Reflections from Emerging Leaders Intern Juliana Mastro
My interview for the Emerging Leaders Internship was like no other. During the group dialogue, Isoke prompted us to speak openly and honestly about something we were passionate about. We were encouraged to express ourselves in any way we could, so I wrote a poem. No formal resumes were required. I was excited to share this side of myself.
Continue reading “Learning to Speak Up”
Ryan Clark is one of our GLIDE Emerging Leaders interns this summer. Joining us from Boston College, Ryan took an immediate interest in food justice, education and volunteerism, and has spent the last several weeks working on a campaign to increase and retain the number of volunteers in the Daily Free Meals Program. Though the internship is quickly coming to an end, Ryan took some time to reflect on the connections he has made with GLIDE staff and the people we serve. We are so appreciative of the care and enthusiasm he has shown in his work and for GLIDE!
Continue reading “What Makes Me Volunteer”
In August, 2017 GLIDE introduced two full-time Meals Navigators to the Daily Free Meals program, which is GLIDE’s largest and longest running program, offering meals three times daily to all in need or some 750,000 meals a year. Pamela Brown and Diane Truong help connect people in our community to other services at and beyond GLIDE. Pamela specializes in assisting people with disabilities, while Diane offers English-Cantonese translation to our many Cantonese-speaking community members.
Continue reading “Meet Diane and Pamela: GLIDE’s Meals Navigators”
Eddie is a Meals Program Team Member who first walked in the doors at 330 Ellis looking to volunteer. Two and a half years later, Eddie can do just about everything in the Meals Program – coffee house, prep room, main dining hall, opening shifts, closing shifts and everything in between. He does it all with a big smile and a heart of gold! And because he speaks FIVE languages, including three dialects spoken in China, he’s adept in communicating with our guests who come from other cultures and countries, particularly our senior community.
We are grateful to him for sitting down to talk about volunteerism and daily life in Meals and for sharing some stories from his time working alongside clients and volunteers. Eddie, we’re lucky to have you around!
Continue reading “Giving Back to San Francisco with Eddie”
Kent first came to GLIDE as a homeless teenager in search of a hot meal and assistance navigating San Francisco’s affordable housing system. Today, he returns every Monday and Thursday morning to volunteer in the kitchen, which comes easy to him – he has years of experience in the restaurant industry! He believes little things, like a smile or a warm greeting, can make a big difference – two things he provides plenty of each week during his breakfast shifts. Thank you for getting up early and making breakfast a wonderful experience for our community, Kent!
Continue reading “It’s Never Too Late (Or Too Early!) to Make a Difference”
Welcome to our Volunteer and Staff Highlight Series! Throughout the next five weeks we will be shining the spotlight on a few of our amazing volunteers and staff members in the GLIDE Daily Free Meals program. These people pull off something miraculous every day — three times a day. If you’ve ever joined us for mealtime you know it’s a major operation, requiring nearly 100 people a day to get right. But the real mark of success is when our guests don’t have to think about anything except enjoying their food, a welcoming atmosphere, some friendly and familiar faces, and a sense that they belong.
James Sampaga is a Meals Program Shift Lead in his 13th year at GLIDE. Everybody knows James. Recently we caught up with him in the middle of closing a lunch time shift. Amid the clamor of clanking dishes and soul music over the dining room speakers, James offered his thoughts on the importance of the Daily Free Meals program as well as the incalculable value of volunteering.
Continue reading “Serving Lunch (and Love) with James Sampaga”
Maddi is a young man who is multi-lingual, a talented visual artist, and now homeless. He’s been coming to GLIDE frequently, and we have enjoyed getting to know him better. He graciously shared his story with us.
I was born in Kuwait, but I was born as a non-citizen, without documents. My mom is Kuwaiti but in that country they don’t give you citizenship even if your mom is a citizen. Very unfair. So we emigrated to New Mexico.
I got my B.A. in foreign languages — French, Spanish, and Italian. I came out here to get my master’s at the Academy of Art University for illustration and fine arts. I recently became homeless and just found out about GLIDE and I’m very thankful for it. I became homeless after living in the Sunset in a house with two other housemates. I feel like I have a problem with organization and foresight.
I was actually just going to the DMV to get my ID when I came by GLIDE again to get some food. I’m very thankful for it. Not that getting food out of the trash is that bad. You know, it’s San Francisco so they sort everything out so it’s easy to get the food without the trash and people have been really loving and open. It’s an eye-opening experience, more than anything, these last 20 days. I’m finding out about all the resources and programs the City offers, and just how it is to live in the streets. I’m planning to put it all into a graphic novel.
I’m painting outside at Fisherman’s Wharf and I’m also painting in the Mission. My friend led me here after we were hanging out in the Mission. Mostly I have just been eating here. I’ve also been trying to locate a residence, but I have a tarp so it keeps the ground dry. It’s been okay not to have a shelter of any sort because I usually end up feeling like I’m imprisoned because I can’t leave a room once I sign a lease. It’s been nice to be out and about and painting in public.
A sketch of Ellis Street in front of GLIDE.
Eating at GLIDE has been really good. It’s been a resource when I just cannot find food. Honestly I’ve become accustomed to eating out of trash cans, and a lot of times someone will come up to ask you if you want some food. I’ve been eating here a couple times a week, while I’m out and about, trying to put my portfolio together. One application goes to Germany, the other goes to Florence. It’s been easier to not have a residence and do the things that I’m doing because when I had a residence it was so hard to just leave the house and see what I could see. In a lot of ways, you have to lose everything to look around and see what’s available.
An example of Maddi’s work: “Mock advertising illustration for Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream done in acrylic paint.” You can find more of Maddi’s work at http://theartofmaddi.com/ as well as on Instagram @hamad.ani
Iona Lewis is a Case Manager with GLIDE’s Men in Progress program. Thanks to her father, Iona has been a part of the GLIDE community her entire life. Now, she and her husband Raphael are both employees here and their son, Carlo, attends GLIDE’s Family, Youth and Childcare Center (FYCC) during the day. Iona and Raphael were part of the GLIDE contingent to the opening of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, in April.
In the following lightly edited excerpts from a recent conversation, Iona shares some memories of her father and growing up near GLIDE. With this offering from Iona, we wish everyone everywhere a loving Father’s Day weekend.
Continue reading “A Father’s Gift”
On June 5, San Franciscans voted to make our city a more equitable, safe and just place. Together we made real progress on affordable childcare, limiting the tobacco industry’s influence on children, providing legal representation to tenants, providing just compensation to our public school teachers and lowering the potential for death and injury through taser use. We’re happy to report on the outcomes of the measures that GLIDE took a stand on:
Continue reading “June 2018 Election Wrap-up”
Tonight, we count down to one of the most unusual and powerful fundraisers any nonprofit might aspire to: the eBay for Charity Auction for Power Lunch with Warren Buffett. The story of how it came to be is often told and dear to us, since it starts with a much loved and missed member of GLIDE’s congregation and community named Susie Buffett, who took it upon herself to introduce a certain relation named Warren to the place that she had come to believe in so passionately. Her introduction worked. To the no-nonsense investor whose success has made him a household name, GLIDE was the real deal. And he has lent his name and time to the cause ever since. We asked GLIDE’s President and CEO Karen Hanrahan for her perspective on this singular tradition.
Continue reading “Pulling Together”
