Veterans at St. Anthony’s

This past Sunday was Veteran’s Day, an important holiday at St. Anthony’s as we have been serving our country’s veterans since we started service 62 years ago. As the Client Database Manager I thought it might be interesting to share some facts about the veterans that we serve at St. Anthony’s.

In our Social Work Center, Free Clothing Program and Tenderloin Technology Lab program, about 10% of our guests report that they are veterans. In the Dining Room, 20%, or one in five, of our guests are veterans. Most veterans that access these programs report that they live or spend their time in our neighborhood, the Tenderloin.  As we encourage our guests to utilize our many different services, 32% of our veterans are using more than one of the above programs to address their needs.  While the enrollment of new veteran guests continues to rise, the overall number of veterans we serve has increased 17% in the past year.

With our many services linking together to increase our guest’s stability—clothing, social work and technology-skill building—we hope to create a service environment that serves those who gave so much to serve for us.  

In photo: A veteran guest of St. Anthony’s gets fitted for a free pair of shoes during our annual Veteran’s Day celebration.