Football legend Jerry Rice huddles with E.D. Shari Roeseler and Fr. John Hardin

Players from the University of Illinois Fighting Illini joined the front lines in the fight against hunger at St. Anthony’s on Friday, December 30th, serving nearly 3,000 meals – generously provided by the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl – to some of San Francisco’s neediest individuals and families. One of the best moments of the day was also the least planned; players erupted in a freestyle jam session with a piano virtuoso who regularly eats in our Dining Room. This performance has become a viral sensation on YouTube as it makes it way around the world. We knew the Illini would be great athletes; little did we know they would be such incredible performers, too! Check out their performance here.

Congratulations to the Fighting Illini, who went on to beat UCLA 20-14 in a hard-fought game at AT&T Park.

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!

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!

I had the honor of joining Mayor Ed Lee at a press conference this morning where he introduced the Season of Giving.  St. Anthony’s, Glide and Self-Help for the Elderly were invited to speak at this event, where Mayor Lee encouraged everyone to “Step Up” and give.  These are difficult times and 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 many challenges people of San Francisco are facing, I also see hope on a daily basis.

St. Anthony’s, Mayor Lee, and many other social service agencies know that San Francisco has long had a commitment to care for those who are struggling.  When you make a financial donation or you volunteer with your time, you instill hope in our guests. Next week, Mayor Lee will be volunteering at St. Anthony’s alongside Police Chief Greg Suhr, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, and members of the SFPD and SFFD to help prepare our Thanksgiving meal.  Now more than ever, we need to believe in one another and give the gift of hope.  The Season of Giving is a time to share and come together. It is a season that truly never ends especially in a city as generous and caring as San Francisco.

Shari Roeseler,
Executive Director

Sean Chester, a summer intern who spent a lot of time volunteering in the Dining Room as well as some of St. Anthony’s other programs, remembers “my work in the Dining Room included being a bus boy, serving food, directing servers, and eating food. Among all the work and action, I made an infinite amount of friends that inspire me, believe in me, and respect me. I soaked up the experience, embraced the memories, and had such an amazing time.” Theresa Martin, another intern who spent one day/week volunteering in the Dining Room said “The relationships I’ve formed with the guests in the Dining Room, the volunteers and guys from the [Fr. Alfred Center, St. Anthony’s Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Program], and the other interns have been awesome. I feel like I have been welcomed into the community at St. Anthony’s and become a part of the family that it is. For that, I am grateful.” Much like Sean and Theresa, our volunteers often get more out of the experience than they gave. They find themselves embraced by the community here at St. Anthony’s, and quickly feel like they are part of the family.

So we would like to thank all of our volunteers, whether you have been here once or one thousand times. Your work has left a lasting mark on our Dining Room and the thousands of guests who call it their home.

If you or your group (school, company, church, club, etc.) are interested in volunteering, click here.

At St. Anthony Foundation we connect low income patients with fresh foods so they have a chance to meet personal as well as nationwide community health goals. Our social work center guides clients in where and how to use their food stamps to purchase produce from local farmers markets. Our Fresh Fruits and Veggies program connects Medical Clinic patients with healthy food options, which we in turn teach patients how to prepare during our Clinic Cooking Classes. These classes are geared towards diabetic and overweight patients looking to manage their diets and offer tasty recipes that are low in sugar, salt, and fat. In our Dining Room, meals area always served with a vegetable and a side of fresh fruit.

At St. Anthony Foundation we aim to make healthy food options accessible for patients and clients by connecting them with services and providing healthy, nutritious meals. It is our hope that one day healthy food will be an option for everyone — not simply those with greater economic means.

We asked him a few questions to get to know him a little better:

What’s your favorite dish to cook at home? Enchiladas.

What’s your guilty pleasure? Lots of ice cream.

What dish is surprisingly easy to make? Any kind of soup.

In your experience at St. Anthony’s, what’s the most popular menu item? Baked bone-in chicken!

Have there been any interesting moments while working here? It’s not really a moment, but my friends are always surprised at how many St. Anthony’s guests I know and say “Hello” to while walking around the city.

What’s different about cooking for St. Anthony’s guests? They’re not afraid to compliment–or give pointers to–the chef.

The Dining Room staff says your chocolate chip cookies are the best. Are they just buttering you up for more? Nope. They are the best!

Many thanks to Jason and our talented chefs, Kevin, Lien and Luis, for keeping us all coming back for seconds.

In the Footsteps of St. Francis

Fear and doubt are strange emotions. They can stop us in our tracks from taking an unfamiliar step; from heeding our heart’s desire; from venturing forth with courage and confidence; from falling with abandon into the reliable arms of the One who created All.

St. Francis, upon his conversion, must have experienced some pricklings of both fear and doubt as he turned away from the privileged, unexamined life he had known, eyes opened by the inanities and cruelties of war and by the graceless poverty and suffering God revealed to him.

And yet, Francis stood humbly before Sultan and Pope, filled with the Power that comes from the One, and the world turned as a result. Francis of The Leper, Francis of the Begging Bowl, Francis of the Re-Turn to the Rightness of Creation.

This is what has inspired me over the 22 years I have been associated with the St. Anthony Foundation. I arrived at St. Anthony’s Dining Room in September of ‘89 full of fear and doubt, and thus began the shifting of my world view.

1) Celia, a heavily pierced and tattooed Dining Room volunteer, taught me the lesson of turning toward what we fear and don’t understand instead of away. Our mutual hello led to several years of on-going friendship outside the Dining Room.

2) Larry, a very frail, mentally-impaired man with notoriously poor hygiene, taught me that even I can offer up a prayer on the street when asked to enter into that Sacred Space by one considered an Untouchable.

3) Patty and Walt, Dining Room guests, taught me you can’t be too bold when asking for help, as they beseeched me to assist with getting the Living Room back in service, for surely “there’s a lot of money out there – can’t you get somebody to donate some?”

4) James taught me that sometimes we get called to do things we cannot imagine, like becoming someone’s “Person,” bulldogging the system to get what’s needed, being there on the way into the operating room and ultimately, distributing all that remains of the worldly goods.

5) Tommy taught me how you get old when you’re poor and how joy manages to remain even though clouded by multiple veils. Our last visits together included lots of coffee, coke and chocolate. Once again, I was the one who received the call of the passing of a Dear One.

6) A woman on the streets taught me to understand what it means to truly rest in the embrace of the One as she exuberantly cried “I’m blessed!, I’m blessed!!” when I asked her, “how’re you doin?”

7) The residents of Father Alfred Center have taught me that even if you fail once, you should keep on trying, no matter how hard it is, because next time things might work out.

Every time I jumped over the River of Fear and Doubt, I have been richly rewarded, for the terrain on the other side has added to what I know of the world. I learned these things and so much more by direct encounter and I am grateful that God kept calling me to come to St. Anthony’s so many years ago, grateful that I learned to walk with instead of walk by.

Francis stood in all humility, which was the source of the power of his message. Before Sultan and Pope, the Power of Francis broke minds open.  Before the Leper, the Compassion of Francis healed broken spirits. Before the Privileged, the Begging Bowl of Francis moved hearts to share.

What didn’t come today would surely come tomorrow. What was needed would surely come in time. What seems impossible to do will surely be done.

So, to “Celia” and “Larry,” and “Patty and Walt” and James and Tommy and the Blessed Woman, and the guys at Father Alfred Center, I say thank you for being vessels through which I have encountered St. Francis. I thank the Board for the opportunity to have served. May we all be blessed with opportunities to “walk with,” to extend our Begging Bowls in humble confidence, and for hearts and minds open to the lessons the One puts before us, helping us see the Kingdom as it was meant to be.