Reflections On A Decade Of Crisis

When I first volunteered at St. Anthony’s in 1995, the Dining Room served an average of 1900 meals per day. When I began working here in 2000 the number had jumped a little to 2,000 meals per day and today we serve an average of 2600 meals per day. I reflect on the past nine years – 9/11, the dot com crash, the wars – and can see how the numbers have grown. As I read the news and the budget process updates every day what is happening now is greater than all of the events in the past nine years put together. I cringe to imagine all of the new people who are beginning to fall down the economic ladder. People like you and me who one day soon will find themselves finally accepting that they have joined the ranks of people who must eat at a soup kitchen. They will resign themselves and walk to Golden Gate Avenue and wait in line at St. Anthony’s. I also try to image how our Dining Room will be able to serve all of the new people who are left behind by the economic crisis.

In the midst of all of this pain and suffering I try to find a sense of hope. I keep flashing back to an incident during my first volunteer immersion experience at St. Anthony’s as a high school student. The Justice Education staff took us on a tour of the neighborhood. During the tour a neighborhood resident stopped us and began talking. He told us that it was nice that the nonprofits were in the neighborhood to take care of people because there are a lot of people here in need of care and support. However, they are also bad, because as long as they are here there will never be a revolution. What I have valued most working at St. Anthony’s is that we work at all levels form meeting people’s immediate needs to advocating for social change working “to create a society which all persons flourish.” It’s pretty unique to find an organization that works across that full spectrum. As I review the lists of programs and services that will be cut on the Federal, State and local level, I feel pain and despair for the people who will go without food, healthcare, mental health services, drug rehabilitation and so on. But, I also keep thinking back to the man’s words. And I think of Alina’s blog post on July 23rd. Will this time of crisis bring people together? Will it remind us that we have choices? Will it make us reexamine our priorities?

This is a time of crisis, but crisis can open the door to opportunity. This is where I am finding hope. Hope for a revolution in people’s hearts that leads to new priorities and making choices that move us towards becoming “a society in which all persons flourish.”