Project Everyday Connect Visits SF CARES

Project Everyday Connect is here at St. Paulus today doing free vision exams to folks with financial need  and no vision insurance.  They give their patients vouchers for glasses at Lens Crafters to get their prescriptions filled.  The PEC folks are so flexible and very helpful to our guests.  They even have transportation vouchers for people to get to the Lens Crafters where they can get their new glasses.  Some folks are able to get their glasses today.
 

Project Everyday Connect is an outgrowth of Project HomelessConnect.  Project Homeless Connect provides a periodic venue where folks can access a wide variety of services, including podiatry, optometry, medical, social services, legal, all in one place at one time.  SF CARES has provided foot washers and pastoral care there in the past.  These events are great on the days they operate, but of course people have needs 365 days a year, so Project Everyday Connect was born.  They are available by phone and email every day of the year and have appointments available Monday through Friday.  The PEC folks  work “directly with those seeking services, as well as with case managers & staff from other agencies, to make connections to those often hard-to-access resources, services & goods that can provide additional or necessary ingredients for a successful move out of homelessness, transition into housing, or avoidance of housing loss.”

All of SF CARES’ collaborators are able to refer folks for this event and the PEC folks will serve as many as ten to twenty people today.  This is only our second time hosting the Vision Van, but we are looking forward to another event until the needs of all of our folks are met.  Project Everyday Connect can connect people with vision care and other services year round.  They can be reached at 1-855-588-7968.  We're so glad to be partnering with Project Everyday Connect to provide this vital service for our folks.

Our Newest Project

Welcome has partnered with St. Francis Lutheran to help run their Sunday morning meal and the Senior Center on Wednesdays.

The Sunday Breakfast got its start fifteen years ago when St. Francis began serving coffee to their neighbors who live outside.  Soon doughnuts were added to the offering.  Over the years it became a full meal.  Most of the food is donated so St. Francis keeps its cost low.  The meal now feeds between 80 to 130 of their homeless and marginally housed neighbors, including families and children, each week. 

The Senior Center draws a dedicated group of seniors who enjoy visiting with each other, sharing lunch, and a game or other activity.  There is also a program that varies week by week, including such cool acts as a troupe of women in the 80’s who come and do dance routines, ballroom dancers, and a singer who gives pop quizzes on Judy Garland trivia.  The occasional motivational speaker visits as well.

We are delighted, as always, for another opportunity to feed people’s bodies and souls.  One of the things we’re trading to St. Francis for the opportunity to work with them is our promise to recruit some additional volunteers.

 We have quite a variety of tasks and shifts available:

 

Food to Sort

 On Saturday we need folks to:

• Receive food donations from 9:00am - 1:00pm
• Help do prep work for the Sunday morning meal, such as setting up, arranging flowers etc.
• Deliver food to other programs when we have more than we’ll need for Sunday.

On Sunday we need folks to:

• 5:00am - 7:00am: do morning kitchen support such as assisting the cook in preparing the meal for the day, and helping set up dessert trays
• 7:00am - 8:30am: serve coffee to our guests
• 7:00am - 8:30am: serve food to our guests
• 7:00am - 8:30am: do food pantry support such as help give away food pantry items and clothing to guests at the meal
• 8:00am -9:30am: help clean up such as help pick up trash around the neighborhood, do dishes, take out trash, clean toilets
• 9:00am -12:30pm: do guest support such as help support and de-escalate individuals with mental health, addiction, or hunger issues who are interested in attending Sunday morning services

For the Senior Center on Wednesdays we need folks to:

• 10am-2pm: do elder care and nursing support such as helping seniors in need of mobility assistance, answer questions about health questions and providing blood pressure readings for participants
• 10:00am -1:00pm: assist the cook in preparing the meal for the day
• 1:00pm -2:00pm: help pick up trash around the neighborhood, do dishes, take out trash, clean toilets

If any of these tasks sound like something you’re called to, let our Minister of Volunteers, Valerie, know either at 415-673-3572 or sfcares@welcomeministry.org and she’ll give you all the details and get you scheduled.

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.

The Work of Christmas

This blog post takes its title from the name of one of my favorite poems, The Work of Christmas, by Dr. Howard Thurman.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

This has been a slow month for blog posts, but the SF CARES collaborators have been as busy as ever providing pastoral care, soul growth opportunities such as worship, Bible study, writing groups, meditation and street retreats; growing food; feeding people, and giving away all the hundreds of pairs of socks Crystal Springs Sangha, Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, and St. John’s United Church of Christ collected for us in December. 

We were blessed with an abundance of volunteers, as we are each year during the holidays.  Now we’re moving into the time of year when we usually have a bit of a lull. Not a lull of need as those we serve still need all that we have to offer, but a lull of volunteers.  Our regulars like the Congregational Church of San Mateo, the Congregational Church of Belmont, Old First Presbyterian and Saint Paulus Lutheran are all already scheduled for their usual shifts, but we need you to help us continue the work of Christmas.  We would welcome your help as:

• volunteers to serve at the Community Dinner any second or fourth Saturday from 5:00 - 7:00 from January 26^th onward
• hosts for the Friendship Banquet Tuesdays beginning on January 15^th  
• a group to provide simple lunches for 100 people for Open Cathedral Civic Center January 13^th or February 10^th or 17^th
• a group to bring simple food for Open Cathedral Mission for 60 on any Thursday evening except the fourth Thursdays of the month
• folks to come weed and plant and other gardening tasks at the Free Farm any Wednesday or Saturday anytime between 10:00 - 2:00 from January 12^th onward
• Crises Line Counselors for the Night Ministry willing to serve one night a month from 9:45p.m. until 2:15a.m.

You can click on the highlighted text above (or just scroll down in this blog) to get a more full description of any of these opportunities.  We hear from our volunteers all the time that they get more than they give as they serve with us and we are working on even more ways to nourish our volunteers to do all the wonderful things they do in the new year.  So come out to get your soul fed and to help us continue Christ’s work in the world.  You can contact us at sfcares@saintpaulus.org or 415-673-3572.

Volunteers Needed For Foot Washing At Project Homeless Connect Next Week.

This time it is way better.  This time we have nearly a week to find people to serve washing feet at Project Homeless Connect   Last time when the group that was signed up to do it cancelled, we only had a day to find people.  I worked the afternoon shift and it was actually a lot of fun, even though it was hard work.  This time is better, this time we have time to find three or four people to cover each shift instead of only two, like we had last time.

This service is vital to the folks who come to Project Homeless Connect and there is very high demand for it.  It gets people ready to see the podiatrist, as well as starting them back out into the world with clean feet - a real luxury for those who live outside.  Healthy feet are vitally important to people who have to walk all day, every day, too.


Plus, there's the whole emulating Jesus thing. 

We'll have all the equipment ready for you, and you get to get trained by Angela Guida, the director of Project Homeless Connect, herself.

(Angela is also the newest member of SF CARES Board.  Help us look good for her, people.)

So come to do some good, come to feel good or come to make us look good, but come.

We need three or four people to cover each of two shifts, one from 9:45 to 12:40 and one from 12:30 to 4:00 on Wednesday, December 12th.  If you can help, please email Angela  directly at angela.guida@sfdpg.org.  

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.