Turkey Bowl

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!

Fr. Floyd Lotito would often say St. Anthony’s Dining Room was a social barometer that signaled larger changes in our city. Although we do not receive government funding, we feel the impact of related cuts to crucial services in our city. The number of meals served in St. Anthony’s Dining Room spiked a whopping 9% in March 2011 compared to March 2010. On the busiest day in March, we served a total of 3415 meals, up 200 meals from the year before. (Click here to read our Executive Director Shari Roeseler’s moving OpEd article published in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 4th) As San Francisco prepares to close a $380 budget gap, we are braced to see our numbers continue to rise. We invite you, our faithful volunteers and donors, to be a part of the solution. Come down and volunteer a day in the Dining Room or post a message in the comment box letting other readers, community members, and lawmakers know why it’s so important for San Francisco to maintain a critical safety net for our most vulnerable citizens.

St. Anthony Foundation Executive Director Shari Roeseler appears in today’s San Francisco Chronicle with a moving Open Forum piece concerning potential budget cuts that would affect low-income families, seniors, people with disabilities and homeless seeking employment.

Click here to read the article and leave your message in the comment forum below.

Lotito Family with Fr. Thom, Shari Roeseler and Fr. Bob.

Today the Lotito family came to St. Anthony’s to celebrate the Fr. Floyd Lotito’s birthday. Fr. Floyd Lotito, longtime director of many of St. Anthony Foundation programs, passed away June 14, 2009. They brought along 30 hand knitted scarves to be given to guests at St. Anthony Dining Room on Christmas Day.

We were honored to have his relatives with us to share memories of his life and his work!

A nice article about Shari and her vision for St. Anthony’s:

http://www.catholic-sf.org/news_select.php?newsid=&id=57411

Shari Roeseler steps in to lead historic non-profit into the next decade

SAN FRANCISCO, June 21st, 2010 St. Anthony Foundation announced today the selection of Shari Roeseler as the new Executive Director of St. Anthony Foundation.

Roeseler is a respected leader in the nonprofit sector, having worked extensively with Mercy Housing California, a key provider of affordable low-income housing programs in California, over the last ten years. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Resource Development, and was responsible for all the California fundraising for the well known national non-profit.

“We are thrilled to have Shari Roeseler lead St. Anthony Foundation into the future,” noted Deputy Executive Director, Linda Pasquinucci. “As we ramp up to building an up-to-date Dining Room, Shari’s leadership, development expertise, and passion for serving the poor will enable St. Anthony’s to continue to meet the needs of San Francisco’s most vulnerable citizens.”

The former Executive Director, Father John Hardin, OFM, stepped down as Executive Director after being named to lead the provincial of the Franciscan Order of the Western United States. Father John will continue to serve as the President of the Board of Trustees of St. Anthony Foundation.

“St. Anthony’s is a treasured San Francisco institution that has saved many lives and won many hearts,” Roeseler noted. “I am honored to have been chosen to lead this historic and forward thinking nonprofit, which in addition to serving over 36 million meals since its inception has also been a non-profit thought leader in green service standards, culturally competent healthcare, nutritionally targeted meal service, and so much more. It is an honor to have the opportunity to rise with St. Anthony’s to new levels of leadership and service for the poor”.

As the Foundation’s Executive Director, Roeseler will help raise funds for the new Dining Room. The new Dining Room will be built on the same site as the original Dining Room, which operates today as it did in 1950 from a converted parking garage in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. The Dining Room currently serves 2,600 meals a day.

“These are challenging times for many people, and St. Anthony’s has stepped up to meet the needs of more people than ever before while serving the community’s most vulnerable, “Roeseler said. “This is also a time of tremendous energy and excitement among San Franciscans who are looking to be a part of St. Anthony’s in building its capacity to make a difference. I am looking forward to working with the Foundation’s outstanding supporters to make the vision of the new Dining Room a reality.”

Roeseler has been committed to community service throughout her career. She was a Sister of Mercy for 8 years, and has worked with Yolo County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center and Catholic Healthcare West/Mercy Healthcare. She has a B.A. in Social Work, Sociology, and Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is completing a Masters in Ethics at the Graduate Theological Union- Jesuit School of Theology.

St. Anthony Foundation is a 60 year old San Francisco institution whose programs help heal individuals and families with programs that provide a gateway out of 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.