The “H” word!

“Heaven?” No. “Happenin’?” No; try again. “Heart?” Not quite; I’ll tell you—It’s the HOLIDAYS! Yes, that Season of the year from November unto the 1st day of January that is known by many as the “Holidays” is about to occur once again. The etymology of the word goes back to the 14th c. in Europe and comes from the joining of “Holy” and “Day”. What does that realm of meaning look like in the last quarter of 2009, here in San Francisco’s Tenderloin? As many of our regular volunteers know, it is a time of year when the divide between “the haves” and “the have nots” is often felt even more sharply among many of our guests and clients; or when the distance between memories of better times and nowadays can feel even greater. It’s also a time when volunteers can and do make that divide and distance a little easier to bridge, by their encouraging presence.

The Holiday Volunteer Line (415-592-2829) at St. Anthony’s begins taking calls on October 15th from individuals wishing to serve during the Season. The “marquee” days–Thanksgiving and Christmas– are swiftly booked with the needed volunteer support, but just as for the general population, the Holiday Season for our guests and clients includes the calendar weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and into the 1st week of the New Year. Thank goodness for the generosity of folks who are available and willing to help out for those days as well, when a kind and upbeat presence is at least as needed as on the “Holy-days” themselves.

I think that many of us have had the experience that any day of the year can be a holiday in the inner sense of the word. I had that experience just yesterday, when the storm soaked line of guests was pouring into the Dining Room. As I delivered a tray of steaming Hoison Chicken to one of our waiting guests, she said “Oh give it to him first; I’ve already had one tray and he hasn’t eaten yet”. This fellow wasn’t even someone who had come in with her. He had simply taken an open seat at the table. The gentleman and I both looked at her and one at another with wide eyed smiles: “Thank you!” A little bit of Heaven, Happenin’, with Heart: a Holy Day indeed. ‘Tis the Season, day in and day out. May all the Holiday Season, and the entire calendar year, be filled with days such as these!