SF CARES Initiated

The Birth of SF CARES

Saint Paulus entered into a collaborative relationship with San Francisco Night Ministry and Welcome, both nonprofit groups which have creatively and effectively cared for the marginalized and poor of our San Francisco community. Since October of 2010, representatives from each of the governing boards of these three organization have been meeting, identifying common values, sharing visions and figuring out what God is up to when we come together. What emerged in our association, was an entity called SF CARES, the letters meaning Compassion, Advocacy, Resilience, Education Services, the new creation of collaboration that encapsulates sharing values, resources, energy and direction.

The first fruits of SF CARES was the hiring of a volunteer coordinator, the Rev. Valerie McEntee, to help organize, solicit, train, manage and gather up volunteers, wherever they may come from and to assist in the effective delivery of the many ministries which these three organizations maintained. Volunteers are always needed to operate the Free Farm (at Saint Paulus), to cook and serve dinners at Welcome and the Friendship Banquet (weekly, complimentary dinners for guests with HIV/AIDS), to staff the Night Ministry’s “crisis lines” which operates every night from 10 pm until 4 am, to sort and organize the clothing that is donated, to accompany people to appointments with medical folks or government agencies and to provide food food for the homeless at the Open Cathedral gatherings on Sunday. And this is only a partial list, with many more volunteer opportunities just waiting to be discovered. Valerie has already launched SF CARES into cyberspace (Facebook, blog or email [email protected]) with much more marketing and outreach planned. Tune in and get on board so everyone can pay forward and expand your soul’s potential!

That which has emerged from this collaborative is only known to God, but but our best guess is that the combined energies and creative juices that have been joined in SF CARES, along with good staffing and organization, will allow for compassion, advocacy, resilience and educational services to be advanced among the poor with great power and dramatic consequence. We look forward to the days ahead, watching and participating in what God continues to create in our midst.