more…)

And what a holiday donation drive it was. The Ramallah Club kicked off the giving spree on the first day with 96 turkeys.  Eighteen young people from The Joint Youth Ministry came all the way from San Jose with 26 bags of clothing which some of them spent their day sorting and bagging while others unloaded donations from people driving up to our doors with food and clothing for our guests.  We received a record 1163 turkies over the week before Thanksgiving and hundreds of deliveries of clothing and toiletries over Christmas week.

Our friends heard our cry for socks. More than 3,000 pairs, in every size, color, and pattern, with plenty of plain but very warm crew socks and work socks to fill Christmas gift bags for all the guests who came to the Dining Room. Gymboree donated hats, chocolate, bags, and labels that said “Happy Holidays” and put the bags together. The Palace Hotel came through with 2800 mineral washes for the bags and cartons of other useful gifts for St. Anthony residential programs. The Hilton and other hotels gave shampoo and lotion. And Jane and John Doe just kept giving and giving and giving.

Anything that didn’t go into a gift bag will be given to our guests for months to come, as the rains continue and the cold grows sharper. This is how the 5,000 get fed. And clothed and healed and living better, safer lives: when people of good will are not too afraid for themselves to open their hands and share what they can.

At St. Anthony Dining Room we are a buzz preparing a Christmas feast for 4,000 of our friends, family and community here in the Tenderloin.

And we could not have done it with out you. Your response to our call for food and socks means that every guest who comes on Christmas will get a delicious filling meal and a gift bag with socks and other necessities. The cans of food, peanut butter and tuna are filling our pantry shelves which will help fill the cupboards of seniors and families in need.

Your support makes a difference this holiday season, and in the year to come. When you make a gift to St. Anthony’s you make a change in someone’s life. Whether it provides food that day, groceries for that month, doctor visit for an uninsured child, or life-changing recovery and job training, you can know that your support is a gift that meets real needs.

Thank you for reaching together with St. Anthony Foundation to extend this season of hope to all.

Gymboree was here on Monday to fill 2200 bags with 2200 warm hats and 2200 chocolate bars they brought for our guests. They completed 1,000 bags with socks and travel shampoo donated by others, as well. The Palace Hotel has now donated 2700 bath gels to add to each bag.

WE STILL NEED 1200 NEW SOCKS, TRAVEL SHAMPOOS AND TRAVEL LOTIONS BEFORE DECEMBER 24.

Men’s crew socks or other warm socks are the best; women can wear them, too. (But new women’s and children’s socks won’t go to waste at St. Anthony’s.) Travel shampoo and lotion should be unopened.

If you’re thinking of doing a drive, if you’ve haven’t opened the shampoo or lotion you picked up on your last trip, if you’re shopping at a drug store or chain store for something else and can buy a few travel size shampoos or lotions or a package of new socks, please bring them over to 150 Golden Gate Avenue and tell the Front Desk Guy (Eric or Darren or Jerry) that they’re for gift bags.

Or you can wait until December 19 – 23 and bring them to Curbside, our special holiday donation drive. Just drive up to 119 Golden Gate (other side of the street from the offices). Volunteers will be waiting to take them in and give you a receipt.

Sign up to work Curbside, and you may end up filling bags yourself. Contact Alina: 415-592-2737 or atrowbridge@stanthonysf.org

I only wish you could be here to see how our guests react. Thank you in advance.

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.

AS UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS, MORE GO HUNGRY
ST. ANTHONY’S HOSTS 22ND ANNUAL CURBSIDE DRIVE TO HELP MEET THE NEED FOR SAN FRANCISCO

With the unemployment rate at its highest rate since 1983, organizations like St. Anthony’s have become critical in helping everyday people meeting their needs of basics such as food, warm clothing, and medical care.

To help meet the need, St. Anthony’s is preparing for its 22nd anniversary of St. Anthony’s Curbside Holiday Drive. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars. Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

“We have 35% more people coming for emergency boxes and 60% more people coming to our clothing program than we did a year ago. And we continue to be amazed and heartened by the generosity of those with even a little extra stepping up to help meet the need,” noted St. Anthony Foundation Executive Director Linda Pasquinucci.

St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway for solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2600 meals every day, a free clothing program, a technology lab,  residential drug and alcohol recovery program, and a free medical clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money for its programs, and is entirely funded by private donations. (more…)

There’s something about the holidays that switches people’s giving instincts from Cash to Carry. (Yes, people do have an instinct to give.)

They want to give objects more than money. Maybe it’s the idea of a giving a present rather than something that looks like payment. More likely, it’s because they’re already out shopping.

St. Anthony Foundation can always use objects. And during Thanksgiving and Christmas week, we make it easy for you to donate. Drive up to 119 Golden Gate (between Leavenworth and Jones) and pull over. Volunteers will unload your donations and give you a receipt.

VOLUNTEER: Unload donations from arriving cars. Sort items to get them to the right St. Anthony program and onward to our guests. Organize a donation drive at your school or worksite.

Company groups:  415-592-2737 or email atrowbridge@stanthonysf.org
Individuals, families:  415-592-2829

DONATE
Food
Turkeys, hams, and other large meats
25 lb. bags of rice, beans or flour
#10 cans of almost anything: beans, tomatoes, etc.
Family and individual size canned goods:
Tuna, canned meat, hearty soups, vegetables

Clothing
New socks
New underwear
Travel size toiletries: shampoo, bath gel, lotion
Blankets
Ready-to-use clothing, especially men’s, especially jeans

DON’T BRING
Housewares (even small ones)
Furniture (including baby furniture)
Baby car seats
Thank you and we’re sorry, but we can no longer accept these items.

DATES
Saturday, November 21 – Thanksgiving, November 26
Saturday, December 19 –Thursday, December 24
Weekdays 8:00 AM  – 6:00 PM
Weekends 9:00 – 3:00

Oh yeah. We take money, too.