Winter Shelter Breakfast Program
Leaders: Hanna Hart and Ben Bear and Gordon Sharafinski
Email: wintershelter@uusf.org
GOAL (MISSION)
Augment existing shelter opportunities for homeless men during the coldest and rainiest months of the year.
DESCRIPTION
The San Francisco Interfaith Winter Shelter provides breakfast, dinner, and a safe overnight rest for homeless men each night. It is a collaboration between Episcopal Community Services, the San Francisco Interfaith Council, and the San Francisco Human Services Agency, which partner to operate the Interfaith Winter Shelter. For three months, up to 110 homeless men are hosted at four different congregations - First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, St. Boniface Parish, St. Mark's Lutheran Church and St. Mary's Cathedral. Each congregation takes turns hosting for a minimum of three weeks. Several other congregations and groups help serve meals as well.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Each morning during the program, from 5AM to 7:30 AM, we need a 6-person team to prepare and serve the breakfast and then to clean up after the meal.
MEETING DATES
Sign-up table will be located in the Gallery or TSK Room after the Sunday service for the next several weeks.
NOTABLE EVENTS
The First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco (UUSF) is scheduled to be the host site from February 10 to February 29.
I know many folks come to church and value the ability to find ways to serve. We witness to pain all the time and the powerlessness is soul-deadening and the wise among us, who want to stay alive inside, respond to that deadening, by choosing life, choosing service.
For 31 years our congregation is one of only 4, I believe, that host the homeless in the winter, a month each. Our month begins in February, and we need some help, as always for the work to live on. So…
Our leaders of this program, Hanna Hart and Ben Bear and Gordon Sharafinski — a big, loving thank you to them — are looking for a few potential volunteers. Here’s where you can come in!
NEEDED:
• Additional folks who could be evening liaisons/hosts when other church’s groups are providing dinner at the shelter. The job entails being at church from about 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM and helping support the groups in finding what they need working in our kitchen. This person also refills salt, pepper, sugar etc., so that it’s ready for the morning shift the next day.
• Weekdays shoppers. Ideally, we would find three or four people who could each take two trips to the food bank and Cash & Carry and drop stuff off at church. Requires a car and being able to lift 40 lbs or arrange for help on each end.
• Lead chefs. Experience preferred. People who know how to think through big quantities of food preparation and are good at giving orders and getting a meal out on time to a deeply appreciative dining room!
If you think you might step in one of these ways, or even have more questions to know if you can serve in one of these ways, please contact Hanna Hart, who is lovely,
at wintershelter@uusf.org.
And thank you. As Thurman said, “What the world needs is for people to come alive.”
Vanessa
HOSTING OUR HOMELESS NEIGHBORS IN FEBRUARY: HELP NEEDED!!
