USF Service Learners: Carina Pederson

Carina Pederson is a service-learning student in the Management & Organizational Dynamics course at the University of San Francisco.  Service-learning students spend a semester at St. Anthony’s doing service, learning about social issues and connecting their experience with their course work.

In the early hours of the morning, there is a quiet peace about the place. 8 am is earlier than usual for this student and on any other regular day I would still be snuggled under the covers of my blankets rather than walking down the streets of downtown to go do service learning. Located on 8^th and Mission, a mere couple blocks from St. Anthony’s Dining Room in the Tenderloin, the small white building is inconspicuous except for the big blue sign saying “Drop Donations Here” and “St. Anthony’s Free Clothing Program.” I loop around the back this time to be let in the volunteer entrance, which I missed my first time around and embarrassingly tried to break in through the locked main entrance door. Morgan, the Volunteer Coordinator of the Free Clothing Program, greets me along with Kelly, one of my group partners who already has arrived.

The place is a lot cleaner and definitely more organized than I had expected the first time I had come here. The Free Clothing Program facility houses massive amounts of donations which all have to be sorted, resorted, and then organized to be sent to the front of the store racks to be available to the shoppers. My first time here I got to experience sorting the clothes. The Program is very particular about the sorts of clothing they will accept; no holes, no stains, and washed as well as items that the average person would wear. The criteria is, if we wouldn’t wear it ourselves, it gets tossed. The amount of clothes the Program has is enormous. The entire basement is clogged with black bags upon bags piled into heaps labeled either Men’s, Women’s, Teen’s or Children’s and then each section is separated into pants, shirts, shoes etc. This area has already all been sorted and is back stock for the store.

Both Kelly and I have previous retail experience, so are sent to work the shop in the front, assisting guests with retrieving certain pants sizes from the back or helping someone choose between this shirt or other, offering helpful advice and cheery smiles to all the shoppers and giving great customer service to everyone. It isn’t all that different from working in a store or in retail; organizing the racks, offering assistance, and generally being peppy and ready to help. The guests are all polite and ask questions. We make sure to tell everyone who asks “You get one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, one sweater, one long sleeve and short sleeve shirt, one pair of socks and a hat. You get a pair of shoes every 4 months and a coat every six months.” Usually they also get one pair of underwear, but we are out of those items today, as usual. That is the flow of the store and the cashier, Trish, keeps track of every customer on her computer, typing away during the duration of the 30 minutes the male guests are allowed to shop. Individuals are allowed to come once a month to choose their items.

As Adele’s “Someone like you” blares over the radio, Kelly and I scoot between racks zoning them and picking up fallen items from the floor, Trish projects over the din of the music and the chatter to address one of the customers, and Marcellus, one of the other staff, always cheerful, is singing along to the lyrics and chattering to the shoppers who circulate through the small shop. Thus is the typical morning here at the Free Clothing Program. Once the male guest’s 30 minutes of shopping are up, all are ushered out of the store so that the racks containing men’s clothing can be rolled out and the entire store gets rearranged to accommodate families who will be coming in next.

The mood is light and airy, everyone is enjoying themselves and for some reason I don’t feel as tired anymore. Once the shop is rearranged and all set up, Kelly and I notice the next group of volunteers coming in through the back, a group of high school boys coming to volunteer. We check our watches, astounded that two hours have rushed by, and taking our cue to leave we wave goodbye to Morgan, Sipai, Marcellus and Trish, all of whom lament our departure. As I see it, the Program doesn’t get enough volunteers who are able to work the front of the store and assist the guests. This is an essential part of the program and in my opinion, one of the most fun parts. Alas we cannot stay, I have an Accounting class to get to and Kelly needs to get going too. Leaving the small, white, fenced in building, we feel bright and energetic and plan to come back next week.

In photo: A mother and child shop in the Free Clothing Program.