Sunday, March 31, 2013

What do we have to offer each other?




Desserts for the Hospitality Hour at St. Francis
Have you checked out the ‘Get Involved’ tab lately?  It’s right up there, two tabs over from the ‘Home’ tab where you’re reading.  That was easy to find, wasn’t it?  If you click on it you will find a list of opportunities to develop a heart for service, a list of volunteer positions available, and what kind of donations we’re looking for. 

I’m going to highlight a couple of service opportunities below because that is where we are most looking for help right now, but what I want to write about is the kind of different model SF CARES and our collaborators use. 

If you clicked over to the Get Involved tab, you saw that the first things on the list are the things we would like to offer you: a variety of worship experiences, opportunities to meditate, opportunities for self-reflection and learning and fun.  Everybody who serves with us and everyone we serve has something to teach and something to learn.  Everybody who serves and everyone who is served needs nourishment.  So many of our volunteers tell us they get more out of serving than the feel they are giving.  That may be so.  Either way a little extra to replenish one’s soul can only make it more true, can only leave one more ready to serve and be served.  So even if you aren’t ready or able to help with the specific needs below, come get you spirit fed at one or more of our programs soon.


Every Saturday:
  • 9:30am-1:00, Hospitality Hour Preparation, (152 Church St) Food sorting and some prep work.  Come help us sort donated food and do some of the prep work for Sunday's meal. 
Every Wednesday
  • 10a.m - 2p.m.Senior Program, (152 Church St), activities, lunch and hospitality for seniors are provided at St. Francis Lutheran Church.  We are looking for people to help serve the meal, to sit and visit with our guests, and to assist them as needed.  We can use kitchen help from 10a.m. until 1p.m.and folks to help clean up from 1p.m. until 2p.m. 
You can see the details of these projects here.  http://sfcares.blogspot.com/2013/02/our-newest-project.html

Every Thursday
  • 5:30p.m. - 6:30p.m. Bring Food for 70 to Open Cathedral Mission (Mission and 16th St. BART station).  This can be a very simple meal - a sandwich and drink to take away is fine.
Every Night:  
  • Crisis Line Counselors, at Night Ministry.  Our next Inquirers Evening is June 14th at 6p.m.  There is more about what’s involved in this older post.  Only the training dates are out of date, everything else is the same. http://sfcares.blogspot.com/2011/08/font-definitions-font-face-font-family.html
You can contact us at 415-673-3572 ext. 105 or sfcares@welcomeministry.org to learn more about any of our opportunities.  And come back regularly and click the Get Involved tab to see what’s available to you as well as for you to do.


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

An Invitation From the Faithful Fools to Oscard’s Feast

I'm lifting our blog post today wholesale from The Faithful Fools' invitation to their QuinceaƱera celebration on  Oscard's Feast.  This is going to be a wonderful evening celebrating and supporting a wonderful organization.  Check out the details below and the get your tickets here.
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They never told us it was IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

So, we went ahead and did it anyway—we started walking the streets to discover our common humanity, and we founded the Faithful Fools to share that experience of discovery with anyone else who would join us. That was 15 years ago! There are so many stories that come out of those early days of founding the Faithful Fools . . . Kay found pennies, Carmen found Kay, the two of us found a building, and then we found lots of other Fools, all of whom seemed to just show up at the right moment.

It seems only right that we celebrate our 15 years together, with each other and with you, at this year’s Oscard’s Feast. The celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday in Latin America, a “QuinceaƱera,” celebrates a transition from childhood into adulthood. There aren’t too many moments in life to tell stories about where we’ve been and to utter aloud our hopes of where we are going, but we are going to take our 15th year celebration, the Fools’ QuinceƱera to do just that.

The QuinceaƱera is an “in-between” moment, which is an experience that defines our lives as Fools. We have walked “in between” since the beginning and we are still walking in between—between the pain and truths of the streets; between the desires of volunteers to find meaning and their need to offer their strength to others; between taking what we do seriously and laughing at ourselves; between having enough and the desire to grow; between the pain of those who have never had and the pain of those who fear losing all.

The poet Rainer Marie Rilke wrote, “For one human being to love another human being; that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” Our life at the Fools’ Court has been the kind of preparation that Rilke tells us about. It is our profound hope that it will continue to be. While we do the things that must be done—act as payee for SSI recipients, provide a place for people to be in creative relationship, listen to those who are rarely heard or seen - we also must look to the future. We are called to keep our hearts and minds and the doors of the Fools’ Court open as place for all kinds of people, no matter who they are or what they seek.

The QuinceƱera is not only a celebration of the past but an excited welcoming of the future. We have great hopes for the future—we are seeking to buy the building next door. As an organization, Faithful Fools is very young, just beginning in one sense, but entering into a phase of youthful strength and hope. We see ourselves as hosting more interns and volunteers, working with community organizations to create fellowships in community activism, possibly creating a hostel for groups who travel to San Francisco to learn about poverty and homelessness and be of service. We are working to connect with colleges and graduate programs to create service-learning programs that are rooted first and foremost in relationship and reflection. These are the dreams of fools. . . . the dreams of people who don’t really know what is impossible. Our dream is that the building at 222 Hyde will be a place that creates relationships, just as the Fools have done since the beginning.

For 15 years the streets of the Tenderloin and Nicaragua (and so many other streets where we have taken retreats) have provided a place for more than 5000 youth and adults to walk, learn, and reflect together. As Fools, we have responded to innumerous immediate needs with compassion. People have been fed and housed. They have walked on the road of recovery and reunited with their families. Their creative life force has been awakened and strengthened through art and meditation and a sense of belonging. Immediate needs change, compassion doesn’t.

We are deeply grateful to you and for you. Your support, sometimes with money, just as often with wisdom, relationship, and encouragement keeps us going. You remind us of the value of what we do, even in the hours when it seems most difficult. It seems only right that you should be there on April 13th when we celebrate 15 years of faithfulness. So look for something pink to wear, in honor of our QuinceƱera and come celebrate. As always, we invite you to buy a ticket for someone who cannot afford to pay or to make a donation to support our vision and work as we walk forward entrusted with the task to love.

The QuinceaƱera is both celebration and anticipation. We have great hopes for the future—we are seeking to buy the building next door. As an organization, Faithful Fools is very young, just beginning in one sense, but entering into a phase of youthful strength and hope. We see ourselves as hosting more interns and volunteers, working with community organizations to create fellowships in community activism, possibly creating a hostel for groups who travel to San Francisco to learn about poverty and homelessness and be of service. We are working to connect with colleges and graduate programs to create service-learning programs that are rooted first and foremost in relationship and reflection. These are the dreams of Fools . . . the dreams of people who don’t really know what is impossible. Our dream is that the building at 222 Hyde will be a place that creates relationships with our neighbors, just as the Fools have done since the beginning.

We hope you will come to Oscard’s QuinceaƱera Feast, bring friends, neighbors, and any one else who would have fun with foolish stories and dreams. A gaggle of clowns along with Martha Boesing are working on a fun little performance that tells memorable Fools’ stories. We will laugh at our own most sacred and silly moments. Please come join us, tell us your stories about how you know the Fools and maybe even hear stories you haven’t heard before.
Oscard has never turned away a guest, so even if you can’t come, consider buying a ticket so all of Oscard’s friends can have a place at the table. We invite you to pledge or make a one-time donation towards the work we do.

We are deeply grateful to you and for you. Your support, sometimes with money, just as often with wisdom, love, and encouragement keeps us going. You remind us of the value of what we do, even in the hours when it seems most difficult. It seems only right that you should be there on April 13th when we celebrate 15 years as Faithful Fools. So please do join us, if you can.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

It’s Time for Night Ministry’s Spring Concert!



It’s time for one of the best events of the year! All of Night Ministry’s fund raisers rock, but your loyal Minster of Volunteers looks forward to the Spring Concert the most.  It often is the best show I go to all year and I go to some really good shows.  Last year we had a wonderful assortment of performers that had the audience captivated. Gryphons Wild blessed us with an assortment of medieval tunes including one about a miracle involving Mother Mary and a lost pork chop.  Where else are you going to find that?  There were plenty of songs to laugh at but Joey McGuire also had the whole crowd in tears with one of his songs.  And there’s the campaign and chocolate intermission of course. 

Get your tickets now for this year’s concert so you won’t miss out on all the great acts we have this year.  As usual we are blessed with the talents of many fine performers you won’t want to miss.

The music is priceless, and the intermission alone is worth the ticket price of $20 ($10 for seniors and students).  You can get them at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/343347

Tickets will also be available for $25 at the door.

Don’t miss this wonderful event!