ST. ANTHONY JUSTICE EDUCATION, VOLUNTEER & ADVOCACY PROGRAM
A Friendship Born Through Service

High school student Jesse’s volunteer experience fostered a deeper understanding of the issues facing low-income and homeless people and of the commonalities we all share.

“Imagine all the people, sharing all the world...” Jesse Kay-Rugen heard a deep, joyful voice singing behind him. When 17-year-old Jesse came to St. Anthony Foundation as part of a two-week immersion trip with seven fellow St. Ignatius High School students, he expected an experience that would challenge him. What he didn’t expect was to form a friendship with one of St. Anthony Dining Room’s guests.

“On the very first day we came here, I was wearing a John Lennon T-shirt, and on the back, it had the lyrics to ‘Imagine,’” the tall, easygoing teenager remembers. “And Joe saw the shirt and he started singing.” That’s how Jesse first met a frequent Dining Room guest who goes by the name “Indian Joe.” “He was always in the same spot in line when we got there, and so I started talking to him,” says Jesse.

Jesse is one of 8,000 visitors that St. Anthony Foundation hosts each year through its Justice Education, Volunteer/Intern and Advocacy program (JEVA). JEVA focuses on St. Anthony’s vision “to create a society in which all persons flourish.” During visits extending from one day to two weeks, community members learn about the root causes of poverty, hunger and homelessness and are invited to become part of the solution.
JEVA staff guide students, church groups, business people, and other participants as they volunteer at St. Anthony’s 11 programs, tour the Tenderloin neighborhood and connect with our guests by standing in line and sharing a meal with them in the Dining Room.

Time to Listen, Time to Gain Understanding

This was not Jesse’s first time in San Francisco’s poorest neighborhood. He has attended Glide Memorial Church most of his life. But being in the Tenderloin for two weeks was a different experience. At first, Jesse had some hesitation. “I thought I’d be- ‘scared’ is not the right word, but a little apprehensive,” he says. “But after 15 minutes, I don’t think you get that feeling here.”

Jesse was surprised at the openness of guests who shared their stories while he served them or ate alongside them in the Dining Room and reflects that this time to listen gave him new understanding of the issues homeless people face. “I think a lot of people think of homeless people as drug addicts or they’re violent.... But I talked to one guy in the Dining Room who had two daughters that went to my high school, and, you know, something went wrong in his life...or hearing Indian Joe’s story, living under a bridge for 25 years...” He continues, “It makes you realize ...that they’re in the same situation as you or I, but something went wrong somewhere along the way.”

“I Can’t Just Walk Away”

This year, Jesse’s school sent immersion groups to six United States locations as well as to Costa Rica and Mexico. At first, he wished he had been selected to go abroad. But he reflects, “Being here, I feel like I’m still a part of it...because this is my city ... it makes me realize that poverty and hunger and social inequality are a big part of the city we live in and that I can’t just walk away.”

On the last day of the immersion trip, Jesse gave his John Lennon T-Shirt to Joe, deciding his new friend would enjoy it more. “And then he came running into the Dining Room that day with the shirt on and showed me,” Jesse says, a grin spreading across his face.

Jesse feels that the opportunity to relate with guests was the most worthwhile part of his experience. Indian Joe and other St. Anthony guests helped him understand that oftentimes the only boundaries that exist between people are the ones we create ourselves. He explains, “Indian Joe decided to make friends with me. I’m a relatively well-off child who doesn’t know what it’s like to live in his situation, but he put that aside and treated me as a friend and got to know me.”

A high school senior this year, Jesse is just beginning to explore his life’s path. “But [this experience] definitely puts working in social justice somewhere in my life,” Jesse says. “And, I feel that St. Anthony’s is what’s made me feel that.”

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