St. Anthony Foundation has been a new experience for me. Although it wasn’t my first time working with the homeless, this encounter was different and exciting. I have been able to understand people and have learned to not look on the surface of the individual, but to dig deep into the soul of each person I met. I have made myself available to work outside of my comfort zone and embraced the tasks that I thought would be hard to overcome, but that I found quite intriguing and overwhelming. I have humbled myself not only to those that I have met but also those whom I have known for years. This experience helped me to get a better relationship with God and my understanding of Matthew 25:36 (Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me…) I feel truly blessed to have had this opportunity and I hate that I have to go. I had such a great experience with St. Anthony’s, that I want to continue to volunteer in my free time! See you all soon!

You see, just months earlier I had graduated from a little known university, Saint Joseph’s, with an even lesser known degree, Food Marketing. I had been a business student. A business student who enjoyed learning about marketing strategies and consumer behavior in the classroom, but really savored the opportunities to participate in Appalachian service projects and justice awareness campaigns on campus. While I enjoyed volunteering and partaking in service-oriented projects, I had always considered them to be extra-curricular, separate from my professional goals. Even as I applied and was accepted into the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, I assumed that I was just taking a small detour from the ever-important five year plan, and assured myself (and my parents) that I would soon return to my intended future in the corporate world.

In JVC, I was assigned to work at a children’s program on-site at an emergency shelter for homeless families. There I did everything from teaching pre-school lessons to washing laundry; changing diapers to sending programmatic funding reports…. not exactly a glamorous or even a clear-cut job. Each day was filled with new tasks, new questions, and new crises. It took me over an hour to get to the shelter each day, the work was never-ending once I did get there and I did it all for free. The work was difficult, both mentally and spiritually, and it was humbling. Despite this, or perhaps precisely because of this, that year turned out to be one of the most defining years of my young life. I looked past my own challenges and frustrations and saw into the hearts of the children, their parents and the families with whom I worked. I shifted my energy into understanding their challenges, and appreciating their frustrations. The turning point was the moment that I realized that working for justice and serving the poor didn’t have to be a side job; that my profession and my passion could be one in the same. JVC’s well-known adage is “ruined for life” and I was certainly that. My views of the world, my perceptions and the pre-conceived notions I had carried with me were beaten down and broken down, never to be the same again.

Soon after this epiphany, I felt a strong calling and fierce urgency to continue my journey in San Francisco and be among the poor, to fight both with and for them in seeking justice. I wanted to serve them while also standing beside them in solidarity. Remembering the seeds that had been planted in me during my formative teenage and college years, I also wanted to find a way to work with students and inspire them to use their talents and interests in ways that better the community. I applied for what felt like a thousand jobs before finding a job description for an organization called St. Anthony Foundation. I read that St. Anthony’s was a non-profit social services organization that serves both the newly poor as well as the chronically homeless. An organization that serves thousands by providing free clothing, and free medical services, assists clients in job-searching and offers recovery programs for those suffering from the disease of addiction and does it all without a dime from the government. It fights immediate hunger daily in the Dining Room while also fighting against the root causes of hunger and societal factors that perpetuate poverty. The available position was one that connected these and other service programs at St. Anthony’s with volunteers, interns and service-learners. It made reflection and education a priority in addition to direct service. Call it happenstance (although I prefer to call it fate) that 2 interviews and another 3000 mile flight later, I had became St. Anthony Foundation’s newest Education Outreach Coordinator. I am no marketing executive or regional store manager as my degree might have suggested some years ago, and for that I have to say, I am grateful. I am grateful for my experiences at Saint Joseph’s that led me to joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I am grateful for my work in JVC that led me to the Tenderloin and I am grateful to St. Anthony’s who allows me the opportunity to combine my passion for social justice, service and education into one ideal profession.

Wednesday marked the anniversary of a 3-year journey of soul-searching and service that has led me to where I stand today. On Saturday I will drive back to San Jose where it all began, to greet this year’s new Jesuit Volunteers. I can only wonder how this next year might “ruin them for life.”

It was the quest for that kind of action that led me to volunteer at St. Anthony’s Dining Room. The orientation alone was enough to ignite my spirit.  Our group learned of St. Anthony’s history, the neighborhood, the services provided and policies that would make us an informed group of volunteers.

The Tenderloin consists of more than 20 blocks of residential hotels and apartments with close to 30,000 inhabitants.  Many of San Francisco’s homeless people also “hang out” in the Tenderloin, not just because of the services, but because it remains the one area of the city where the homeless feel least likely to be harassed for simply having no where else to go.

On my first day I was assigned to the main Dining Room serving the guests their meals.  After they ate, a new group was ushered in to be served.  My team leader encouraged us to simply be kind and make eye contact with everyone we served.  Before our time was up, we were asked to help ourselves to the food and sit with our guests and share.

As volunteers, we are expected to show unfettered dignity and respect to all who enter the hallowed halls (previously used as a garage for cars) of St. Anthony’s Dining Room.  They “firmly believe that all human persons have, as their birthright from the Creator, a remarkable dignity that no one else ever has a right to deny.”

“That is not uniquely Franciscan, Catholic or Christian,” according to the volunteer materials. “It is at the heart of all the world’s great religious traditions and is also the basis for the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human rights. Many of our guests and clients feel beaten up by life and their dignity and self-respect have deserted them. In our various services and ministries we try to ‘restore health, hope and human dignity.’ And we welcome you as partners in our work ‘to create a society in which all people flourish.’”

The economic gateway to universal freedoms has had its doors closed by the economic disparity between the rich and poor.  It is not easy to bring to light the many injustices that occur within our inner cities. Continual economic, social, and political threats against the marginalized and disadvantaged are playing havoc on their human freedoms.

It takes more than legislation to cure these economic, social, political and cultural woes.  It takes a united front to prevent the collapse of a structure that serves its poor.  Community building is a key component when it comes to protecting the economic and political interest of the poor.