Last week, California’s Director of Finance, Mike Genest, was quoted in the New York Time’s saying “Government doesn’t provide services to rich people. It doesn’t even really provide services to the middle class. You have to cut where the money is.” This is his response to the uproar, and borderline desperation, of people begging the government to refrain from making further cuts to life-sustaining programs serving the needs of the poor.

Anxiety continues to rise amongst St. Anthony’s guests and clients who are forced to sit and wait, wondering which of their services will be cut next and how devastating the cut will be. Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of hearing that cutting vital services such as senior programs, medical assistance services, education and meal assistance programs are the only solution to this budget crisis. CalWORKS, California’s welfare-to-work program is now the newest program on the chopping block. Faced with a real possibility of the program’s elimination, Mayor Newsom admits that California would “become the first state in the industrialized world to have no welfare system at all.” I am tired of the government balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.

Revisiting Mike Genest’s quote above, I echo the sentiments of Tim Redmond, found here in this week’s Editor’s Notes section of the San Francisco Bay Guardian: How can you say that the government doesn’t provide services to the rich and middle class? Who among those classes do not benefit from services provided by the government? Do the rich and middle class not send their children to public schools? Do they not ride MUNI to get to work? Do they not use public libraries or enjoy access to state parks? Do the rich not visit public museums and the middle class not enjoy the safety and security afforded them by the police and fire departments? Do they not mail letters through the postal service, bathe in water provided by the municipal water system or participate in events held in state convention centers? No, of course they do, but these and other programs are not those whose legitimacy are debated each time there are tough decisions to make. Cutting programs that are literally essential to the survival of hundreds of thousands of Californians is not a necessity, it’s a political choice. And, until we realize that, and start demanding that our legislators balance this budget with compassion, empathy and wisdom, the people of the Tenderloin, and the communities of people they represent across the state, will only continue to suffer.

It might have been the worst day EVER to go to Sacramento and advocate for fairness and justice in the state budget! On Wednesday (May 20th) a bus full of staff and volunteers and guests went from St. Anthony’s to the state capitol to do just that. It was “Hunger Action Day”, an annual plea to the Governor and legislators to notice that certain upcoming bills and budget plans will either help or hurt California’s most vulnerable citizens.

The headlines on Wednesday were all about what had happened the day before. In a special election, two thirds of those voting basically told those officials that they’d done a bad job of trying to “fix” the budget and sent them back to the drawing board. Within hours the Governor was making threatening noises about totally eliminating social assistance programs! (Why? It wasn’t the widows and orphans and homeless who’d failed to do their job and create a fair, just and comprehensive budget.)

Bet even before that special election, the mood in Sacramento was something less than generous. Replying to a request for a meeting on Hunger Action Day, a budget aide to the Governor had emailed us to say that even though they’d meet us, there was nothing to discuss or negotiate. And he closed with these remarkable words: “WHEN POCKETS ARE EMPTY, HEARTS MUST HARDEN.”

Really? REALLY?

For those of who have been privileged to be at table with San Francisco’s poorest citizens here at St. Anthony’s Dining Room, we know just the opposite to be the truth. The poor are notoriously more generous than the rich. It’s why they are “God’s favorite people”.

When times are tough, hearts soften and burst open so that they can hold ever more tender mercies. The glorious history of the human spirit is not the story of hardened hearts, but rather the legacy of warm, open, loving and generous hearts – especially those that ‘rose to the occasion’ when times were toughest.

Think of Frank Capra’s legendary movie IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. On the one hand there’s Mr. Potter, the selfish, mean-spirited, bitter and lonely, heard-hearted banker. But opposite him is George Bailey, the soft-hearted Savings & Loan operator whose goodness and generosity almost do him in. Saved from the brink of suicide by an angelic messenger, he lives to realize that he is the “richest man in town” because of all the needy friends he’s helped.

For your reflection, here are some other hard-hearted thoughts and quotes.

“And when Pharaoh saw …, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants” (Exodus 9:34).

“He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.” (Abraham Lincoln)

“If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” (Bob Hope)

“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.” (Golda Meir)

“A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.” (Mother Teresa)

“I know I have a heart because I can feel it breaking.” (The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz)

“Cold, hard heart,
Cold, cruel heart
What’s it gonna take
To break your cold, hard heart ? (Jon Bon Jovi)

Hard hearted Hannah, the vamp from Savannah,
Pouring water on a drowning man.” (Ella Fitzgerald)

On the day last summer when Tim Russert died, his friend Bruce Springsteen remembered words the NBC newsman had told him years before: “The best exercise for the human heart is bending down to help someone else up.”

We can only hope that during these tough times, perhaps over this holiday weekend, our friends in Sacramento will get some really good heart exercise!

Tell your story and influence lawmakers to support legislation that addresses hunger

The training for our Hunger Action Day in Sacramento will be held at St. Anthony Foundation on Wednesday May 13th, from 2:00 – 5:00 pm.

This training is designed to prepare you for Hunger Action Day in Sacramento, where you can talk with legislators about how to end hunger in California! Because we’ve had some great legislative successes last year, our Hunger Action Day training items will be a little different this year, so please come to the training if you’re planning on joining us for Hunger Action Day.

Hunger Action Day will be on Wednesday May 20th, and we will once again provide transportation to Sacramento and breakfast/lunch for all participants (thanks to financial support from California Hunger Action Coalition and Mazon Foundation.)

To sign up, call Colleen Rivecca at 415-592-2729 or email crivecca@stanthonysf.org

Each May, St. Anthony Foundation supporters, staff, guests, and volunteers join anti-hunger advocates from across California for Hunger Action Day in Sacramento. Low-income advocates, food program volunteers, nutritionists, food bank supporters and others concerned about the 3.1 million Californians experiencing hunger travel by bus, car and airplane once each year to participate in this important event. If you’d like to participate in Hunger Action Day, please contact Colleen Rivecca at 415-592-2729 or crivecca@stanthonysf.org.