St. Anthony’s Dining Room ~ 121 Golden Gate Avenue
Our kitchen will be humming with holiday cheer as you help us bake pies, chop vegetables, decorate our Dining Room and carve turkeys. It’s our honor to host you and your family as you lend your heart and hands to this festive tradition. Please RSVP by November 13 by completing the form below.
Questions? Please contact Helene Sims at HSims@StAnthonySF.org or 415-592-2768.
During San Francisco’s Fleet Week, over 30 Marine and Navy personnel visited St. Anthony’s to serve meals in our Dining Room and sort clothes in our Clothing Program. ABC stopped by to take part in the action, chat with our volunteers, and learn about the importance of serving our community members in need. Watch a short clip from the day below.
Interested in learning more about Fleet Week at St. Anthony’s? Read our article ‘Fleet Week’s Day of Service.’
Ready to be wowed? St. Anthony’s Dining Room serves over 2,000 meals every day to homeless and low-income San Franciscans.
Behind the scenes of this magical meal operation is our executive chef, Char Marsden. Each day, Char is faced with the challenge of crafting recipes based off of the donated ingredients that she has on hand.
“I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants all over the world and nothing prepares you for what it’s like at St. Anthony’s—this is a very unique environment. If I cook a Moroccan stew today, it’s not going to be the same next month because it’s going to be depending on what I can get.”
Social Justice Cinema: 73 Questionswith filmmaker Leah Nichols
Wednesday, April 25th St. Anthony’s, 150 Golden Gate Ave
“73 Questions” with filmmaker Leah Nichols, plus a recent short film from St. Anthony’s. Both film shorts address our perceptions of those who are often marginalized, inviting us to see and engage more genuinely and respectfully with one another.
“People really want to tell their stories”, explained longtime volunteer Sudie. “That is what was most evident to me over the two days that we interviewed people for our recent advocacy campaign concerning hygiene services in our city. People want to tell their stories, they want to make change, and they want to have some say in what that change is. At the beginning of the project, I was nervous—how do you interview someone by asking them where they go to the bathroom? It seems so personal. But the people that we interviewed understood the issue and they understood why we would ask that question. In the city, when you go to Bart or you go to Muni, you see excrement on the street, but when you come to St. Anthony’s you see people—and someone who told just you their story might have been the one who left that on the street—but it’s not because they wanted to.”
“I was a teacher for many years, and school politics are hard—everything is black and white. Someone once said to me many years ago, “Sudie, you always see the grey” and that is what you have to do. You can’t just look at the black or white of any issue. You can’t assume that you understand someone’s reason for doing what they do. You don’t know their backstory—and that’s what the advocacy committee is really working on—it’s about stories, it’s about backstories, it’s about taking the conversation deeper. We need to make the effort to really understand what these people are going through.”
Volunteering with our advocacy committee is a powerful way to join the conversation about poverty and homelessness in our city. It is an opportunity to be a part of making the changes that we all want to see in our communities. For more information, check out our advocacy page or contact Emily Salvaterra at esalvaterra@stanthonysf.org.
Each year, St. Anthony’s organizes a back-to-school event for low income families in our community. To make sure that kids get to start the new school year with confidence, they receive new backpacks filled with supplies, new shoes, clothes, coats and books. This year, in response to demand, the event ran over two days instead of the usual one day and we were able to help 400 children! We can only do this thanks to the support of our donors, volunteers and community partners.
St. Anthony’s Annual Turkey Carve
