Yesterday I spotted this “Instant Hobo” Halloween costume on display at a dollar store in The Mission. I doubt I’m the only one who can spot the painful irony of this derogatorily named costume, given the economic hardships our country has faced this year.
More homelessness for Halloween? Now that’s really scary!
Yesterday Chris Daly, Supervisor for District 6 of San Francisco which includes the Tenderloin area, proposed a ban on lying on the sidewalks. This legislation differs from the proposed sit/lie law sponsored by Chief of Police Gascon and Mayor Gavin Newsom in that it doesn’t prohibit lying down, but telling lies while on the sidewalks.
Although far-fetched and a bit bizarre, Daly’s proposal portrays the equal ridiculousness of the sit/lie law which gives police the power to fine or arrest people for innocent behavior. In addition, sit/lie would criminalize certain groups including the poor and homeless.
Last Saturday, individuals and groups gathered peacefully all across the city of San Francisco to participate in Sidewalks are for People, a decentralized, city-wide event that encourages people to utilize their city sidewalks as places of community-building. Over 2 dozen events, including poetry workshops, bbqs and tea parties, occurred in all areas of the city and demonstrated how sit/lie would eliminate sidewalks as community space.
A sit/lie hearing will take place at City Hall on Monday, May 10th at 10:00am. Stand up for your right to sit down and oppose sit/lie.
We received word yesterday that after reviewing the legislative items on the upcoming state and local budgets that St. Anthony’s board has come to a decision on the items to focus on for the 09-10 advocacy season. These are the items that will most affect our low-income and homeless guests in the areas of hunger, health, housing and employment.
St. Anthony Foundation has a very unique role in advocating for the poor and homeless guests we serve. We do not receive any government funding, however we are affected by the cuts and closures of programs that do rely on that funding. When those programs are affected, our guests and community are affected. Our stance on the issues comes without financial tangles, and solely from a place of concern and care for the people we serve. In this role policy makers can engage with St. Anthony’s to discuss the critical needs of the people we serve, and we can help empower our clients and guests to provide testimony to our officials regarding policies that affect their lives.
So, as we do every year around this time, St. Anthony’s staff, supporters and guests get to studying. We get our background, we focus on the issues at hand and hope to educate and advocate for the services that are critical for the survival, self-sufficiency and success of our guests.
Ed Note: This week’s entry was written by Katie, St. Anthony’s intern from Dartmouth College. Next week marks her final days in San Francisco. We wish Katie well and thank her for spending her winter with us!
As my two months at St. Anthonys come to a close I find myself doing a lot of reflecting. There are many things I’m going to miss: my morning chats with Indian Joe, serving trays, handing out milk, and even folding countless tiny plastic bags at the ToGo station in the dining room. However, I’ve also been contemplating some of the important things I’ve learned.
One of the primary realizations that has dawned upon me is that none of us, including myself, is that far from being in a position to need a meal in the Dining Room. By putting together statistics I’ve learned in the grantwriting department, trips to Sacramento with Colleen (the amazing advocacy coordinator) to sit in on Senate hearings, and my experiences in the dining room I’ve come to a holistic understanding of just how easy it is to have the rug pulled out from under you, so to speak. Between the economic recession, budget cuts at the city and state level that target homeless and underprivileged populations, and insufficient healthcare, many people in San Francisco (and the country) are just one cavity, one fender bender, or one unplanned pregnancy away from homelessness.
Before I came to St. Anthonys I always had a vague assumption that I would never be in such a position, that people who worked hard would be able to stay solvent. However, I’ve come to see just how much (like rent, transportation, medical care, the ability to hold a job) can be out of our of personal control. This realization has allowed me to see that the guests at St. Anthonys are not necessarily unlike myself, and has brought me renewed appreciation for their cheerfulness and kindness throughout the past two months. Although I hope one day San Francisco will no longer need St. Anthonys, for now I am thankful for the wonderful work the foundation does and for the opportunity is has given me to learn.
San Francisco may be the next city to enforce sit/lie laws prohibiting people from inhabiting public sidewalk space. Mayer Gavin Newsom will be introducing his two new proposals to the Board of Supervisors today. One is modeled after sit/lie laws in the Pacific Northwest, affecting only commercial areas while the other is the first of its kind: a citywide decree prohibiting sitting or lying on any sidewalks. Anywhere.
In my hometown of Portland, OR a similar law was implemented a couple of years ago — and since then has been ruled unconstitutional. The law resulted in several cases of profiling against the homeless and poor. Often, tickets issued were contested and thrown out in court. I’ll be interested to see how it pans out here in San Fransisco…it’s hard to say a law won’t be profiling when it’s meant to target only a specific group of people.
Read more about the proposed laws here.
But there sure is a relationship between these two words! Very noticeably in the Tenderloin, where St. Anthony’s is located, the relationship between the terms is often described as “Food Insecurity,” (aka “hunger”). Many of our group volunteers who typically are here with us for a day, will often mention that some of our Dining Room guests pull food out of the “bus bin” as volunteers are circulating in the Dining Room (cleaning up the tables as folks finish their meal, so that incoming diners can sit down to eat). An initial reaction to this can stretch anywhere from pity to revulsion, but a deeper look sometimes affords a wider understanding. My colleagues and I welcome the opportunity to discuss this (and other observations people share with us) in our reflection sessions with the group volunteers.
I’m among those who are fortunate enough to know where their next meal is coming from, and even beyond that—what it will consist of—usually ingredients of my choosing. Even though St. Anthony’s Dining Room is open 7 days a week, everyday of the year, many of our guests can not count on a meal later in the day, or know for sure that they’ll be able to make it back “tomorrow.” Unless it’s early in the month when a fixed income check might afford some options, uncertainty about food (and shelter too) are understandably heightened. Understandably, yes; acceptable? No way!
On the other hand, there is a very good vision of food access in the Tenderloin. (And “good” DOES rhyme with “hood”!). Every Wednesday and Sunday in Civic Center Plaza, the Heart of the City Farmer’s Market is full of fresh and culturally diverse foods for sale. Most of this farmer’s market offering is much less expensive than other neighborhood outdoor markets. Even though most Farmer’s Markets finally do accept Food Stamp cards, the value reaches much farther when the costs are more affordable. And, there are NO big grocery stores in the area. South of Market you can find some, and you can find many little “corner stores” that are best known, most of them, for selling other than healthy, affordable foods. There are a few mini-marts, and there are some corner markets that do not sell alcohol, but these are far and few between. There aren’t so many household kitchens in the TL either, although folks may have microwaves, hot plates, rice cookers or crock pots.
I know my own spirits are lifted anytime I walk through “the Heart of the City” Farmer’s Market, which is always brimming with people who actually live in the ‘hood,’ doing their shopping, able then to easily push cart their groceries home. The “security” that comes from community being nourished in this way, is a signal recipe for serving the common good-in-the-hood!
From the Dining Room to the ‘Market, and back again, Bon apatite, my friends, for justice!
Ed. Note: Below is the first installment of a new Blog series called “From The Intern Desk …” This particular entry was written by Katie, our intern extraordinaire who is currently serving in the St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic, the Dining Room and the Development department:
Having grown up as a small town Midwesterner and even smaller-town college student (attending Dartmouth in the miniscule Hanover New Hampshire), the transition to the St. Anthony foundation in San Francisco has been an interesting one.
On Wednesday, January 20th the other interns and I participated in the “Homelessness Ends With a Home” rally and march. After taking the historic, if somewhat sluggish, cable car to the ferry building we came across a mass of people, chanting and holding up a variety of signs–the most common reading “house keys not handcuffs.” Although it was a cold and cloudy morning people had traveled from all over the west coast to attend this march. The crowd was a mix of currently homeless, previously homeless, advocates, non profit workers, and, like me, a few clueless people looking lost and out of place. As the afternoon progressed a series of speakers, singers, and poets stood on stage to talk about their hopes, demands, and experiences. As they spoke, and sometimes even screamed, I watched as the clouds gradually cleared from above our heads to let the elusive sun shine through, warming our soggy bodies. Maybe it was the sunlight, or the banners, or the energy of the crowd, but I finally began to realize how much this march meant to these people. It wasn’t merely a symbolic walk down Market Street, it represented the very survival and future of the people standing next to me, in a way I could probably never truly grasp.
As the march began a brass band started to play and people on megaphones led energetic chants. After a few blocks it started to sprinkle, then rain, and then pour. Although my first instinct was to complain, I quickly realized that if thousands of people had to live and sleep in these conditions, the least I could do was walk in them. After countless blocks, endless yelling, and hundreds of stares from bystanders, the march finally reached the federal building. The rally was an impressive and empowering experience, and I can only hope that it will make a small difference in the long-term fight against homelessness. It was a great pleasure to walk beside people with such passion, who were willing to fight to obtain what so many of us take for granted–a home.
The recent few days have seen record-breaking cold temps in the Bay Area. To top it off, cold/freezing rain is expected through the weekend. There’s seems to be a new “reflex” added to comments about how cold it is: “…but I’m blessed to have a roof over my head: how are those that don’t surviving in this weather?!” For an unfortunately growing number of years, the memorial service held in front of City Hall for homeless folks* who’ve died is devastating evidence that many don’t survive the street, (hypothermia & pneumonia are among the consequences of exposure).
“Empathy”—that buzz word that seems to have gotten an undeserved bad rap of late, is thank goodness, much in evidence as well, and is warming hearts at least, in these chilling times. Much of this empathy is revealing itself in the conversations that I’m having with our regular and our Holiday volunteers. Compassion and understanding are qualities expressed by our volunteers all along, but the “accent” on today’s economic challenges and conditions is coming through loud and clear. It’s humbling and encouraging to be in the healing mix of those who continue to “show up”, regardless of weather extremes and societal crises, aware but undaunted, and – in good spirits to boot!!! What’s more, no one can walk farther than yard or two in the “TL” these days without seeing one local “Santa” after the next, with that tell-tale red hat donning the heads of so many of our neighbors! Good spirits, indeed!
I’d like to close my Dec blog with a quote that I came across recently:
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness… And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. Howard Zinn, Activist, teacher, & author of “A People’s History of the United States (1980).”
I chased down the etymology of the word “volunteer” today, and it’s root and branches have everything to do with freely willing (to serve). I’d say there’s no doubt that volunteers “make history” everyday with their free and willing service of “compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness…” And, as for those informal community moments—anytime, anyone “volunteers” a sign of hope—even when that is a “signature December hat”… my hat’s off to you!
Healing Holidays and a hope-filled New Year to one and all!
* This year’s Memorial Service for those that have died on the street will be once again on Winter Solstice, December 21st, Civic Center at 5:30pm. It’s organized by NetWork Ministries and the Coalition on Homelessness. Bring a candle and your caring heart.
St. Anthony’s new campaign debuts today alongside the scores of news articles confirming what we’ve already been saying for the past two years: Homelessness is on the rise.
The stereotypes of homelessness bare little resemblance to the new faces we’re seeing here at St. Anthony’s. Homelessness and poverty is happening to people of all walks of life.
Want to respond to the economic crisis? Make an online gift to St. Anthony’s today.
The San Francisco Quilters’ Guild had their annual show last weekend, (which I believe we will hear more about in tomorrow’s blog) and the senior ladies from St. Anthony’s Madonna Residence were invited to display their most recent quilting projects. It was really great to see the women come out and show their work. What was unexpectedly impacting to me, was seeing the work that St. Anthony’s does in a broader social context.
Usually coming to work throughout the week, my view of our services is from the perspective of someone on the inside. I know the statistics of homelessness and poverty, understand the advocacy work, I have heard the personal stories of guests that come through our programs, been around on the holidays and celebrated with folks here in the Dining Room. Yet this weekend offered a new perspective, away from “home turf.”