Her Homework Honors Helping The Homeless

Ed. Note: This was written by Elysa, an 8th Grade student at a local Bay Area school. Elysa’s assignment was to interview someone from a non-profit to show the human side of volunteerism. Her subject for this interview was St. Anthony’s Justice Education and Volunteer and Advocacy (JEVA) staffer Megan Pippet.

Every day, St. Anthony Foundation serves 2,600 meals. Every month, they provide another 2,600 individuals and families with clothing and housewares. Every year, they provide 12,000 patients with free medical care. They provide countless others with resources to stabilize and improve their lives. But these numbers have next to no importance for St. Anthony; according to Megan Pippet, Education Outreach Coordinator, St. Anthony Foundation is “more focused on making people feel comfortable and at home.”

Megan’s career in service began when she spent a year at a homeless shelter in Phoenix, working for no money as part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She had originally planned to pursue a career in business, but her experiences at the shelter influenced her to continue to help the homeless and poor after graduating college. Her desire to work at a nonprofit organization led her to San Francisco; “I found St. Anthony and it was exactly what I was looking for.”

Here at St. Anthony, Megan is in charge of coordinating the internship and service learning programs. She loves “working with high school and college students and helping to educate about the issues of hunger and poverty.” The best part of her job is “seeing when these issues ‘click’ in their minds.” Megan also claims to have “the best co‐workers, volunteers, guests, and clients.”

Megan’s job would be nothing without the people she works to help, “people who feel trapped and unwelcome and who society doesn’t understand.” Through years of working to better the lives of these people, Megan claims that “they make you think about what the most important things in life are…You may think you’re better because you went to college or have more money, but some of them are much more happy even though they have much less. They humble you.” Even though Megan’s job doesn’t involve directly interacting with the beneficiaries of St. Anthony Foundation, she takes to heart everything and everyone she works to help; “some people just like to feel good about themselves after helping, but it goes deeper than that. Like seeing smiles and knowing that you were there to help.”

The choice Megan made to pursue a career in service has paid off with her work at St. Anthony Foundation. Megan enjoys her job and is proud of what she does and what St. Anthony works to achieve. “We offer somewhere safe and comfortable—a family.”