Community Chat

[Noel7]

Hi @ShowMe 

I think it's more that people who are poor can't afford the extravagance of a Thanksgiving dinner so they tend to do without the turkey and trimmings.

This is a way of making sure they too can have a holiday.

Our small 15 lb turkey cost $58.  Prices around here are terrible and there are a lot of people barely getting by.

[happycat]

I don't know where these folks get their food, but where my daughter does to church, they have an early morning breakfast and feed mainly homeless folks every Sunday.

She texted me last Sunday and told me that she had just got to the church and there was an old baby stroller with a sleeping bag, a blanket and what looked to be possibly all of someones earthly possessions right there at the front steps.

I'm afraid that some of the churches we attended when she was young wouldn't have been so welcoming.

[Stray]

In our area, there are many organizations that serve meals and deliver food daily including all of our senior centers.  In NYC, St Francis of Assisi still has the bread line and it's always long....the breadline has been in existence since 1930 and starts everyday at 7 am.  Some older people who need food who can't get to the line receive food from the Friars and volunteers at home.  

[DiAnne]

I volunteer every Monday in a food bank that is open four days a week.  We have amazing volunteers.  We get donations from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway, PCC (local co-op), Costco.  Volunteer drivers pick it up every day.  They send us all the deli (Pre-made salads and sandwiches), produce, bakery items.  We also get large donations from Amazon but they deliver.  

We get the food from the Post Office food drive also.  That is where we get all the expired food.  You would not believe the amount of food we throw away.   

[cherry]

I have heard the first soup kitchen was started in Detroit (during the depression)by Fr Solanus Casey, a Capuchin Friar. Men would line up looking for work and Fr Solanus pitied them in the cold with nothing to eat. So he orgnized a hot bowl of soup and sandwich and a cup of coffee. Humble fare but greatly appreciated

It took off like widfire and soon other places followed suit.  Fr Solanus was a very humble man, but is in line for sainthood

It just goes to show, any idea to help the poor, is an important one

[Noel7]

San Francisco is blessed to have GLIDE MEMORIAL CHURCH.  It has been serving the poor and anyone who needs help for decades.

"GLIDE's program is the only one in San Francisco to provide 3 nutritious meals a day, 364 days a year, to the city's poor, homeless and hungry."

787,395 meals served in fiscal year 2014.

Daily Meals

We began serving meals in 1969 as a volunteer-run potluck for 50, and now serve on average 2,163 meals a day with the help of 30 kitchen and security staff and thousands of volunteers each year. In 2014, GLIDE served 108,511 meals to seniors, 93,481 Coffee House meals, and 2,481 meals to families with children.

Breakfast: 8am - 9am

Lunch: Noon - 1:30pm

Dinner: 4pm - 5:30pm (Monday - Friday) and bagged lunches served Noon - 1:30pm (Saturday & Sunday)

Senior Meals

The dining hall is reserved for seniors each morning from 7:30am - 8am.

Holiday Meals

GLIDE invites the community to special meal services during the Holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We are so grateful to have Rev. Cecil Williams, age 87, who began this wonderful work and his wife Janice.

[happycat]

@Noel7 Wow, that is amazing! Too bad there aren't more places like that.

[Zernia Rose]

Noel7:

Glide Memorial Church is a beacon of hope in San Francisco!  On visits to San Fran, I've seen people lining up for the services provided.  

Also, thanks to all of those that posted comments on this topic that are reminders that many caring people are helping to fill the voids in their communities.

[151949]

Ok - first of all , most of our clients at our food bank are not the homeless and totally broke -- they are the working poor. They make less than livable wages, many are single Moms who have deadbeat husbands and a huge chunk of their income goes to pay for child care so they can go to work. The food we give them every 2 weeks would barely feed a woman and a child for about 3 days - They must still shop at the grocery store. We got in many Thanks giving turkeys this year and we did make our clients a Thanksgiving box which was basically a turkey, gravy,cranberry sauce, instant potatoes and stovetop stuffing and fruit for dessert.

For those homeless  who are actually & totally without funds we do provide them with a small tent when we can get them,  and toiletries and a bag of food that doesn't need to be cooked. Mostly cereal , powdered milk, ramen noodles, crackers and peanut butter & jelly, graham crackers, tuna and canned chicken, canned sausage, and as many protien bars as we have to give.Sadly, they don't get much in the way of fruit & veggies. People tend to donate a lot of bicycles to us and we do give them out to certain homeless who we know get day work whenever they can to help them get to a job.Lack of ability to get to a job is a big problem for some folks.They don't have enough money to ride the bus.

It is amazing how little some people exist on.

[itiswhatitis]

---

@cherry wrote:

I have heard the first soup kitchen was started in Detroit (during the depression)by Fr Solanus Casey, a Capuchin Friar. Men would line up looking for work and Fr Solanus pitied them in the cold with nothing to eat. So he orgnized a hot bowl of soup and sandwich and a cup of coffee. Humble fare but greatly appreciated

It took off like widfire and soon other places followed suit.  Fr Solanus was a very humble man, but is in line for sainthood

It just goes to show, any idea to help the poor, is an important one

---

@cherry, yes.  Even Al Capone began one....