We’re clearing space to receive another 500 pairs of new shoes from Chrome later today. Our homeless veteran guests really appreciated the ones they gave us to give away on Veterans Day. It’s great to have even more to give away to the rest of our guests. Thanks!
Volunteers from Mercy High School in Burlingame helped us distribute Chrome shoes by unpacking them. Chrome, makers of the amazing shoulder bag with the seat belt buckle on the strap, gave us a huge number of shoes to give to veterans on Veterans Day. Now we get to distribute the leftovers to our regular guests. That’s easier to do with the shoes unboxed and the size marked on a piece of masking tape on the heel of the shoe so we can put them out with the rest of the shoes. Thanks for the shoes and thanks for the help!
Hip apparel outfitter, Chrome , invites veterans to “walk a mile in their shoes”
San Francisco urban foot and bicycle commuters have long known about Chrome’s hip and durable footwear and fashions. This Veterans Day, From 10:30am-11:30am, homeless and low-income veterans, who often spend a lot of time in transit and on their feet, will have the opportunity to sport Chrome’s fashionably durable footwear when representatives from Chrome, the Veterans Health Administration, and St. Anthony’s offer veterans new shoes, socks, toiletries, support and assistance at St. Anthony’s. The shoes will be given from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM at 119 Golden Gate Avenue on Thursday November 11. Members of the Veteran’s Administration will also be on site to help direct veterans to services they are eligible for.
One of every three homeless men in America has served in the armed forces and every night an estimated 107,000 veterans sleep out on the streets, according to the Veteran Administration. About 25% of those who turn to the St. Anthony Dining Room are veterans who rely on free meals to sustain them.
“Veterans Day is every day at St. Anthony’s,” noted St. Anthony’s Executive Director Shari Roeseler. “The heartbreaking reality is that 25% of the almost 3,000 meals we serve in the St. Anthony Dining Room is served to a vet.”
“We know Chrome shoes are great street wear. They are durable, strong, and made to last. When we heard about all the veterans that are coming to St. Anthony’s, we thought about how important it must be to have good street wear when you are one the street. So we decided to do something about it,” noted Matt Sharkey Director of Marketing for Chrome. (more…)
Chrome just sent us a bunch of cool shoes to offer veterans on Veteran’s Day. We will be handing them out from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM on Thursday November 11th.
This from Matt Sharkey, Director of Marketing for Chrome:
“We know Chrome shoes are great street wear. They are durable, strong, and made to last. When we heard about all the veterans that are coming to St. Anthony’s, we thought about how important it must be to have good street wear when you are one the street. So we decided to do something about it.”
Thanks, Chrome!
We received this email yesterday from a former guest. Here’s what it said:
i am a vietnam vet. when i was discharged at treasure island in 1965, i
came to san francisco. i lived on the street for a time, often hungry.
st. anthony’s was a place where i could always get one meal every day, no
sermons, no hassles. thank you.
VA Institutes 5 Year Plan to End Homelessness, but Homeless Veterans Still In Need Today
While some may be attending parades or taking a day off to honor veterans, many veterans themselves will be spending Veterans Day struggling to secure food and housing. From 10:30am-12:30pm, representatives from Swords to Plowshares, the Veterans Health Administration, and St. Anthony Foundation will be reaching out to homeless vets who are in need of support and assistance. In addition to information on programs and services that are available, veterans will also receive rain ponchos, beanies, Kleen Kanteen bottles, and hygiene kits.
One of every three homeless men in America has served in the armed forces and every night an estimated 131,000 veterans sleep out on the streets, according to the Veteran Administration. About 25% of those who turn to St. Anthony’s Dining Room are veterans who rely on free meals to sustain them. Swords to Plowshares currently serves approximately 1,500 veterans in the Bay Area regardless of length of service, branch, or military discharge status.
Last week the VA unveiled their 5-year plan for preventing homelessness among vets. Some of the highlights of the plan include connecting vets to local service providers, more access to permanent and transitional housing, and services to address mental health needs. Next year the department plans to spend $3.2 billion on programs, up from last year’s budget of $2.8 billion. But all three organizations acknowledge that strong partnerships between government, private, and non-profits will be needed to close the needs gap that veterans face.
“It is the hope of our three organizations that by working together we can be of service to the veterans that have sacrificed their physical and mental well-being to serve their country. We all see every day how great the need is,” noted St. Anthony Foundation Interim Executive Director Linda Pasquinucci.
The San Francisco VAMC Downtown Clinic is a comprehensive center for homeless veterans, offering on-site and immediate medical, mental, and social work assistance. www.sanfrancisco.va.gov
Swords to Plowshares’ mission is to heal the wounds, to restore dignity, hope, and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to reduce homelessness and poverty among veterans. www.stp-sf.org.
Since 1950 St. Anthony Foundation has addressed root causes of poverty with compassion. St. Anthony Foundation’s programs offer gateways to escaping poverty by addressing immediate and long term needs. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely funded by private donations.
Call me an idealist but I dream of a day when war is only read about in the history books. I wish for a day when I can open up the New York Times or watch the World News report and not hear about violence in Afghanistan, conflict in Iraq and aggression in countries all across the world. Whether or not the future holds any such promise, I don’t know. What I do know is that today we are at war and there are thousands of soldiers who risk their lives every single day for my sake, many of whom return from battle wounded.
Here, at St. Anthony’s, a large population of those we serve are wounded veterans. Some have missing limbs and must rely on wheelchairs for accessibility. Others have a less visible, but no less debilitating, wound called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.) A common thread for all of the veterans we see in our Dining Room, is that they come to share a meal with friends, a place where they can feel respected and even sometimes thanked for their service. We also work to provide information for our vets about resources and services in the community that are available to them.
This semester, several University of San Francisco students enrolled in a service-learning course have teamed up with St. Anthony’s to learn more about veterans’ issues and the needs of those who come to St. Anthony’s. The service-learners have served meals in our Dining Room, have read news articles about war and have recently watched a Frontline special with me detailing the experiences of several veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, several of the students are sitting alongside representatives from the Veterans Affairs department to learn more about what types of services our homeless vets most need and how to make information about those resources available to those who want it. The students will use all of the information they have gathered throughout the semester and create a veterans resource board that will hang in the lobby of St. Anthony’s Dining Room. This participatory learning experience transcends classroom objectives and provides a forum for students to use what they have learned to provide a value-added service to the community. Check back with St. Anthony’s next month to see the finished bulletin board and what new service-learning projects we have on the horizon! And don’t forget that next Wendesday, November 11th is Veterans Day!
St. Anthony Dining Room and Social Work Center try to fill in the gaps of escalating food needs for San Francisco’s poor.
The economic crisis has filled our minds, news and conversations with many troubling questions, from the highest economic strata down to grassroots organizations. All seem to conclude with one resounding answer: uncertainty. On this block of the Tenderloin, the thing we are certain of is that cuts to other agencies will directly result in more people coming to St. Anthony’s for services.
“They just keep coming, more and more every month,” lamented Rosita Nangca, St. Anthony Volunteer, “And now people are coming from all over, usually it’s just from our neighborhood [Tenderloin] but now from Daly City, from everywhere.”
Rosita is not only a volunteer, but a participant in St. Anthony’s Brown Bag program. Every third Thursday of the month St. Anthony Dining Room holds our Senior Brown Bag program, providing 200 seniors with groceries including fresh produce, juice, eggs, beans, rice and other pantry and nutritional staples. Currently our Brown Bag program is stretching to accommodate 215 seniors, straining the program maximum of 200. Each quarter we open enrollment and usually all new participants are accepted. For the first time ever this quarter, we were not able to accommodate all the seniors, and a waitlist was started.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA November 11, 2008 From 10:30am-11:30am, card-carrying veterans visiting St. Anthony Foundation will receive a special gift of chocolate, energy bars, rain ponchos, and tea. While many may be categorically eligible for the VA housing loans which will be made available through Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008 (S.B. 1572, which was passed on November’s ballot), the reality of the mental health challenges and addictions which afflict many homeless veterans make qualifying for the housing loans difficult. Veterans Day is one of St. Anthony Dining Room’s busiest days of the year.
Veterans make up almost a quarter of the homeless population in the United States, with the Veterans Administration (V.A.) estimating there is approximately 2,075 homeless veterans in San Francisco. Many who turn to St. Anthony’s Dining Room are veterans who have sacrificed their physical and mental well-being to serve their country. Today, they spend Veterans Day struggling to secure food and housing.
“The best way to honor our veterans on Veterans Day is to help direct them towards the services and programs that can help them, and that they are eligible for.” noted St. Anthony Foundation Executive Director Fr. John Hardin.
Bobbie Rosenthal, Regional Manager for homeless programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs will also be on site to discuss the award of 105 housing vouchers as part of the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program.
Gifts bags for the veterans were made with donations from local Bay Area businesses, including Clif Bar, San Francisco Chocolate Factory, and Numi Tea.
St. Anthony Foundation was established in 1950 to care for San Francisco’s poor. St. Anthony’s continues to offer a number of programs to improve the lives of poor and homeless San Franciscans, including a Free Medical Clinic and the Employment Program / Tech Lab. St. Anthony’s does not accept any federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely funded by private donations.