This December, Congress has some important decisions to make — decisions that will have a significant impact on the number of people experiencing poverty in the United States. If Congress does nothing, Unemployment Insurance and payroll tax cuts will expire at the end of the month.

It is rare that Congress is faced with a decision that would almost immediately save a large number of Americans from needlessly experiencing poverty. Analysis from the venerable Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that extending the payroll tax cut will help keep 1.1 million Americans — low-income workers and their families — out of poverty.

Congress also has a chance to help people who are currently unemployed from falling into poverty.  Last year at this time, Congress and President Obama extended Unemployment Insurance for 12 months, a move that kept more than 3 million Americans out of poverty.   The extension of Unemployment Insurance that was passed last December will expire at the end of this month.   If Unemployment Insurance is not extended, many struggling unemployed people may lose their Unemployment benefits before finding new jobs.  Unemployment rates are still high and many unemployed people have been searching for work for a very long time. In fact, research from the Pew Economic Policy Group shows that more than half of the long-term unemployed have been looking for employment for more than 12 months.

Not only do Unemployment Insurance and the Payroll Tax cut help to keep struggling people out of poverty, they also provide a much-needed stimulus to our economy.

Your Congressional representatives should hear from you on this important issue.  Our friends at Network: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby have an easy-to-use form that allows you to send a message to your representatives.

A recent article in the Washington Post has brought to light what many of us who are familiar with social services already know: millions of people across the U.S. are having to wait weeks or even months for food assistance.

The recession has contributed to huge caseload increases for the Food Stamp Program:  A record 40 million people currently receive Food Stamps nation-wide.  Administrative delays, bureaucratic red tape, and the overwhelming demand for food assistance have been offered as excuses for the backlog.   But the reality is that hunger can’t wait.  As one Food Stamp applicant stated, “I understand they say government is slow, but people are starving”.

When people can’t access government benefits like Food Stamps, where do they turn?  Anyone familiar with St. Anthony Foundation’s services knows the answer to that question: people turn to community-based emergency food programs like our dining room and our food pantry.   Is it any wonder that our Dining Room has been serving an unprecedented amount of food at the same time that our federally-funded Food Stamp program has seen unprecedented growth?

St. Anthony Foundation doesn’t just provide food for people in need.  We also work with our law makers to try to improve government programs that assist the poor.  Over the past five years that I’ve worked at St. Anthony’s, we’ve advocated to simplify, streamline, and de-stigmatize California’s Food Stamp program.  We’ve also worked hard to help our legislators and community members to understand that Food Stamps are an important part of our local economic recovery.  Food Stamps don’t just assist the poor; they also provide a stimulus for local food sellers as well as a boost to local government coffers.

A hungry community can’t be a strong and healthy community. That’s why we at St. Anthony Foundation provide immediate food assistance through direct services like our Dining Room. That’s also why we advocate for a stronger safety net and for a just society where all people have the chance to flourish.

Believe it or not, after a hectic holiday season with very generous clothing and food donations, St. Anthony’s Free Clothing Program urgently needs more clothes. Now.

Check your closets. Do a drive with your co-workers or neighbors.

• Men’s clothing
• Women’s clothing
• Children’s clothing
• Baby clothing (but not furniture)
• New underwear
• New socks
• Toiletries, new and unopened
• Clean and ready to wear
• No stains, no tears (except jeans; fashionable), no missing buttons

Also blankets, sleeping bags, towels, and canes (but not furniture).

Bring them to the Free Clothing Program @ 101 8th Street and Mission. Call Ty Hilkert at 415-592-2826 or email thilkert@stanthonysf.org with questions or for a fuller list of what we take and don’t take.

A lot of people will be very grateful.

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!

New numbers from the National Academy of Science reveal an alarming 15.8 percent of Americans are below the federal poverty line. Original US Census Bureau numbers set the percentage at 13.2 percent—and underestimate of about 7 million people.

That means 1 in 6 Americans are living in poverty.

The US Census Bureau has not updated formula parameters for calculating poverty to reflect economic change since 1955; thus, increased costs of medical care, childcare, transportation as well as cost of living as it varies by geographic location are not accurately factored in to calculations.

This raises the question: how then is poverty defined? Since the 1960s the government has marked poverty in absolute terms, independent of outside factors and events. The US Census Bureau defines individuals or families who are below the “absolute poverty line” are considered to have insufficient resources to meet basic needs for healthy living and are without sufficient income for food, shelter, and clothing necessary to preserve health.

Absolute poverty line thresholds vary depending on collective income and number of family members, but generally if a family’s total income is less than its calculated “threshold” then they are considered poor.

These inflexible measures primarily overlooked people 65 and older—a growing population that is increasingly suffering from financial crisis due to health care costs.

As the US Census Bureau reexamines its methods for evaluating the citizen’s economic state, perhaps more important is our evaluation of the needs of 47.4 million impoverished Americans.

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.

Many people think of poverty programs as schools or hospitals. Poor people come to the program, they use the tools they are given, they graduate from poverty. They find the cause of their poverty, they are cured.  The next group comes in.

At St. Anthony’s we have thousands of guests who do graduate. They learn new skills or they learn to speak English. They get clean and sober or they get health insurance. They find a job that will allow them to live independently.

But many of our guests face multiple barriers to participating in society. They live with both physical disabilities and mental health problems. They struggle with an addiction and they struggle with illiteracy. They are elderly, which is not a disease and has no cure.

These are the guests we hope to keep connected to our programs, not to graduate. If they keep coming back to St. Anthony Social Work Center, they can access benefits and keep the stable housing we’ve helped them find and get help managing their limited incomes. If they keep coming to the Free Medical Clinic, they can get help managing a chronic illness and get medication on the spot, so they don’t forget to take it. If they remain in the Madonna Senior Residence, they can built strong relationships with other residents and blossom anew by aging in place.

These are the guests we hope will stay in community with St. Anthony Foundation. Their lives will become more stable; they may even become more self-sufficient. But their strength lies in staying together, not in “graduating.” And by remaining in community here, they make our community strong.

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.”

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You’ve run out of ideas. You’ve run out of time. You have time to shop, but not time to think.  Is there such a thing as knowing someone too long? Relationships grow richer as years pass, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to presents.

Your idealistic friend, family member, honorary aunt or uncle may appreciate a a gift to St. Anthony Foundation in his or her honor. We’ve just had beautiful new cards designed; they open up almost like a present.

Does your loved one live or have they ever lived in San Francisco? Do they worry about poor people, hungry people, underfunded veterans, seniors alone in the world? Are they thinking of someone struggling with an addiction or a psychiatric disability?

A gift to St. Anthony’s may have more meaning for them than anything you can find in a store.

It’s simple. Make a donation by mail or on line. Include the name and address of the person being honored and the occasion you’re honoring: birthday, graduation, anniversary. You get a letter acknowledging your gift. Your loved one gets the card shown here, informing them that you’ve give a gift on the occasion they are celebrating.

Money can’t buy love, but love can transform money into health, hope, and human dignity. And that can transform lives.

I went thrift shopping for a coat this weekend, and ended up with 2 track jackets. The store reminded me of St. Anthony’s clothing and housewares program, where clients can get free warm clothing in a store like environment, and be treated with respect.

But what I should have bought was a hoodie. Hoodies are great, they are comfortable and comforting and these days come in all kinds of fly designs, and when it gets cold you can pull the hood over your head and keep your neck and ears warm. Maybe thats why St. Francis’ habit had a hoodie. Thats why our guests appreciated the hoodies that The Hoodie People collected for St. Anthony’s during their holiday drive. And thats why we appreciate The Hoodie People.

http://www.hoodiepeople.com/blog/2009/01/26/