A Place in My Heart & A Place in San Francisco

Though I am fairly new to St. Anthony’s, as well as to San Francisco, my eyes have been opened and my heart filled with the love and compassion the people in this city and organization have to offer. Every day that I come to work I see people in need, and every day I leave with the feeling that we here at St. Anthony’s are doing our very best to help. There are many people that come through our doors, each person with their own story to tell who may fall into a particular group or category. One particular demographic that strikes close to home for me are the Veterans we serve on a daily basis.

Men and women who have served our country, who have fought to protect our freedom – living on the streets, struggling with the demons they fight from their past –who are trying to overcome the ramifications of PTSD on their own because the help they need simply isn’t available. These Vets and their struggles resonate with me, not because I’m a Vet myself, but because my dad was.

Michael C. Brierley joined the US Army at the age of 18. He fought in the Vietnam War and was active duty for two years. He saw things and did things no human being should ever experience. They were things he couldn’t talk about, things he repressed for many years, things that, because he didn’t have the psychological help he needed upon his return, destroyed him and lead him to take his own life at only 60 years of age. I could see the memories eat him from the inside out; as I can see they are doing to the Veterans here at St. Anthony’s.

At the time of my father’s death, I didn’t have the resources, or the knowledge to help people struggling from such a real and destructive disease. Today, at St. Anthony’s, not only are there resources readily available, there are people willing and ready to assist in any way they can. Though it still saddens me to see such a large number of our Veterans so desperately in need, it encourages me to know there is a haven in San Francisco they can turn to for a warm meal, clean clothes and a welcoming smile so that, if only for a moment, they may feel appreciated and respected for the sacrifices they made for our freedom.