Serving Those in Need: St. Anthony's Dining Room in SF

St. Anthony’s Dining Room volunteers prepare trays in 3,000-meal-a-day kitchen.

Golden Gate and Jones: All are welcome on corner where hospitality thrives

November 16th, 2011
By Dana Perrigan 

Anthony Harris and Indian Joe have at least one thing in common.

Both have been drawn, on this bright cool November morning, to the San Francisco institution known as St. Anthony’s Dining Room.

There, the similarity seemingly ends.

Something of an institution himself in this Tenderloin neighborhood, Indian Joe — whose real name is Joseph Plamondon and is a member of the Shuschwap tribe in British Columbia — has been lining up each day at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Jones Street for nearly 30 years.

“Usually, I’m first in line,” he says. “Sometimes I get out here as early as 8 a.m. The staff — they’re all cool. I like ‘em. If you’ve got a problem, they’ll help you out. They take time to work with you — and the food is good, too.”

Decked out in a top hat, gray overcoat and round sunglasses at the front of the line, Indian Joe bears more than a passing resemblance to rock star Alice Cooper — whom he once met backstage at the Warfield Theatre, he says, due to the benevolence of a passing stranger.

More recently, he was honored by a female teacher at the nearby De Marillac Academy, who named her son after the man who kindly escorted her to her car after work on so many dark winter nights.

“I make sure the kids and the ladies get safely where they’re going,” he says, “because there are still some unsavory characters around here.”

While Indian Joe has lined up for thousands of meals at St. Anthony’s, today’s lunch will be the first for Anthony Harris.

A few feet away, the 51-year-old homeless man stands on the bustling corner while a constant stream of humanity swirls around him. With one hand, he smokes a cigarette. With the other he clings to all his worldly possessions — an iPod and a cell phone.

“I’ve heard people talk about how good you’re treated here,” says Harris. “I decided to come down and see what it’s like.”

While he looks forward to a hot meal, Harris is more interested in finding out how he can access mental health services. He has been told that there is usually a social worker inside the dining hall who can point him in the right direction.

Considered the gateway to all of St. Anthony’s services and programs, the dining room served — along with those served in its residential programs — a million meals last year.

It serves about 3,000 meals a day, and it is open every single day of the year.

“That’s the way it usually works,” says Karl Robillard, a senior manager of communications and outreach at St. Anthony’s. “They come here for a meal, and we help them access what they need.”

Like Harris and Indian Joe, millions have walked down the ramp on Jones Street — past the prayer of St. Anthony inscribed on an overhanging wall, and into the warm, well-lit dining room — since the doors first opened on the former auto body shop in 1950.

For the past 25 years, Barbara Montagnoli and her army of volunteers have been there to receive them.

“We’re pretty lucky,” says Montagnoli. “We have a wonderful retention rate.”

Last year, approximately 9,000 volunteers donated 170,000 hours to St. Anthony’s, making it possible to carry out its mission to feed, heal, clothe and lift the spirits of the poor on a grand scale.

As the founder and director of the volunteer program, Montagnoli believes that educating volunteers is a very important part of her job. During the volunteer orientation and in the service that follows, they learn about social justice.

“It’s a very integral part of what we do here,” she says. “We want them to know why there is a dining room here in the first place, why we have so many people here, that they’re not all just a bunch of bums.”

Classes from schools, business organizations and groups — such as the 20 members of the Israeli Consulate who have volunteered today — come down to the dining room to serve. For many of them, says Montagnoli, it is the first opportunity they have had to sit down and break bread with the poor.

For some, it is a life-changing experience.

“For my son, it was the beginning of a real consciousness of social justice, something he pursues in his college years,” wrote the mother of a boy from St. Ignatius College Preparatory who spent a day serving at St. Anthony’s.

For others, such as Margaret Mazzie, a nurse who lives in West Portal and has been volunteering twice a week in the dining room for the past 25 years, it is the beginning of a long love affair.

“I totally enjoy it,” says Mazzie. “I love everything about it.”

As the diners finish their meals, they file past a table commandeered by two nuns. The tables are covered with flyers announcing various services and programs offered at St. Anthony’s.

“We’re here mainly to talk to people,” says Presentation Sister Kathleen Healy. “Some people just need someone to talk to.”

“They give us more than we give them,” says Presentation Sister Lucia Lodolo.

The two nuns are in the dining room every Friday.

“So we come here and this is where we find God — in the people,” says Sister Kathleen.

“I come home and I feel that I have touched God,” says Sister Lucia.

St. Anthony’s seeks donations of clothing, food and money especially during the Thanksgiving season. It also welcomes those who are able to donate their time as volunteers. For more information, call St. Anthony’s at (415) 241-2600.

*Article taken from Catholic SF Online Edition