Going the Distance

Daniel Andrade first came to St. Anthony’s in 2012 to volunteer with a group of co-workers. He became an individual volunteer with us in August of 2014. Dan had decided he wanted a career change—he wants to become a social worker. Besides applying to schools, Dan applied to become a skilled volunteer with our Social Worker Center, and we’ve been fortunate to have him 2 days a week serving at SWC’s Info Desk in the Dining Room. The Info Desk is where our Dining Room guests can come to ask about resources beyond food that they’re in need of. As an Info Desk volunteer, Dan interacts directly with Dining Room Guests during our meal service, offering resource materials and referral information for needed services such as shelter, health care, Veteran affairs, and substance abuse recovery.

When Dan started up in August, we were still in our temporary Dining Room at 150 Golden Gate. Dan says the biggest change he’s seen at the Info Desk since the new Dining Room opened is the much improved quality of the experience for the guests. In the temporary Dining Room (because of space limitations), the Info Desk was located in the lobby where our guests would file by it as they were coming in to the Dining Room to eat: “People were HUNGRY!” The exit from the temporary Diner was at the opposite end of the building. “Now that we’re actually inside the Dining Room, the guests come to us AFTER they’ve eaten and are much more relaxed and interested in connecting to additional support resources. “Location! Location! Location!” It does matter.

“Personalism”– one of St. Anthony’s core values is something Dan sees in action from the Info Desk: “I see such a diversity of people in the Dining Room, and we treat each person with dignity and respect.” Dan responds to our guests with this personalism—and in Dan’s case, his calm, mellow manner and great sense of humor encourages our guests to feel comfortable. Dan says he feels the most satisfaction when he can help a non-native English speaker. His ability to speak some Spanish helps facilitate people “open the door to so much more”.

Dan says he’s learning so much from the social workers too—they are informal mentors, and he’s been especially impressed by the way the social workers empower the guests to do their part to make something happen. He’s seen how “you can’t save everybody—and if you try, you’ll burn out.” You can encourage people to do their part, take the next step…and before you know it, it’s not only the Dining Room and the Info Desk that are “going the distance”—it’s so many of our inspiring guests who are making strides toward the better quality of life that each and every person deserves. Now, if our society can just model the expansion and availability of much needed resources to work like the engagement of the Info desk with the guests of our Dining Room and the healing partnership between our guests and social workers, St. Anthony’s Mission Statement of creating a society where all persons may flourish will have come a long way. Thank you, Dan for your wonderful example and commitment!