Same principles guide St. Anthony’s basics, eyed expansion

“The common ground is that sense of love in whatever we do,” he said. “In the end, the outcome is a sense of, ‘I’m important enough to be loved.’”

Spokesperson Sally Haims said the organization is preparing 4,000 pounds of turkey, 900 pounds of mashed potatoes, and 1,600 servings of challah for its annual Thanksgiving meal. On a daily basis, St. Anthony’s serves around 2,000 meals at its 121 Golden Gate Ave. dining room, serving breakfast from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Beryl Voss, 92, told The Examiner on a recent visit that she has volunteered and served breakfast at least twice a week for the last nine years.

“The guests come first,” she said. “The guests are just absolutely wonderful. Knowing them, and knowing about them is just absolutely wonderful.”

Voss said her fellow volunteers and the staff are, too — “so what’s not to like?”

But her favorite part, she said, is getting to walk through the Tenderloin from her home in Nob Hill on her way to her shifts, and getting to greet people along the way.

“They say hi to you,” she said, miming how she’ll smile and wave to passersby. “It’s a nice way to start the day.”

Laura Flannigan, the chief operating officer of St. Anthony’s, said the chefs behind the operation take pride in their work, too. They recently started baking fresh bread daily, including focaccia and pastries.

“Choice is always on the menu ... it’s not just a soup kitchen,” she said. “It really is somewhere where the chefs take a lot of pride in the culinary skills and the offerings that they produce over there.”

Upstairs from the dining room is arguably The City’s most exclusive boutique: St. Anthony’s longstanding appointment-only free-clothing program, which started soon after the nonprofit’s 1950 inception and distributes clothes to unhoused residents of all ages and genders.

Yet the program flies under the radar, said service coordinator Ryan Merry.

“I think people know about Goodwill, Salvation Army because they’re national and they’re all over the place,” he said. “We’re just here. We’re a lot more reliant on word of mouth.”

The program relies entirely upon donations, and largely from those of individuals. Merry said men’s clothing is most in demand, with “[men making] up about 60% of our guests that we see here.”

“The big difference is that we just give it straight to the people that need it,” Merry said of the donations. “I think when people learn that about us, they’re like, ‘That’s great, I’d just rather do that.’”

St. Anthony’s efforts have grown as it has remained rooted in the heart of the Tenderloin. Its new Hygiene Hub, for instance, provides showers and laundry services by appointment. Walter Parenteau, a service lead, estimated that 55 people shower and about 40 do laundry on a daily basis.

“A lot of my job is politely telling people our list is full,” Parenteau said.

The hub opens at 7:30 every weekday morning, but people often begin signing up as early as 6 a.m.

There is growing demand, too, for medical and behavioral health care, according to Kwan. Dr. Terry Osback, a psychiatrist, started at the 150 Golden Gate Ave. medical clinic in September, and Kwan said the early results are encouraging for its new integrated-care model.

Osback said the idea is to bring psychiatrists, spiritual-care leaders, specialists and even patients’ companions “into the clinic to support the primary-care providers in providing the best care for our patients on their health journey.”

“We look at those cases comprehensively, as a group, with all the leaders of each of those disciplines to try to figure out what more we can do to keep those people in care, and it allows us to leverage off the relationships that our clients have developed,” he said.

Ultimately, Kwan said, St. Anthony’s is aiming to launch a full-scale medical hub in the Tenderloin. The nonprofit doesn’t have the means to expand to such a size just yet, Kwan said, but that St. Anthony’s leadership will discuss in greater detail next year how to scale up.

“Primary care, ambulatory, addiction, mental health — that kind of ambulatory setting where we can be a medical home ... for a neighborhood and a community,” Kwan said.

Early next year, St. Anthony’s will also focus on extending a pandemic-era street closure on the 100 block of Golden Gate Avenue, which has become known as the Golden Gate Greenway. The closure is set to expire in January, and St. Anthony’s has joined neighbors such as Larkin Street Youth Services, Mercy Housing, and the Tenderloin Community Benefit District in a campaign to permanently close the block to vehicular traffic.

“Part of the issue about the Tenderloin is we’re so focused on the urgent crisis that people do walk right by without knowing that the Tenderloin has more kids per capita than any other neighborhood in the city,” said Geoffrey McFarland, the community engagement manager for St. Anthony’s.

About 3,500 children live in the Tenderloin, out of more than 30,000 total residents. Boeddeker Park at 246 Eddy St. is one of only a few public-recreation spaces in the neighborhood, many of which McFarland said residents don’t necessarily feel safe using amid visible homelessness and drug use.

McFarland said the hope is that with St. Anthony’s maintaining the Golden Gate Greenway, recreation for the rest of the community can coexist side by side with homeless services.

“They can hold it and create a model for The City where, yes, people can receive essential services, and that doesn’t need to displace a safe place for kids to play,” he said.

Kwan said St. Anthony’s could encounter legal issues with its clients and patients next year. The nonprofit has “a large immigrant population,” he said, and incoming President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations once his term begins Jan. 20.

Ultimately, Kwan said, the organization will stand behind its clients, just as it has done so for almost 75 years.

“We’re about to hit a time when I think there will be some new needs,” he said. “Our focus will stay on the guests and making sure they’re met.”

ngurevich@sfexaminer.com