Erica Stays Close to the Solution

November 19, 2025

Erica wasn’t really planning to work at St. Anthony’s Dining Room. After months of the organization’s counseling and workforce training—plus her own hard-earned sobriety—she had other ideas. 

Her natural skills as a project manager and people-reader landed her in the heart of the Dining Room as a Volunteer Coordinator, wrangling student groups, retirees and first-timers as they learn the ropes of serving over 2,100 meals daily to residents of the Tenderloin and San Francisco at large. 

The pace can be formidable, but so is the support that surrounds her. “I have so many people to lean on every day,” Erica says. Many of her co-workers and staff have walked a similar recovery road, sharing their lived experience and strategies to navigate even the toughest days.    

At the end of a busy shift, Erica says she’s grateful to work in a place where she can see both sides of recovery, a reminder of what’s in her past and the brighter future that’s ahead for her and her husband who is also living sober one day at a time.  

Erica got a jumpstart on professionalizing her career path through workforce development at St. Anthony’s including Job Readiness Training and Job Coaching, plus ongoing support.

Erica worked at a large grocery store before coming to St. Anthony’s. But it was all the pressure with none of the support. “I decided I wanted to be closer to the people I trust with my history, my challenges, and my commitment to change,” she says.

At St. Anthony’s, Erica can share her story with peers who understand her difficult past. Her tone quiets as she recalls getting kicked out of hotels, living in a car and the desperation to start a new life away from the family history of addiction and turmoil. “The struggle doesn’t just run in my family, it gallops,” she observes.  

Erica has a different outlook today as she continues to learn and build her confidence, one step at a time. She hopes to pursue a mortuary science degree that covers all aspects of the profession, from restorative art, to law, ethics and counseling. She’s getting her general course requirements through San Francisco City College first and will continue her advanced education in Sacramento.  

In the meantime, she’s balancing classes at City, work in the Dining Room, and her marriage—a top priority. She and her husband are focused on building the stable life they’ve always dreamed of, using the lessons they’ve learned to bring out the best in themselves and others who are experiencing addiction, poverty or an unstable living situation.  

Critical resources like nutritional food, free clothing, medical care and employment support services provide a pathway to stability that has endured at St. Anthony’s for over 75 years.  

The organization is funded primarily through individual donations that allow for more flexible, responsive programming designed to meet complex community and individual needs. Just as Erica is a line of support to guests and her volunteers in the dining room, donors to St. Anthony’s are a lifeline of program support every day, year after year, in a partnership that is particularly vital when government funding for many neighboring nonprofits is in retreat.  

“Seeing and connecting with the guests in the dining room on their journeys—I recognize them; I’ve lived it. And I’m able to be helpful and bring more patience and empathy to work,” says Erica.  

“At St. Anthony’s they walk alongside you, meeting you wherever you’re at. And I believe that the biggest way I can pay it forward is to show that same grace to others.”