Eyes of the Beholders: a Healing Vision!

Each day this past week (9/13-17), I’ve been looking upon the familiar faces of St. Anthony Foundation volunteers who’ve been attending our annual Town Halls. We hold these meetings each year over the course of several days to share the latest news of doins’ at St. Anthony’s; to brief and invite folks into the Advocacy issues and efforts we’re focused on; to receive feedback from our volunteers themselves; and to thank them for being the vital corps of caring community for all who come to us. This volunteer care-giving at St. Anthony Foundation has been going on, as of October 4th, for 60 years!

‘Sixty years and counting of compassionate service—respecting & supporting the inherent dignity of each and every person who comes to us. Volunteers, staff, programs, clients and guests have and will come and go in this river of dedicated response, attentive to the needs of the time… all of us an integral part of that flow.

As we celebrate this important milestone in our history, it’s especially poignant to look out over these wonderful faces—the faces of character and care that our guests count on seeing and being seen by, day in and day out. Our new Executive Director, Shari Roeseler, brought that point home in a special way this week as she’s addressed each day’s gathering. Shari’s been at the helm of St. Anthony Foundation for 3 months now, and her fresh perspective is a real tribute to our volunteers. Shari told us that she worked in the past for a couple of years near Loredo, Texas in a place that provided support for the homeless. She said the looks on the faces of those who came for help were often filled with terror and fear. Most of them were just arriving from very desperate situations. We know that they were met by the gaze and welcome of those who could give help them begin to feel safer. We have been offering a safe haven at St. Anthony’s for decades now and our guests count on that. Shari went on to say that the look she’s noticed on the faces of the most of the Dining Room guests at St. Anthony’s is one of relief. The sense of belonging, of family, of community at St. Anthony Foundation is one our guests can trust, and trust in large part because of the way our volunteers see and serve our guests. We believe in the possibilities of healing transformation that can happen on a personal and on a societal level when the very real and daily practice of beholding all persons with respect is honored. Our volunteers have been sharing in this transformation day in and day out for nearly 60 years, and this “TL…C” is a lens through which we behold together the past, the present, and the future. When I look out upon the wonderful faces of our volunteers, the looks of caring confidence I see renew my faith in our ability to meet and overcome any and all barriers to a much more caring world.

Thank you, volunteers! And bless your giving hearts and good humor! These ways of seeing and receiving one another cannot be overstated for the hope they offer in the moment and beyond.