Support GLIDE

Author: communications

GLIDE’s Violence Intervention Programs (VIP), Community Safety Team, and Daily Free Meals Program joined forces for Men Matter, a wellness and self-care event for men in the GLIDE community. The day-long event on June 18th took place on the car-free 300 block of Ellis Street as a special feature of the Tenderloin Resource Hub in front of GLIDE. The gathering provided an opportunity for men to have fun, socialize with one another and obtain valuable community resources in a safe space free of violence. 

The festive event included a free clothing bank where participants could pick out pre-loved, gently worn clothes, shoes, and accessories, free haircuts provided by YWAM, and an acupuncture clinic. Nutritious meal options included garlic-chicken fried rice, shish kabobs provided by Tae’s Tasty Treats, a Black-owned catering service. Also on the menu were grilled hotdogs and cupcakes provided by the Daily Free Meals Program. 

Many of GLIDE’s programs participated in the Men Matter event, providing a host of tailored integrated services and outreach to support, inform and affirm. The Center for Social Justice handed out “Know Your Rights” cards while the Community Safety Team created a game zone with dominoes, chess, cornhole, and a pool tournament that featured two $50 gift cards, also from YWAM. GLIDE’s Violence Intervention Program and Walk-In Center teamed up to share wellness bags with new socks, San Francisco Giant shirts, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and the Women’s Center on hand with women’s resources as well. 

“One of the things we do well here at GLIDE is that we collaborate to help reach people in need and make a difference in their lives,” said Saundra Haggerty, GLIDE’s Violence Intervention Programs (VIP) Manager, who coordinated the gathering. The Men Matter event is one of several initiatives in VIP, which, among other things, conducts court-ordered domestic violence intervention workshops for men and provides peer support to prevent repeat offenses. “We meet them where they are and want them to know we can help,” said Haggerty.

In addition to the many featured services, GLIDE’s Family Resource Center also provided parenting resources and information for fathers. And in keeping with GLIDE’s values of Loving and Hopeful and For the People, the event also featured an open-mic forum to allow participants the chance to be seen and heard. 

Being recognized is important observed GLIDE Clinical Director Roderick Penalosa, who said the event provided a welcoming space for men in a marginalized community who may feel invisible. “The Men Matter event brings awareness that men, particularly men of color, can be misrepresented and characterized in ways that don’t often reflect the true essence and value of their humanity.”

“As an organization that advocates for inclusivity and radical compassion, GLIDE aims to raise the visibility of positive and healthy expressions of masculinity,” added Penalosa. “Men need to take accountability and responsibility for their behavior, but it is also critical for them to know that they are significant, accepted, and capable of being loved.”

Haggerty agreed and added that GLIDE looks forward to making community-focused gatherings like Men Matter annual events. “We want to come together to let the men in the community, and those we serve, know that we are here for them. We support them, and we want to help them in their healing process.” 

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you today, feeling acutely the burden of the collective heart. Across this country, there is an increase in alarming reports of antisemitic hate crimes, assaults, and harassment. Of course, GLIDE condemns these actions that are born out of deep-seated bigotry, intolerance, and blame. There is never a justification for hate crimes. And there is also something deeper to address. 

Scapegoating of many shades has long been a precursor to violence and harassment in our nation, all proliferating from the common roots of fear and shame. Roots that are hard to bear. When we examine the collective history of our nation, we find narratives brimming with antisemitic hate crimes committed by individuals, groups, and government officials. We recognize the patterns and cannot be silent witnesses to a new wave of religious scapegoating and violence that targets a community that has suffered from centuries of oppression. History and our values demand more of us. 

GLIDE’s role has always been to bear resounding witness to this collective trauma, to shine a light on those bare roots, and to bring people together in shared humanity to forge solutions. We are both heartbroken and angry at the increasing scale and depth, and magnitude of scapegoating. Let me touch again on the burden of the collective heart – isn’t this ache a call to awaken to the larger task ahead of us? 

We know, at GLIDE, that America is at its best when we come together to support each other. This is our vision of what this country might be. May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Our nation is made stronger by the resilience, history, and cultural contributions of American Jews. Let us join together in recognition and celebration of this truth. 

We are mindful that the meaning of the Hebrew word Shalom means both peace and also wholeness. We work every day on the ground here at GLIDE to help and support everyone to feel safe and whole. We want to affirm, as always, that American Jews, like all of us, deserve to feel safe and secure in who they are, and deserve to feel Shalom wherever they might be. 

As a nearly 60-year-old social justice organization rooted in radical inclusion and unconditional love, GLIDE has always stood firmly with the Jewish community. We all are in this together. GLIDE is for the people. Always. 

L’ shalom,

Karen J. Hanrahan 
President & CEO, GLIDE

GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American & Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Month. We asked After School Program Manager Selina Ng what GLIDE values resonate with you this month and why?

“The GLIDE value that resonates the most with me is being radically inclusive. GLIDE’s Family Youth and Childcare Center after-school program is a brilliant example of how both staff and clients coexist amongst each other despite coming from different backgrounds. As the after-school manager, one of the most important aspects of my job is to ensure that our clients are able to grow and learn in an environment that is respectful, loving, and safe. Having that as a GLIDE value, we are empowering our clients to celebrate diversity, acknowledge differences, be aware of social injustices and learn to coexist.

I am a first-generation Chinese American who grew up with immigrant parents, and I am incredibly fortunate to bilingual in Cantonese. To this day, I still help my parents translate into English. Many of our clients are first-generation as well, with a few who are actually immigrants, and they are bilingual and, like me, must translate for their parents. I see my parents in the families of the clients I serve, the hopes and dreams they have for their children—much like mine had for me.

Being radically inclusive also means that we must understand that being inclusive goes beyond gender, sexual orientation, and race; it also means we accept and help others despite their status and as a product of immigrant parents and see their struggles with a language, system, and culture that is so different from ours. It is my obligation to support and be a resource to the very clients and families they serve because I know my parents and countless others like my parents would have wanted a similar support system.”

Selina Ng, FYCC After School Program Manager

GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American & Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Month. We asked Clinical Director Roderick Penalosa what GLIDE values resonate with you this month and why?

My family and I migrated from the Philippines to the United States in search of equitable opportunities. The benchmark of success for many immigrants like myself is to thrive in America unscathed and to earn the privilege of American citizenship. The journey towards achieving the American dream comes with social, environmental, and political values that can stifle and oppress our voices and visibility in this country

My race has always been the most prominent marker of my identity, and for an Asian-American who came here as an adolescent, I was incessantly entrenched in the model minority myth – stereotypes that perpetuate the characterization of all Asians as the ideal persons of color to emulate because of our perceived natural capacity to comply, obey, excel, and succeed. This mythical belief is detrimental to our mental health and wellbeing because it takes away our right to be included, counted, and supported, particularly in times of crisis, due to the assumption that we are not susceptible to socio-economic and psychological stress. Many of us in the AAPI community suffer in silence because of the social stigma and shame that comes with help-seeking behaviors.

As an Asian-American, I resonate deeply with the GLIDE values of truth-telling and unconditional compassion. I’m a strong proponent of social justice advocacy that starts with self-responsibility. The courage to show up every day in our most authentic selves, in all circumstances, is a healing form of conveying our truth and an unconditional expression of self-compassion.

Revealing my true nature, even in my helplessness and most vulnerable moments, is an affirmation of my identity as a proud gay Filipino American immigrant man who belongs and deserves to be heard, seen, and recognized in America. Owning my authenticity and capacity to love myself and others is the truth that I share deeply with GLIDE and with humanity. In my role as GLIDE’s Clinical Director, I aspire to redefine the meaning and value of trauma-informed service that is healing-centered and culturally compassionate.”

Roderick Penalosa, PhD, LMFT
GLIDE Clinical Director

GLIDE’s Women’s Center, in conjunction with community partners The Healing Well, La Cocina, YWAM San Francisco, and Simply the Basics, hosted a Womxn’s Wellness Fair on Friday, May 7–the start of Mother’s Day Weekend. The free, day-long event was meant to celebrate and serve all unhoused, and housed women-identified residents in the Tenderloin and took place in the Tenderloin Community Resource Hub at Ellis Street and Taylor in front of GLIDE.

Womxn’s Wellness Fair activities included fellowship, fun, food, art, resources, music, carnival games, bingo, and even free yoga, tai chi, and acupuncture. Women could access resources like hygiene products, mental health support services, harm reduction kits, free snack bags, and $5 vouchers for the newly opened La Cocina Marketplace. The fair is part of ongoing outreach efforts by GLIDE’s Women’s Center to support women who are living on the street, in an unstable housing situation, or need social support.

“Our event was a tremendous success!” said Shannon Wise, manager of GLIDE’s Women’s Center. “Thank you to our 24 participating agencies and all the women in the community who came out. We served about 300 people that day. It was great for agencies to network with each other on-site, and in-person providing up-to-date information and community resources.”

“I am so happy that they have a Woman’s Fair, said attendee Hoamy “Linda” Ung. “I have been waiting and praying for it.”

https://youtu.be/WtC5o78pkdc

“I really believe in women empowering women and women having a platform just to better themselves, just to be happy to be who they are, said participant and organizer Juthaporn Chaloeicheep. “We should praise women for the good jobs they do.”

When women get together, we’ve been able to do amazing things.” “I just wanted to come out because I’ve been locked up so much,” said Marquita Stroud, who lives in a nearby hotel. “My favorite part has been playing all the carnival games.”

Wise is hopeful that the Wellness Fair will make more women aware of the services available through the Center. “We’re here and we can help,” she said. “We just want people in the community to know that we are a resource for them.”

GLIDE’s Women’s Center provides a safe haven for women on the road to recovery from trauma, violence, and isolation. Through its essential support services, the Center helps women, and their families stabilize their lives and thrive. To find out more about the Women’s Center, please visit glide.org/program/womens-center.

Dear Friends,

Throughout May we celebrate and honor the rich culture, contributions, diversity, and resilience of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. It is a special month at GLIDE. And it is also every day at GLIDE, where we embody the opportunity for healing and unity through our diversity.

So much of the GLIDE community is comprised of people of AANHPI heritage – our leadership, our staff, and clients, our donors and volunteers, our friends. All are fundamental to who we are and how we transform lives across San Francisco. Our heritage is rooted in the legacy of GLIDE’s co-founder, Janice Mirikitani, whose legacy of love, strength, and healing for all people is also rooted in her personal experience overcoming abuse and injustice.

The lived experiences of the AANHPI community resonate daily within and around GLIDE. From accomplishments on the national stage in leadership, social justice, business, and philanthropy, to the heroism and ingenuity of our staff, volunteers, and community partners who assist those in need across San Francisco. Throughout GLIDE’s nearly 60-year history, we have celebrated members of the AANHPI community, because they are us and we are them. Together we are the beloved community.

Yet, echoes of historical injustices against the AANHPI community sound again as hate crimes increased with the rise of COVID-19. These acts of violence are a chilling reminder of the consequences of political scapegoating and our nation’s long and systemic history of erasing and denying our patterns of stereotyping, silencing, exploiting, and perpetuating acts of brutality against the AANHPI community.

It is time to end this violent history and to carve new paths for healing and justice. We must begin by shining a light on the realities of the AANHPI experiences in our country, by exposing the travesties of history, speaking out loudly against violence, and demanding accountability. This radical truth-telling is a prerequisite to progress, an essential step for any nation to move out from under and beyond hate crimes and racial injustice. Once we lift up the truth, we must take action that fosters accountability, compassion, dialogue, and, eventually, reconciliation. GLIDE is doing this work. As we publicly condemn the violence and call for accountability, we are also leading initiatives that build pathways to empathy, trust and reconciliation. Our innovative work with police, healthcare workers, companies, and our own diverse community is changing how people see themselves and each other.

When we come together in these ways, with resilience, lifting each other up and embracing and cherishing our diversity, we build a better future that is bigger than the sum of the parts. GLIDE has stood for and with the AANHPI community. We always have, and we always will.

With love and in solidarity,

Karen J. Hanrahan
President & CEO

During May, GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator Meilani Meleisea, “what GLIDE values resonate with you this month and why?

Meilani Meleisea, Annual Giving Manager

My name is Meilani Taumaia Marie Meleisea. I was raised by parents who hail from both Apia in the West of Samoa and the village of Taputimu on the Island of Tutuila in the East of Samoa. To be of Samoan Heritage and to have been raised by both my family and larger community has shaped the values I currently hold, many of which GLIDE upholds as well. Of GLIDE’s central values, I resonate most with being “For the People,” and continuously being “Loving and Hopeful”. As a child, I was taught by my parents to be giving and to be kind. I was also taught to always strive to leave someone better than I met them.

To be Pacific Islander is largely to know that all that who you are, is not all of your own doing. I recognize that I have villages and family everywhere, by way of the vastness of our oceans and the fortitude of my people, who have served me and poured immeasurable value into my life. It is in recognizing this, that I have learned and continue to learn how to best serve my community with humility, compassion, and strength. GLIDE similarly exhibits genuine and humble service for their communities in everything they do, whether it is serving meals at 7 am in the morning or staying after hours to ensure a community member has all they need for the evening ahead. GLIDE stands for all people. To be loving and hopeful is a value I have come to cherish in my work with Pasifika communities near and far.

Being a Pacific Islander in the United States can feel both strenuous and isolating. Throughout all of my schooling, I was the only Pacific Islander in any of my graduating classes. Throughout my life I have felt like the only Pacific Islander in everything I have done, which can be extremely lonely sometimes. Nevertheless, I have found friends and colleagues along the way who share my love of our Pasifika communities and my passion for equitable representation of NHPI peoples. It is in these experiences that I learned to root my cultural advocacy work in love rather than resentment and hope rather than fear.

To be at GLIDE is to emanate love and to do so unconditionally. GLIDE receives folks who come from all walks of life and meets each one with the same love which works to inspire the hope that there are people who love other people, and that all people are deserving of love.

Manuia le Masina AANHPI. 

Alofa Tele! 

­­­— Meilani Taumaia Marie Meleisea

During May, GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We asked Annual Giving Manager Sunil Prasad, “what GLIDE values resonate with you this month and why?

Sunil Prasad, Annual Giving Manager

This month, which is very significant on so many levels, the GLIDE values that continue to reverberate the loudest to me are unconditional love and eternal hope. We are all in recovery and as a community we have such a long way to go to heal together and bridge the divides that exist: without love and hope we cannot do this.

I am from the Fiji Islands. Many know it from ‘postcard images’ with white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and lush green rainforests. Sadly, we have also had a long history of political coups. I have lived through six such events before moving to the US about ten years ago. I joined GLIDE at the beginning of 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic started dominating the headlines and our lives.

Before the pandemic hit, I was already going through so much. I had lost someone very dear to me to fentanyl-related accidental overdose. When that happened I had to step away from a lot, from people and my job, to heal and accept my loss. At that time GLIDE’s compassionate and judgment-free work in harm reduction shined like a beacon to me.

I feel elated to be part of an organization that provides so much for others in need. From nutritious meals to health screenings, from crisis intervention services to resources that empower survivors of substance use disorders and partner violence. From supporting individuals to supporting families to fight for equity for all within our community. All of this with open hearts and arms. Without judgement.

In Fiji, food is considered very sacred. It brings the whole community together whether the occasion is celebratory or somber. Food breaks every cultural and traditional boundary to provide a sense of togetherness and love. And at GLIDE, we open our doors to everyone so that we feed the body and the soul.

May 2021

GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We asked Deputy Director of Programs Lillian Mark, “What GLIDE values resonate with you the most this month and why?“

Lillian Mark, Deputy Director, Programs
When my grand-uncle passed away, I had the honor of delivering his eulogy. His daughter wrote out his life story, parts of which even she and her five siblings did not know until they started tracing it.

I did not know until I held the draft in my own hands that my grand uncle was a “paper son” which explains why he had two different names; one was his given name, and the other name was the one on the “paper” that my great grandfather had purchased for him to come from China to the United States. Even in this moment, I feel anxious acknowledging this part of my family history. The stories of where we come from have been buried because of fear, shame, and hurt. We continue to struggle with telling our story because we are told that we still do not belong. But even so…

I am my family’s story.

I am a constant, persistent manifestation of my family’s history – in my spirit, in my speech, and in my stride.

I am, as we say in GLIDE’s Terms of Faith and Resistance, telling the world my story. Unstoppable.

— Lillian Mark

May 2021

GLIDE Voices is highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We asked Client Advocate Tina Huang “What GLIDE values resonate with you the most this month and why?“

Tina Huang, Client Advocate
Over 20 years ago, I immigrated from China to the United States, and I didn’t know a single English word. It made looking for a job, making new friends, and navigating this unfamiliar country incredibly difficult. After I found my first job at a cable manufacturing company, I held on to it for decades because I thought I could work there till my retirement. I lived in China Town, and I remember I only went from home to work and back. I shopped in China Town and didn’t really know the outside world. I raised my kids and went to Adult School in China Town. Then, because of my company’s downsizing, I was laid off. I went back to get more training at an institute. The institute wanted to send me to do an internship in data entry, but I told them, “I love helping people.” Through the school, I got an internship at GLIDE. I fell in love with the organization’s culture and caring environment. When they offered me a job I said “yes!”

From the start, I identified strongly with GLIDE’s mission and Radically Inclusive value. As an Asian immigrant, I recognize how important it is to demonstrate mutual respect for one another. Here, you can truly see how respectful, generous, and radically inclusive everyone is: my interactions with my colleagues have always been done with the utmost respect. Although I speak English with an accent, my colleagues accept me for who I am. Slowly but surely, we have become brothers and sisters. They have become my friends and family, and I am extremely grateful to have them by my side.

The COVID-19 pandemic definitely impacted all of us, especially the AANHPI community. Racist remarks are on the rise and these comments have made me angry, afraid, and frustrated. The threat of physical violence on Asians does worry me. But, because of GLIDE and the consistent support and encouragement from my colleagues, I have the confidence to stand up for my rights. I have supported and participated in various peaceful gatherings against violence and racial discrimination. I want to encourage everyone to stand up and speak up.

Be proud of your ethnicity, your background, and upbringing. GLIDE has reminded me of this every day, and I am beyond honored to be a part of this amazing family. We stand up for one another regardless of our background and differences. I am proud of my identity as an Asian American woman. I will do my best to continue to serve my community.