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.

Blankets, Toiletries, Socks

The short version: 

We are very much in need of blankets, toiletries, and socks.  Demand is high and our supplies are low.  You can help.  The last two paragraphs of this post tell you how.

Some of last year's bounty, long since handed out.

 The slightly longer version:

Imagine going without soap, without toothpaste, without shampoo.  This is the reality faced by many of the folks we serve.  We can really use sample sizes of toothpaste, dental floss, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion.  Small sizes are best so they are easy to carry for folks living outside.  We can hand out 50 or more hygiene kits with these items at one Community Dinner with no problem.  So if you have little bottles left from your last hotel visit, if you have those novelty soap bars someone gave you last Christmas and you still haven’t used, if you feel moved to go on a shopping spree at your local dollar store or the sample aisle at the drug store, we will gladly take all the toiletries you can offer us.  One enterprising friend asked her dentist for samples and gave us over 50 tubes of toothpaste and packages of dental floss.  Maybe you dentist has samples they’d like to be rid of, too.

Imagine how your feet would feel if you were stuck in the same pair of socks day after day.  For folks living outside, clean dry socks are gold.  When one has no place to wash them, socks become disposable items.  Combined with walking many miles each day to access services and often being stuck with ill fitting shoes, the lack of clean socks contributes substantially is damaging to people's feet.  Would your church or organization like to have a sock drive for us?  Would you be willing to contribute a package or two?  We’re especially interested in white athletic socks as they hold up best.  There is no such thing as too many socks.  There is no shortage of people grateful to have them.

And it’s getting much colder now.  Especially at night.  As with socks, blankets get dirty quickly when one has no place to wash them, and stay soggy when one has no place to dry them after a damp night on San Francisco’s streets.  Imagine sleeping outside with nothing but a soggy blanket to keep you warm.  Do you have a spare sleeping bag you haven’t used in years?  Have any blankets that have been sitting in the linen closet unused?  Care to organize a blanket drive at your church or other organization?  We can take all the blankets you can give. 

You can drop any of these items off at 950 McAllister St., (between Laguna and Webster) Monday through Thursday during business hours.  Items can also be dropped off at the Faithful Fools at 234 Hyde (between Eddy and Turk), just call 415-474-0508 or email fools@faithfulfools.org to arrange a drop off time.

 

If you organize a drive and would like us to pick up what you collect, we are happy to do that in San Francisco, the Peninsula, or anywhere within fifteen minutes driving of the Bay Bridge or Golden Gate Bridge.   Just drop us a line at sfcares@saintpaulus.org or call us at 415-673-3572 and we’ll work out the details.

Community Dinner Needs Hosts

Did you know that many church feeding programs, such as St. Anthony’s and Glide, do not serve dinner on Saturday nights?  Saturday Night can be the hardest time for those who need a meal to find one.  Welcome tries to at least somewhat fill this gap on the second and fourth Saturday of each month by hosting a Community Dinner at Old First Presbyterian.  At each dinner we serve 200 - 300 people a nutritious dinner in a warm, respectful environment. 

This meal is a cut above many other free meals in the City.  The meal is served restaurant style to our guests at their tables. Sometimes, one of our guests will offer to entertain the others by playing the grand piano located in the hall where we serve dinner.  When the serving slows down, we eat with our guests and we encourage our volunteers to do the same.  Often we have socks or other clothing or toiletries to offer our guests. 

Unsurprisingly, we have seen an uptick in the number of guests coming to the Community Dinners over the last year.  We are doing all right on volunteers to serve (though we could use a few more!) but what we really need is more groups to buy food and prepare the meal.  The kitchen at Old First is well outfitted and there is always an experienced person on hand to help volunteers with whatever they need.  Right now we are looking for groups to cover any of the fourth Saturdays through the summer:  June 23^rd, July 28^th or August 25^th.  We can accommodate large groups, or if you only have a few people to cook, we will get additional volunteers to help you serve. 

If you like the idea of providing a meal when it is most needed and of serving in an environment that respects the dignity of our guests give us a call at 650-673-3572 or email us at sfcare@saintpaulus.org.

Quick Response Team

New Quick Response Team

We had a week recently when there was an invitation to glean a plum orchard. The wonderful folks at the Free Farm pulled together a team of people to go and glean and brought back over 700 pounds of plums to distribute here in the City. They went to the Free Farm Stand and to Open Cathedral and to various food pantries. Now It is not always easy to find someone willing to go to Vacaville on a couple of days notice to glean plums, or to connect with someone bringing seedling from Green Gultch to the City, to help with a mailing for the Night Ministry, to sort a large number of donations that come to us unexpectedly, or other tasks that need doing with a day or two notice.

So I thought, suppose I had a list of people to call on to see if they’re available when such a need arises? Are you someone who can lift at least 20 pounds? Lives in San Francisco? Is free at least some daytimes during the week? If so, maybe you are the right person to be part of a Quick Response Team for SF CARE. What you would commit to would be having your name and email on a list that I would not share. I’d ask you a bit about your abilities and interests then contact you three or four times a year to see if you are available for one short project or another.

Sound up your alley? Drop me a line at sfcare@saintpaulus.org and I’ll sign you up.

SF CARE Sock Drive a Success

SF CARE Sock Drive a Success

This is not a post about numbers, because that’s my least favorite way to measure success.

I didn’t count how many people came to the SF CARE Kick Off and Sock Drive. I can tell you we had a pretty steady flow of a few at a time. I can tell you Tree and Jordan and Dan and Lyle and Megan and I had a good time talking with them. I can tell you people enjoyed the food and loved exploring the Free Farm. I can tell you we had a fair few people sign up to be on our mailing list. (Ok, I have a hard number there, but this is not a post about numbers.)

I didn’t count how many socks we received. I can tell you people were very generous and also actually listened to the part about bringing white athletic socks. We didn’t get any other kind. I can tell you they filled half of one of those huge boxes the army blankets come in.

I can tell you so many people stopped by to ask about what was going on while I was setting up that I was half an hour late getting lunch going (even though I’d budgeted some time to talk to folks who came by while I was setting up).

While I was finishing the clean up another couple stopped by to have a look at the Farm and I gave them the balloons I was taking down off the gate to give to their son. Lyle had taken the other balloons already and they ended up going to the Friendship Banquet on Tuesday. (Dollar Tree is the place to go if you want helium balloons that will last a while.)

We had plenty of leftovers to feed the folks at Night Ministry's Tuesday night community gathering, too.

We publicized the Free Farm and SF CARE a bit. We gathered a lot of socks, and had balloons and food to share. We had a good time. One doesn’t need numbers to call that a success.