Christmas Curbside Donation Drive Starts Next Weekend:

Saturday, December 17th – Saturday, December 24th!

St. Anthony’s 24^th Annual Christmas Curbside Donation Drive begins on Saturday, December 17^th. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars! Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

Your donation of NEW SOCKS, clean and ready-to-wear clothing, canned and dried foods are all much needed and appreciated! And if you’ve been working on hand knit scarves as holiday gifts to our guests, bring them in!

WHEN: December 17th-24th, 2011 – Weekends from 9-3 & Weekdays from 8-6

WHERE: St. Anthony Foundation - 105 Golden Gate @ Jones

NEEDED ITEMS:

Clothing
We need all kinds of clothing for men, women, and children – our most critical needs are for the following items:

Socks, Shoes
Underwear
Winter coats
Jackets
Hats

Monetary Donations

St. Anthony’s is happy to accept cash or checks for donation during Curbside and is prepared to issue receipts onsite for tax purposes.

ITEMS WE CANNOT ACCEPT:

Empty clothes hangers
Knick knacks
Used toys
Children’s car seats
Furniture
Medical equipment
Dirty, stained or torn items
Books and magazines
Exercise/sports equipment
Housewares
Computers, electronics

If you have any questions about donations, please call us at (415) 241-2600.

And in case you’d like to volunteer and join us for the holidays, call the St. Anthony Holiday Line at 415-592-2829. We look forward to seeing you!

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!

St. Anthony’s 24th Curbside Holiday Donation Drive kicks off on Saturday, November 19th. St. Anthony Foundation staff and volunteers, wearing easily identifiable red jackets, will take delivery of food, clothing, and monetary donations at curbside, so donors won’t even have to leave their cars! Donated items are distributed free of charge to San Francisco’s most needy residents.

Your donation of turkeys, clean and gently worn clothing, canned and dried foods are all much needed and appreciated!

WHEN:
November 19th-24th AND December 17th-24th

• Weekdays from 8-6
• Weekends from 9-3

WHERE:
St. Anthony Foundation
105 Golden Gate @ Jones

NEEDED ITEMS:

Clothing
We need all kinds of clothing for men, women, and children – our most critical needs are for the following items:

Socks, Shoes
Underwear
Winter coats
Jackets
Hats

Monetary Donations
St. Anthony’s is happy to accept cash or checks for donation during Curbside and is prepared to issue receipts onsite for tax purposes.

Other
We also need these items:

Shopping bags – with handles
Blankets, comforters, sleeping bags
Luggage, bags, backpacks
Toiletries – new only, please
Towels, washcloths
Stuffed animals – good condition only
Children’s toys – new only, please
Strollers – in good condition
Canes – not crutches, walkers, wheelchairs

Items We Cannot Accept
Empty clothes hangers
Knick knacks
Used toys
Children’s car seats
Furniture
Medical equipment
Dirty, stained or torn items
Books and magazines
Exercise/sports equipment
Housewares
Computers, electronics

If you have any questions about donations, please call us at (415) 241-2600.

And in case you’d like to volunteer and join us for the holidays, call the St. Anthony Holiday Line at 415-592-2829. We look forward to seeing you this holiday season!

This summer I had the privilege of (interning) at St. Anthony’s, a non profit organization that helps underserved people of Francisco. Their mission is to feed, heal, shelter, clothe, lift the spirits of those in need, and create a society in which all people flourish. During my internship at St. Anthony’s I was able to work in many different areas o service. My first experience was in the Dining Room. I was terrified of the setting because I had never been in the Tenderloin area, so I did not know what to expect. Very soon, I found that it was a joy to work there. There is just something about giving a meal to someone who really needs it, but the best reward for me was simply a smile and a “thank you.”

I really loved that the Dining Room at St. Anthony’s was actually called a “dining room,” instead of a soup kitchen. Just the name made it feel like it was a family setting, somewhere you could come home and feel safe, like a home with your own family. And, as time progressed, I felt like I had joined the St. Anthony Family because each time I can to volunteer there was always someone calling out my name. I never knew how much it meant to me that someone knew my name until I started working there. I felt loved because someone actually took the time out of their day to learn my name and remember my face.

Working at St. Anthony’s taught me so much about life. It helped me break down the barrier of my fear of homeless people. I learned that when you are on the outside looking in, you can sometimes be so quick to judge, but when you are inside, taking on the emotions of others, you can identify with them and become more understanding. At first, I thought this internship would feel just like community service, but I feel that I have walked away with so much more than that. Now I fully understand the causes and effects of homelessness, I can really look at all people with respect and not judge them.

I received this the other day from one of our Thanksgiving volunteers:

“As a single U.C. retiree, without family, in planning how I would spend my Thanksgiving today, I had three options:

(1) I could hole up in my apartment, watch television all day, eating left-overs, and feeling very, very sorry for myself; or,

(2) I could have a 7-course dinner at inflated prices in some hotel
dining room, turned off by such an over- abundance of food with so much hunger in the Bay Area; or,

(3) I could take Bart over to San Francisco and head for St. Anthony’s Dining Room, helping serve hundreds of homeless, jobless people, who are so thankful for this generous holiday dinner served in a warm, caring and happy atmosphere, where they’re made to feel like a welcome guest.

I’ve been a volunteer at St. Anthony’s Dining Room for several years and feel richly rewarded for my slight contribution to their wonderful program.”

We give thanks for our amazing volunteers!

“Town Halls”: quite the buzz these days! Far from some of the more raucous Town Hall meetings across our Nation this past August, the 8th Annual Town Hall for St. Anthony Foundation volunteers has been a pleasure to host! For 5 days each year, we convene our volunteers – the people “who really are the face of St. Anthony’s to our guests and clients” (Cissie Bonini, staff). The purpose of the Town Hall is two-fold: to share Foundation updates and Advocacy efforts with those who so generously give of their time and presence, day in and day out, as volunteers. This year’s theme: “Disaster Preparedness”, ranged from discussion of St. Anthony’s disaster response plans, to our own individual preparations for at least 3 days without basic City services (in the event of a large scale disaster). I’ve been very impressed by the number of people who are actually prepared, including a number of volunteers who have been trained as “NERTs” (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team)! For the rest of us, and for anyone who’d like the opportunity to review, staff have arranged for 2 free courses in personal preparedness for our volunteers. These courses will be facilitated by SF CARD (Community Agencies Responding to Disaster).

We’re also taking the opportunity of the Town Halls to thank our volunteers for the daily way they alleviate the life crises of so many of our guests and clients-with a smile, a kind word, a tray of nutritious food… As our Deputy Executive Director and Acting Director, Linda Pasquinucci has been telling our volunteers each day of these meetings, “We can count the hours you give so generously, but there’s really no way to measure the real IMPACT you have on the lives of those you serve” (paraphrase). This IMPACT is what can transform harsh and challenging circumstances into healing moments— moments when we can know absolutely, that some one really does care, that even a smile or a kind hello can make a real difference. Whether it’s a major disaster, such as an earthquake or simply an “ordinary” day of struggle just to get by, St. Anthony’s is looked as the place to go for support. We’ve had a new acronym applied to us: “DRO”, meaning – “Disaster Resilient Organization”, and as such, we’re part of San Francisco’s planning for capable and prepared response in the event of a major disaster. Our volunteers are a crucial ingredient in these plans, just as they are to the ongoing efforts of St. Anthony Foundation to address the consequences of poverty in real lives, day in and day out.

In order for these meetings to take place, we’ve needed to arrange for groups of people to cover volunteering in the Dining Room–where our regular volunteers would typically be during the hours of the Town Hall. This year, we’ve had the wonderful support of corporate groups (such as Wells Fargo and Chevron) who’ve signed up to volunteer with us through another annual event known as the Week of Caring. Organized by United Way and the Volunteer Center of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, employees of corporations choose from a number of participating agencies to volunteer for the day. Hats off to the many who elected to participate in this event; not only did they make a difference themselves through service, they made it possible for our volunteers “to turn over the reigns” for the couple of hours each day, and attend the Town Halls.

This is one of those times when a person can feel that there’s really no “disaster” that together, we cannot meet with skill and TLC. May safety prevail and may the safety NET be strengthened measurably, so that the impact of those who care about our brothers and sisters who’ve fallen through the bigger and bigger gaps in the net, can be fully reflected and realized in a “society in which all persons flourish”. (St. Anthony Foundation Mission Statement excerpt).

A few years back, I saw a greeting card that said “ What the world really needs is a good LISTENING to!” I don’t know who coined this evocative turn of a well know phrase, but I haven’t forgotten its message. During our Volunteer Orientations we typically cite the words attributed to Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel often; use words only when necessary”. The relationship between these quotations is one that I see and treasure daily here at St. Anthony’s. A volunteer, delivering a lunch tray with a smile to a waiting and hungry guest in the Dining Room is a core example of this relationship. Conversely, many of our volunteers say that it is our guests who initiate smiles and kindly jokes…lifting the spirits of the volunteers and the staff!

Looking a little deeper into the notions of “actions speaking” and “attentive listening”, it’s clear that much of the healing that goes on here at St. Anthony’s is rooted in these ways serving one another. Recently, in the reflection period following the Dining Room experience, one of our young volunteers shared that he hadn’t really “connected” with the fellow he sat next to on his break, because the man hadn’t wanted to talk. But we talked about that, about the willingness to simply be present, to sit there and not force conversation on someone, of accepting a person for who they are in that moment, of making room for a person to feel accepted.

On the other hand, words can be healing too! I was serving in the Dining Room one day last week, when I noticed one of our guests wearing a button. I voiced the words “I am loved”; “Yeah!” he grinned. “I found it on the street and I put it on right away!” His smile & joy were wonderfully contagious, and I caught a good case of it from him.

With the sad news of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death, and the extensive media coverage of his legacy, I’m struck by how much of his dedication to service, of a family commitment to “giving back” is very, very resonant with the ways of the St. Anthony Foundation family. I got a call recently from one of the Seniors who eats regularly in the Dining Room. “Can I volunteer? I want to give something back.” And now, this person is volunteering as well. Does that mean everyone should? No, not at all– there are myriad ways that we can support one another’s well being. Our volunteers are always voicing how they feel so appreciated by guests and by staff. It’s not so much a back & forth as it is a circle of giving and receiving; of actions and of listening. And in these times of so much uncertainty and struggle, thank goodness we can count on the basic generosity of caring for one another. If I ever get discouraged, and I do, all I need to do is to watch and listen to our guests and volunteers for a moment or two, to revive my faith in “our better angels”.

“Volunteering at St. Anthonys is like recharging. When you are here you are making a difference, and you really feel it.”

Subscribe to the St. Anthony Foundation YouTube Channel and watch more first hand the stories from St. Anthony’s guests and clients.

This new year, our Nation’s voice has renewed her call to volunteerism, heightened by the growing needs of so many people in the current “economic downturn” . Our new President, Barack Obama, invited all who could to honor Martin Luther King Day as a National Day of Service. The phones here at St. Anthony Foundation rang off the hook!

As individual volunteer coordinator here at St. Anthony Foundation, I answer our Holiday Phone Line–a special number dedicated to Holiday volunteering interest during the Season. This past year, I heard something much more frequently than in previous years: “I’ve been laid off, and want to volunteer while I’m looking for work…” Even after the Holidays, that statement continued to be repeated on the year round volunteering voicemail. And I’m still hearing it. In addition to this “voice of the times”, we’ve been contacted of late by wonderful organizations who “want to do something” to address the current climate of hardship by inviting St. Anthony’s to participate in customized volunteer fairs. We’ve been happy to attend and blessed to meet the many people “who want to do something” to make a difference for the better.

A “light bulb” went on for me at one of these recent events, during a conversation with a radio journalist who was asking me about volunteer demographics and St. Anthony Foundation needs. There seems to be a notion gaining ground that Volunteerism is an answer to the economic casualties of the “Great Recession”. You’d assume that a volunteer coordinator would be all about that, yes? Not quite, and thanks really to the strong Justice Education framework that girds our volunteer programming here at St. Anthony’s–both for groups and individuals– I’ve been mentored in the model that views service from the zoom-in personal to the wide big picture. Our volunteers do have eyes AND hearts “wide open”! Volunteering to serve a tray of a hot, nutritious, and tasty meal to each person waiting in line and at last sitting down in our Dining Room invites a birds eye view of every person served as well as a recognition of just how long that line is, and what that says about our devastated “safety net”.

(more…)

Every day that I come to work, say my hellos coming up from BART, wave hi to Dining Room staff, to Fr. Alfred Center guests working in the Dining Room as part of their recovery program. Make the left at Golden Gate and go up through the Social Work Center, the Clinic and the Employment Program and Tech Lab. (If I wanted to get real technical I’d tell you that I then walk past JEVA, our fantastically organized volunteer and advocacy program, but I digress.)

Every day I come to work I see these programs and the close-knit community of support that they offer to people most in need. But my friends and family don’t know first hand about the work that is done here, so I try and find ways to get them connected. The most powerful way to connect is to volunteer. And, our amazing group of volunteers regular and one-timers can attest to that. The connection is immediate, the sense of community is infallible. But, there are so many other ways to see what is going on down here at the foundation.

Maybe social networking is not the first thing you turn to when trying to search out community causes, events and organizations. Perhaps when you think of charity or “soup kitchens” (but please don’t call us a soup kitchen, those Dining Room chefs whip up a mean lunch every day of the year, not to be served with a spoon!) you don’t think of giving a “poke” or a “tweet“, but perhaps we could change your mind. St. Anthony Foundation is reaching out and connecting with folks who can’t come down here every day or every month and offering a bit of our community to the online community. On ourFacebook page, this blog and even on YouTube we’ve got a lot of exciting events, drives and video to help you stay connected and to help you share your St. Anthony experience with friends and family who have yet to learn about us.

I invite you to visit our Facebook page, take a peek at the YouTube videos and tell some friends. At 58-years old St. Anthony’s might not be a spring chicken, but we are learning new tricks and are excited to be able to share our daily work with you.