Hosts Needed at the Friendship Banquet

A program of St. Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco, The Friendship Banquet serves a restaurant quality three-course-meal every Tuesday at 4:30pm to individuals living with HIV/AIDS who make a reservation each week.  

Why this Meal is Important? 56% of individuals living with HIV/AIDS in San Francisco do not have enough food to regularly take their medications.  For many HIV+ individuals, their food insecurity are due to limitations on income that are a part of local and state health care requirements.  The Friendship Banquet provides restaurant quality meals and hospitality for some of the most vulnerable residents of San Francisco.

How Can You Help? Hosts are needed to prepare a three course meal for about 45 guests.  You can sign up to help once, once a year or once a month.  Groups bring the ingredients and cook or heat prepared food at St. Mark's Lutheran Church (where the meal is served).  If you're interested in hosting a meal, but costs are a barrier, the SF CARES volunteer coordinator can work with you to get many of the ingredients for the meal donated.  

Ready to host a meal and want to set up a date?  Email sfcares@welcomeministry.org and let us know you're interested in hosting a Friendship Banquet.

Want to learn more about this and other opportunities to volunteer at SF CARES programs?  Fill our our Volunteer Information Form and will help match you to available opportunities.

Alternative Spring Break

Open Cathedral

It’s January and I know some of you working out there in colleges are already planning Alternative Spring Break for your group.  If you come to San Francisco, SF CARES can help you plan the whole week.  We can offer experiences your group won’t find with larger groups like St. Anthony’s and Glide, though visiting them is useful as well.  Would you like your group to be able to come along with the San Francisco Night Ministry and learn what is involved in doing night time street ministry?  We can offer you opportunities to serve at smaller venues like the Friendship Banquet and the Community Dinner where your group can see what it takes to feed a large group a sit down meal and have a chance to visit with our guests.  We have the option of an visiting OpenCathedral, an open air worship service as well.  Would your group enjoy urban gardening at a farm where all of the produce is given away?  What can your group learn on a day long Street Retreat with the Faithful Fools?

Friendship Banquet

Gardening in the city

If these opportunities sound good to you, if you’d like to give your group a broader experience than the usual alternative spring break and expose them to some truly innovative programs, give us a call at 415-673-3572 or drop us a line at sfcares@saintpaulus.org and we’ll get you all set up.  And there will even be time left in your week to visit some of the bigger programs as well.

Thankful For All Of You

I have a practice of writing at least one thing that I am grateful for each day in my journal each day.  With Thanksgiving coming up day after tomorrow, I'd like to share some SF CARES specific gratitude with you all.

Today I am greatful for all the volunteers that have allowed SF CARES and all our collaborators to do our work this year.  I’m grateful for the forty some odd folks who have served as Crises Line Counselors for the Night Ministry, taking calls from the lonely and the desperate every single night of the year.  I’m grateful for the churches that make lunch to serve after Open Cathedral.  I’m grateful for the many many folks who’ve come out to the Free Farm to plant, water, weed, harvest, and fertilize and especially to the dedicated core group who make lunch for each Wednesday and Saturday workday.  I’m grateful to the many churches and volunteer groups who have come to Old First Presbyterian on a second or fourth Saturday to set up, serve, and clean up after the Community Dinner we feed to 200-300 people on those nights and especially grateful for those who come early to bring ingredients and cook the meal.  (One dedicated pair cooks every single second Saturday and we have several groups who trade off to cover most fourth Saturdays.)  I’m grateful, too, for the folks who come each week to serve the smaller Tuesday afternoon meal and chat with our guests.  I’m grateful for the groups who buy groceries and cook for the Friendship Banquet we serve to folks living with HIV and AIDS each Tuesday.  I’m grateful for all the folks who have come out for a street retreat, or one of the many other opportunities to learn offered by the Faithful Fools.  I am grateful for all of the wonderful donors to all of our collaborators and the few SF CARES itself has attracted that, along with our volunteers, allow us to continue our work.  I’m grateful for all the socks and blankets and toiletries we’ve been able to hand out because so many good folks donated them to us.

 

We can always use funds and volunteers for all of our programs,(not to mention socks), but today I’m not going to ask you for anything.  Today I just want to say, ‘THANK YOU!’  and wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving.  May you each have much to be grateful for in the coming year.

Friendship Banquet Needs Hosts

We've been so busy here at SF CARES I haven't had a chance to update this blog recently.  I'll write a post soon to let you know the cool new things we've been getting up to, but today I want to highlight one of our tried and true services, The Friendship Banquet.

Every Tuesday at 4:00 (excluding the first Tuesday of each month) the Friendship Banquet serves a meal that really does feel friendly.  Nice table cloths and cloth napkins on round tables that seat eight or ten.  Real plates and glasses.  A fresh cooked meal served in four courses to each of fifty or so guests at the tables in St. Mark’s social hall.  Each person greeted warmly at the door.   Everyone who has a reservation is also living with HIV and living on the margins. 

The banquet began in 1991 but suffered a hiatus between 2005 and 2010.  Phillip who revived the banquet in 2010 says, “Our guests are people suffering from HIV and their families who are living in difficult financial situations. Each Tuesday at 4pm we provide a fresh cooked meal served restaurant style to about 50 people on average . . . .Our guests spend their time waiting at the doctor’s office, the hospital, GA or Social Security offices, the Food Bank, or on the local bus system.  The Friendship Banquet provides a time for our guests to be waited upon by our volunteers in a safe, supportive and loving atmosphere, a true change in routine.” 

Many different churches and groups take turns on different Tuesdays to provide the food and prepare and serve the meal.   These days Jordan is in charge of the Banquet.  He is there to guide groups in the meal preparation and serving.  The regular crew handles set up and takes care of the dishes afterward so the group providing the food is usually only there for an hour or two of prep and then about an hour of serving. 

We have quite a few dates available as we move through spring and into the summer; May 15^th and 22^nd, June 12^th and 19^th, July 17^th, and August 21^st and 28^th all need hosts.  Please contact us at sfcare@saintpaulus.org to let us know which date will work for your group.  Financial support to help us buy food when we do not have a group to cover is also appreciated.

The Holidays Are Over But The Needs Are Still Here

Now that I’ve finally recovered from the holidays, it’s time to start blogging regularly again.

We has many eager volunteers for both Thanksgiving and for Christmas. It was such a blessing. It is rare that we have so many folks that we have to send people off to St. Anthony’s, Glide, and Tenderloin Tessie’s. But that is exactly what I found myself doing during the holidays.

The good news is that now we have plenty of service opportunities available. We can use help to provide lunches on the second or third Sunday of the month for Open Cathedral Civic Center; light meals for after Open Cathedral Mission on Thursday nights; and groups to donate food for the Open Cathedral Community Gatherings on Tuesday nights. We also have many slots open for the Friendship Banquet each Tuesday, to supply the food, to cook or to set up and serve.

We also don’t have a group to cover the fourth Saturday of this month, February 25^th at the Community Dinner that Welcome hosts at Old First Presbyterian. Ideally we’d get a group to provide the food, cook, and set up and serve, but we also welcome any individuals who would like to come that day as we can also piece a crew together that way.

So if you still have some gratitude left over from Thanksgiving or a little Christmas Spirit lingering in your heart, we’d love to hear from you at sfcare@saintpaulus.org (yes, it’s working again). An abundance of willing hands is as big a blessing in February as it is during the holidays.

Summary of needs:

Community Dinner:

-a group to provide food for 200 on February 25^th or funds to purchase the food

-a group (often the same folks who bring the food) or individuals to help cook, set up, serve, and clean up

Friendship Banquet:

-a group willing to provide food or funds to feedabout 50 people

-a group (often the same folks who bring the food) or individuals to help cook, set up, and serve

Open Cathedral:

-a group to provide a simple lunch for 100 the second or third Sunday afternoon of any month

-a group to provide a simple meal for 50 any Thursday evening

-a group to provide a simple dinner for 30 any Tuesday evening

Friendship Banquet

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’m overdue to write about the Friendship Banquet.

Every Tuesday at 4:00 (excluding the first Tuesday of each month) the Friendship Banquet serves a meal that really does feel friendly. Nice table cloths and cloth napkins on round tables that seat eight or ten. Real plates and glasses. A fresh cooked meal served in four courses to each of fifty or so guests at the tables in St. Mark’s social hall. Each person greeted warmly at the door. Everyone who has a reservation is also living with HIV and living on the margins.

The banquet began in 1991 but suffered a hiatus between 2005 and 2010. That’s when Phillip stepped in to revive it. He has been passionate ever since about making the banquet a success; organizing volunteers, doing the shopping and cooking when there is no group to cover the meal, and, recently, exploring funding possibilities. He says, “Our guests are people suffering from HIV and their families who are living in difficult financial situations. Each Tuesday at 4pm we provide a fresh cooked meal served restaurant style to about 50 people on average . . . .Our guests spend their time waiting at the doctor’s office, the hospital, GA or Social Security offices, the Food Bank, or on the local bus system. The Friendship Banquet provides a time for our guests to be waited upon by our volunteers in a safe, supportive and loving atmosphere, a true change in routine.”

Many different churches and groups take turns on different Tuesdays to provide the food and prepare and serve the meal. Phillip, who is in charge of the Banquet, is there to guide groups in the meal preparation and serving. The regular crew handles set up and takes care of the dishes afterward so the group providing the food is usually only there for an hour or two of prep and then about an hour of serving.

We have just a few slots without hosts coming up between now and the end of the year: October 11^th, November 8^th and December 19^th. Would your church or group would enjoy helping Phillip prepare and host this wonderful dinner? If so, you can contact him at phillipg@saintpaulus.org or 425-673-8088.