Happy New Year From St. Anthony’s

Dear St. Anthony’s Community,

As we embrace the hope and promise of a new year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the last one. Despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, we not only continued our service to San Franciscans experiencing poverty and homelessness — we looked for ways to improve it. I am happy to say that thanks to your commitment and generosity, we succeeded.

In the fall, we opened two new programs: St. Clare’s Care and the Hygiene Hub. St. Clare’s Care is a safe sleep service that operates inside St. Boniface Church during the day. In the peace and quiet of the sanctuary, guests can rest and recharge physically, mentally, and spiritually. Afterwards, they can visit the popular Hygiene Hub, which provides much-needed free shower and laundry access. We are already well on our way to providing what we anticipate will be 20,000 showers and 10,000 laundered loads annually.

Both the Hygiene Hub and St. Clare’s Care are gateways to the broader family of St. Anthony’s services, including medical care at our Clinic and addiction recovery at Father Alfred Center. By integrating our services even further, we believe that we can help our guests build a bridge to stability and a brighter future. It is this model of whole person care that we hope to strengthen and expand upon in 2022, along with our transitional employment program, as dependable work is key to stable living.

We also hope that the coming year will see the realization of another big endeavor: Golden Gate Greenway. Working with community stakeholders, our non-profit neighbors, and city partners, we are developing a plan to create a green, traffic-free space in the heart of the Tenderloin. We look forward to presenting it to decision-makers and the public soon.

Until then, I wish you a very happy New Year!

Peace and All Good,

Nils Behnke, St. Anthony’s CEO