Hear Ye, Hear Ye! “Town Hall”, St. Anthony’s Style

“Town Halls”: quite the buzz these days! Far from some of the more raucous Town Hall meetings across our Nation this past August, the 8th Annual Town Hall for St. Anthony Foundation volunteers has been a pleasure to host! For 5 days each year, we convene our volunteers – the people “who really are the face of St. Anthony’s to our guests and clients” (Cissie Bonini, staff). The purpose of the Town Hall is two-fold: to share Foundation updates and Advocacy efforts with those who so generously give of their time and presence, day in and day out, as volunteers. This year’s theme: “Disaster Preparedness”, ranged from discussion of St. Anthony’s disaster response plans, to our own individual preparations for at least 3 days without basic City services (in the event of a large scale disaster). I’ve been very impressed by the number of people who are actually prepared, including a number of volunteers who have been trained as “NERTs” (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team)! For the rest of us, and for anyone who’d like the opportunity to review, staff have arranged for 2 free courses in personal preparedness for our volunteers. These courses will be facilitated by SF CARD (Community Agencies Responding to Disaster).

We’re also taking the opportunity of the Town Halls to thank our volunteers for the daily way they alleviate the life crises of so many of our guests and clients-with a smile, a kind word, a tray of nutritious food… As our Deputy Executive Director and Acting Director, Linda Pasquinucci has been telling our volunteers each day of these meetings, “We can count the hours you give so generously, but there’s really no way to measure the real IMPACT you have on the lives of those you serve” (paraphrase). This IMPACT is what can transform harsh and challenging circumstances into healing moments— moments when we can know absolutely, that some one really does care, that even a smile or a kind hello can make a real difference. Whether it’s a major disaster, such as an earthquake or simply an “ordinary” day of struggle just to get by, St. Anthony’s is looked as the place to go for support. We’ve had a new acronym applied to us: “DRO”, meaning – “Disaster Resilient Organization”, and as such, we’re part of San Francisco’s planning for capable and prepared response in the event of a major disaster. Our volunteers are a crucial ingredient in these plans, just as they are to the ongoing efforts of St. Anthony Foundation to address the consequences of poverty in real lives, day in and day out.

In order for these meetings to take place, we’ve needed to arrange for groups of people to cover volunteering in the Dining Room–where our regular volunteers would typically be during the hours of the Town Hall. This year, we’ve had the wonderful support of corporate groups (such as Wells Fargo and Chevron) who’ve signed up to volunteer with us through another annual event known as the Week of Caring. Organized by United Way and the Volunteer Center of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, employees of corporations choose from a number of participating agencies to volunteer for the day. Hats off to the many who elected to participate in this event; not only did they make a difference themselves through service, they made it possible for our volunteers “to turn over the reigns” for the couple of hours each day, and attend the Town Halls.

This is one of those times when a person can feel that there’s really no “disaster” that together, we cannot meet with skill and TLC. May safety prevail and may the safety NET be strengthened measurably, so that the impact of those who care about our brothers and sisters who’ve fallen through the bigger and bigger gaps in the net, can be fully reflected and realized in a “society in which all persons flourish”. (St. Anthony Foundation Mission Statement excerpt).