Welcome

Check out our $7,000 Fundraiser on Kickstarter.

2011-12-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

Your support today will keep me living indoors.

2011-12-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've seen them, all the letters that folk like me send to folk like you because we know that this is the time of the year when most of our fund raising dollars will come in. And in an economy like this one, there are loads of Executive Directors out there, like me, who are wondering if the money will come at all.

The answer is only known by you, trusty donor.

But, one thing is certain, now more than ever thinking about who you're giving your hard earned money, donations and time is vital to the life of the programs that support those who are most vulnerable. And this is the part of the letter where beg you to make Welcome the organization you give your money to.

Insert a heart warming story for those who give from the heart. Insert a fancy invitation and creative end of the year fundraiser, for those who need an event.

The links above will connect you to the tried and true fund raising strategies that you'll find in all those letters coming to your doorstep this month. Enjoy them if that's what works for you.

But I thought this year I'd try something new: the truth. The truth is that Welcome is an amazing organization that helps people one-on-one improve their quality of life through our core programing that teaches volunteers hospitality as we feed more than 680 individuals a month.

We also provide education for congregations and faithful individuals throughout the country. More than 89,000 read our blogs, I led 74 church services and spoke at 13 universities, national conferences, shelters and congregations around the country.

All our work is completed by 1 staff person and our more than 875 volunteers a year. But, we are so good an organizing communities, that nearly all the stuff we give away (more than 3,600 outfits, toiletries and socks a year and more than $3,000 of food a month) we get for free from donations.

This means when other organizations tell you that they spend very little on salaries and most of their funds go towards stuff for people, we do the exact opposite. We get all the stuff donated from congregations, organizations and individuals around the country and feed more than 8,000 people a year for about $7,000 a month. Most of this cost is my salary.

So today, I am literally begging you to help pay my rent. Living in San Francisco, my salary at Welcome only $7,000 a year more than my rent costs. You can see why a downturn in the economy makes me very very nervous. We are not an organization that can cut fluff from our budget during a tough fund raising year.

I am a pastor who works with the homeless, but I am reminded with each paycheck how close to homelessness I am myself.

Why would you want to help pay my rent? Well, if you've followed my blogs you've probably noticed how hard I work and how much I get done. But beyond that, you know that helping me stay housed, in turn helps thousands and thousands of others.

When I had the idea to make a farm that could provide free food to people in our neighborhood people thought I was crazy and it couldn't be done. When I fought to create the Homeless Identification Project, people thought we could never get funding for it.

These ideas have all come out of my deep listening to the homeless that I am blessed to get to work with. But, the real truth is that each year Welcome needs to come up with new innovative ways to serve the homeless or we are unable to get major grant support from foundations.

Together, with hundreds of other donors, your gift of $20, $150, $2000 can make a real difference to me.

Your gift today will take my mind off paying my own rent, so I can go back to supporting the homeless and hungry who need my time and support more than they ever had. $43 pays for an hour I spend with someone to help them avoid relapse; $129 can provide trauma care for a veteran and help them navigate life in supportive housing; and $258 allows me enough time with a homeless youth to help them find a job, reconnect with family and find alternatives to suicide.

If you don't have cash to spare during this difficult time, you can always help by recommending our program to your friends; asking folk to support us rather than giving you Christmas gifts; donating items to Community Thrift on behalf of our organization or by encouraging your congregations to support us with their benevolence funds.

Please consider donating now online or by mail:
Welcome, 1751 Sacramento St., San Francisco, 94109

Thank you for all the ways you support Welcome throughout the year!

Rev. Megan Rohrer
Executive Director

P.S. Your support now, helps us feed and care for thousands of homeless individuals in San Francisco.

Non-Event Fundraiser

2011-12-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

DURING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WELCOME IS TOO BUSY TO THROW A FUNDRAISER. EVEN THOUGH 90% OF OUR DONATIONS ARE GIVEN IN THE MONTH OF DECEMBER, IN THIS ECONOMY WE CANNOT JUSTIFY SPENDING OUR TIME AND MONEY DOING ANYTHING OTHER THAN FEEDING THE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY.

So we hope you won't join us at our:

Non-Event Fundraiser

DON'T BUY A DRESS OR SUIT. SAVE THE TIME YOU WOULD HAVE SPENT LOOKING FOR PARKING. 100% OF YOUR MONEY WILL GO DIRECTLY TO WELCOME.

Saturday, December 24th
Instead of hosting a fundraiser,
we'll be be feeding 300 homeless and hungry individuals.
Dinner will be served between 5:30 and 7.
Volunteers are needed at 4pm.

R.S.V.P
Buy your ticket, by donating online:

At our Facebook cause
Our with a secure online donation.

Or, by mailing a check to:
Welcome
1751 Sacramento St.
San Francisco, CA 94109

Saturday Dinner Photo Story

2011-11-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

With more than 300 meals served and 40 volunteers, this Saturday Community Dinner at Welcome is typical of what you would find any 2nd or 4th Saturday of the month.

I began cooking the chili at 3pm. With nearly 10 years experience cooking for the homeless and hungry, I've got cooking for large groups down to a science. Tonight's meal cost about $750 in total (donations from volunteers, in-kind donations and from facebook friends paid for tonight's meal). Other nights AA groups, interfaith groups or meditation groups bring the food.

Volunteers begin arriving at 4pm and then start setting up tables for our guests.

Volunteers also sort toiletries and clothing that are donated by congregations around the Bay Area. We give away hundreds of clothing and toiletry items at ever dinner.

Since I my blog posts are read widely and I travel often around the country sharing the work of Welcome with congregations, sometimes we receive donations from outside the Bay Area. This week, a box of socks arrived from St. Andrews Lutheran Church in San Mateo, CA.

After the donations are sorted, around 4:30pm the desserts are cut and put on plates. Cake is a favorite of our guests. Since the craving for sugary foods are similar to those for drugs, we give our guests many sugary foods through out the evening to enable those working on their sobriety to battle their cravings.

Steve, seen below, brings bread and candy that he begins handing out to guests waiting outside in line around 5pm. Steve also chats with the guests and helps to ensure that they are treating each other with respect and mindful of neighbors who live nearby.

Around 5:15pm all the volunteers gather to set their intentions for the evening. Instructions are given and volunteers are able to ask questions about the dinner before it starts.

At 5:30 guests arrive, find their seats and the volunteers begin to serve our guests.

Sometimes a guest or volunteer will hop on the piano and play some tunes for our guests.

Meals are served from 5:30 - 7pm.

After the meal, volunteers help clean dishes, the bathrooms and the kitchen. Clean up typically finishes between 7 and 8pm.

Saturday Community Dinners

2011-11-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

Most feeding programs in San Francisco are not open on Saturday or Sunday nights, the Saturday Community Dinner is vital to hundreds of hungry individuals in our neighborhood. But unlike other feeding programs:

1. Our community dinners serve guests restaurant style (in terms of how we serve and the quality of food), instead of making them wait in a line. Volunteers have often been heard saying that the food served at our dinners is higher quality then they eat at home.

2. We eat with guests, learning their names and stories, allowing them to serve us. As a result, many volunteers discover that they receive more than they feel like they give at our dinners.

Every 2nd and 4th Saturday a month the Welcome Ministry provides a meal to 150-200 members of the community. Many of our guests are homeless or formerly homeless, many are seniors, many are low income and others come to be a part of the community.

Different congregations, students or groups provide the food and volunteer each dinner and eat with guests. For groups, like students and others who cannot afford to provide the food, dinners are sponsored by donors including the Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation and a local AA Group (see the photo below). On special occasions we also hand out clothing, socks, help people send cards to family members and hand out blankets.

Fred, Michael and Steve are volunteers who have supported the Welcome Ministry dinners for years. They use the dinners as a way to stay sober and to encourage others to work towards sobriety.

If you are interested in volunteering at or hosting a Saturday Dinner please contact Pastor Valerie McVee (sfcare@saintpaulus.org or 415-673-3572)

Reform More Than Wall Street!

2011-10-28T15:10:00.001-07:00

This Reformation week, I've been thinking about the ways Luther's actions would have been different if he lived today. Certainly, the political climate of the Occupy Movements have a similar populist gile that mimics the unrest of Luther's day. I imagine the reformation mobs that marched to abby's and churches to burn them down and distribute their riches to the poor, are similar to the longings of many angry marchers who head towards banks.

Thankfully, today's marchers are a lot more nonviolent and less likely to get themselves murdered if their top leaders flip-flop or align with political leaders, as Luther often needed to do in order to keep his head and neck attached.

Certainly the Pope and his theologians were as good at spinning bad press as Republicans are at convincing those desperately in need of health care that when the get it it will be a bad thing.

In my previous blog, I have argued that we should occupy churches and give power to the moral voices we want to have a national voice in our country's future. But, I wonder if optimism can cause Reformation if it lacks the sharp tongued venomous anger that Luther claimed as his vice.

Hatred and violence worked for our Lutheran origin, but I believe it cannot work today. At least here, from my privileged place as an employed Pastor in San Francisco, I must acknowledge that I'm nowhere near desperate enough to reform myself or the church in the ways Luther did.

That was Luther's to do.

My work is with the homeless and others living in poverty. My voice is heard by many and I hope it's because I see a vision of a more just world and deeply believe that if I do my part and you do yours we can be the society our neighbors deserve and at times desperately depend on.

As much as we may desire that others pay their fair share (whether it's bankers or seniors and those with disabilities), in the end it is up to us to roll up our sleeves, dust off our check books and feed people every time they are hungry.

Today our reformation is more likely to involve donations, cleaning dishes and toilets and loving everyone (without excuse) then it is to involve marching or pillaging.

So join me in the spirit of the Reformation and do at least one useful thing for the world, whether it's watching the kids of tired parents or raking someone's leaves - the new Reformation is one of compassion and care without an expectation that money needs to be exchanged for such things. Isn't that the heart of the historical Reformation anyway?

New Volunteer Assistant on Board

2011-06-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hi there, my name is Valerie McEntee. I’m the new Volunteer Assistant here at SF CARE (a collaboration of Welcome, The Night Ministry and St. Paulus Lutheran Church) and this is the obligatory self introductory post.

The very short version of my background:

I graduated from Pacific School of Religion with my M.Div in 2008 and was ordained by the United Church of Christ that same year. In addition to my work at SF CARE, I’m an Assistant Night Minister with San Francisco Night Ministry and the Coordinator of Christian Education at the Congregational Church of Belmont, UCC.

The reminder to come back often:

I’ll be blogging here about the great time I’m having on this job and all the ways you can get involved in the work of SF CARE, so drop by every week or so to see what’s going on. And don’t forget to check out SF CARE’s Facebook page.

The contact info:

You can reach me at sfcare@saintpaulus.org. I’ll have a working phone number to post here in the next week or so.

In the News: Bay Area Reporter

2011-05-18T22:36:00.001-07:00

'Encampment' brings attention to homeless LGBT youth

NEWS

Published 05/19/2011

by Matt Baume



	Homeless youth and their allies staged a "street sweep" in the Castro last Saturday to bring attention to budget cuts for social service programs. Photo: Matt Baume

The May 14 encampment was part of a nationwide demonstration to raise awareness of homelessness among a demographic known as transition-age youth. Homeless and foster youth between 16 and 24 years old can face unique housing challenges, particularly as they age out of the foster care system and learn to navigate services for adults.

"We're here to engage the community on homelessness, and specifically queer homeless youth issues," said organizer Beck, who uses only one name. "We're in kind of a state of emergency, saying, 'hey community, wake up.'"

Saturday's action started at Civic Center with games, an unveiling of protest banners, and hot meals served by Food Not Bombs. A march proceeded to Harvey Milk Plaza, where speakers read poetry and called for improved access to services to get off the street.

Their requests included housing with kitchens, rather than single room occupancy hotels with no facilities for food preparation; employment opportunities for youth who are unable to complete school; and an end to the sit-lie ordinance.

According to local organizers Trans Youth Rise Above, there are 5,700 homeless youth in San Francisco, of which at least 1,000 are queer.

Operation Shine America, which coordinated similar rallies in other cities, estimates that there are 2 million homeless youth in the country. Queers for Economic Equality Now also organized the San Francisco event.

Beck explained that organizations like the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center and Larkin Street Youth Services' Castro Youth Housing Initiative have faced repeated budget cuts, reducing services that can prevent youth from living on the street.

Jodi Schwartz, executive director of LYRIC, agreed that times are tight. "There has been a sizable decrease in investments in LGBTQ youth services," she told the Bay Area Reporter. "Just for LYRIC, if we were to lose the last piece of dollars for transition-age youth workforce, our decrease in funding would be 72 percent over the last four years."

Larkin Street Executive Director Sherilyn Adams told the B.A.R. that the extent of cuts won't be known until Mayor Ed Lee releases a budget later this month.

"There's no proposed cuts to the Castro Youth program," she said, but added, "it does not begin to meet the need."

To address the potential consequences of such cuts, Lee recently convened a stakeholder group consisting of representatives from organizations that advocate for homeless youth. Based on feedback from that group, the mayor asked that the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families prioritize funding for LGBT and undocumented youth.

While organizations hope to turn around the recent budget cuts, local organizers are seeking ways to demonstrate how the city's rate of youth homelessness could worsen.

After Saturday's protest concluded, about three dozen homeless youth spent parts of the night camped out around the Muni station, according to organizer the Reverend Megan Rohrer, director of the Welcome Ministry, a coalition of 12 churches that seek to provide a faithful response to poverty.

Rohrer is currently working with the GLBT Historical Society to raise visibility by drawing inspiration from past struggles. She incorporated a "street sweep" into Saturday's protest, in which participants swept Castro Street sidewalks with brooms to evoke a similar 1960s-era protest.

In that action, LGBTs protested the city's negligent sanitation and police roundups by pushing brooms through the Tenderloin.

Chosing Not to Sleep on the Streets

2011-05-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

I made a decision last night to not sleep on the street as planned. At first I was ashamed of my decision. The Rev. Megan Rohrer told those who gathered there that sleeping on the streets that night would not make you a better person but if you went home, just remember you could not do it even one night, when all these youth don't have that choice (paraphrasing there to get the gist!) She was right, it would not have made me a better person, but knowing myself well enough, it would have made more smug. I would have been more critical of colleagues who didn't even show up at all. She was right, I could not, of my own free will, choose to sleep out after all.

But I do know a little something of what it is like to no longer have the choice. I did spend one week of my life homeless, but unlike these youth, it was thru my own stubbornness, my own stupidity. Every day I saw where people had found my clothes and possessions that I tried to hide, since I couldn't carry them all, having been ransacked and little by little I lost them all but for the one small bag I carried with me. I did not have to sleep on hard streets, like most of the youth and other homeless folks do here in the city, I had park, I would crawl into the underbrush and cover myself with leaves so no one would see me. However, I did only have to do this for a week. And I did move on from there. But that experience stuck with me and is why I work with SF Night Ministry and it was why I joined the rally and march last night.

But I still chose not to sleep on the street.

One of the things I have learned in ministry is that it is tough to find out you have limits. There are just certain lines you come to and cannot cross at that moment. Sometimes all you can do is bear silent witness to others suffering, pain, anger etc. and even there, you still reach your limit. I heard things last night that I did not agree with, things I did not want to hear, things I needed to hear. And sometimes I could not hear a thing as I began to wrestle with what it all really meant, what was I supposed to do, how was I supposed to witness?

I chose to stay as long as the speeches, then I chose to go home. My limit, that line last night was that I could not sleep on the street.

Will I go to another rally like this? You bet I will! And another, and another and another, for as long as I am able. And who knows, maybe next time, or the next time or the time after that, I may cross that line and choose to sleep on the street! or Maybe that will never happen. We will see.

-Bishop Rusty Clyma

In the News: Bay Area Reporter

2011-05-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Shining a light on homeless LGBTQ youth

Guest Opinion

Published 05/12/2011

by Beck, Adele Carpenter, and Tommi Avicolli Mecca

It is estimated that nearly 2,300 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in San Francisco are homeless.

In 2007, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition on Homelessness concluded in their joint study, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness," that 40 percent of homeless youth in this country identify as LGBT. One would have expected a tremendous outcry in the queer community when that study was released. Especially here in San Francisco.

Where was that outcry?

You'd think that a community such as ours, which is capable of raising millions to promote gay marriage and to fight "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," would have poured a lot of effort and money into housing young people by now. But, where are those resources?

Programs that support transitional age homeless youth are usually left out of local and national fundraising strategies that allocate millions of dollars for lobbying efforts in the name of our families and the safety of our community. What about the homeless queer youth who reside on the streets and who are looking for family and safety, but instead often encounter exploitation, violence, and criminalization under laws which make it illegal to sit or lie in public?

They need services, but where are the queer youth services in San Francisco?

An activist group spearheaded three emergency winter shelters, a food program, and a shower project for homeless youth and others in the Castro in the late 1990s after the dot-com boom caused a sharp spike in rents throughout the city, making it impossible to afford an apartment. Those services opened despite unbelievable opposition from merchants, landlords, and residents. When the last of the shelters folded, the Youth Empowerment Team secured $750,000 in city funds for 29 beds for LGBT homeless youth under Larkin Street's Castro Youth program. That program is now down to 22 beds and looking at more cuts this year. Not to mention the devastating cuts to the LGBT Community Center's Transitional Youth program, which packs in over 300 youth a year for food and resources.

Meanwhile, the LGBTQ youth space at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center was shut down in 2010. Advocates have been negotiating with the Recreation and Park Department for nearly a year to have it re-opened, but it is clear that consistent staffing, hours, and overall youth access to the space, will continue to be compromised. The Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center has been forced to reduce its open-door programming for transitional age youth due to lack of city support, and its internship program, which was cut last year, is facing a possible total elimination in the budget of the Department of Children, Youth and Families.

The closure of New Leaf: Services for Our Community's youth substance abuse treatment program was a hard hit for those attempting to access LGBTQ friendly substance abuse counseling and mental health treatment. While the clinicians at Dimensions Clinic do an excellent job, services meant to engage youth in treatment have not been fully restored.

Clearly, the community needs to speak out.

This Saturday, May 14, queer youth and allies are taking part in a national effort to shine a light on homelessness among queer youth. Hosted by Operation Shine America and the AJ Fund, youth organizers will provide makeovers, video and photo booths, art workshops, freeze tag, and a free dinner donated by Food not Bombs. This begins at 6 p.m. at the Civic Center. At 7:30 p.m., youth art from the AJ Fund will be used to decorate a march that will make its way toward Harvey Milk Plaza. Marchers will remember AJ Trasvina, a local youth who spent his last years providing support to homeless queer youth.

At Harvey Milk Plaza, we will illuminate our lanterns and shine a light for a homeless youth open mic. Participants are encouraged to wear purple and bring candles. The event will culminate with a sleep-in at the plaza that is a separate event organized by Welcome Ministry. Later, some plan to perform a peaceful street sweep with handmade brooms and signs, symbolizing the poor being displaced by lack of access to space and support.

Through stories and information, we will illuminate the local and national issues of homelessness among queer youth, much of which is caused by rejection by family and community, the high cost of rent, criminalization, and a lack of employment opportunities and training.

It's time for all LGBT organizations and our community to make homeless queer youth a priority by allocating resources to these vital services. Not from year to year, but for many years to come.

Beck, Adele Carpenter, and Tommi Avicolli Mecca are all members of the newly formed coalition, QUEEN, or Queers for Economic Equality Now.

Gaga Mass & Vanguard Tour

2011-04-21T15:14:00.001-07:00

I'm excited to announce that the Lady Gaga Mass will be traveling to select locations along with the Vanguard Traveling Exhibit and Speaking Tour. With the Vanguard Talk at 7pm (featuring Joey Plaster Oral History Chair at the GLBT Historical Society and Mia Tu Mutch trans youth activist) and the Gaga Mass, arranged by Pastor Megan Rohrer (Executive Director of Welcome and co-pastor of the Community of Travelers) at 8 pm. The Gaga Mass offering will raise money for local LGBTQ youth ministries and shelters in the area of our tour.

We'll be adding tour dates, times and locations to this site soon. Start getting excited!

Copyright permission for the Lady Gaga Mass obtained through PERFORMmusic License#6400
Mad love to the Gaga!

Memorial for Troy Swann

2011-01-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

We've included the words of Troy's service online so that those who were unable to attend the service can participate as they are able.

Welcome & Opening Prayer

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us and grant us peace. For the unbearable toil of your sinful world, we plead for remission. For the terror of absence from our beloved, we plead for your comfort. For the scandalous presence of death in your creation, we plead for the resurrection. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us. Grant us peace.

Come, Holy Spirit and heal all that is broken in our lives, in our streets, and in our world. In the name of the Holy Parent, Child and Healing Wind.

Into your hands, O merciful God, we commend your servant Troy. Acknowledge, we humbly ask you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, into the glorious company of saints in the light. Amen. May his soul and the souls of all the departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Readings

Psalm 22: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;^* ³ he restores my soul. ^*He leads me in right paths^* for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley,^* I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely^* goodness and mercy^* shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Ephesians 2:4-10: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ ⁵ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

Words of Reflection:

Lead By Pastor Megan Rohrer, followed by reflections from the community

Prayers of the People:

Lead by Pastor Maggi Henderson

Song

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died,
Heaven's gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still,
When I'm very weak and ill;
From His shining throne on high,
Comes to watch me where I lie.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay,
Close beside me all the way;
He's prepared a home for me,
And some day His face I'll see.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

The service has ended. Participants are invited to join us at the community dinner downstairs.

In the News: The Sacramento Bee

2011-01-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

At Free Farm in S.F., all veggies are given away

By Katherine Seligman
The Sacramento Bee

Published: Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A

SAN FRANCISCO – There was one common reaction when the Rev. Megan Rohrer said she wanted to start a farm in a weedy, glass-strewn vacant lot a few blocks from the Civic Center.

"People told me I was crazy," Rohrer said. "They said it was the wrong kind of space, you'll never be able to weed it, no one will come to work on it."

Yet the Free Farm will celebrate its first anniversary today, a year in which it grew and gave away more than 2,500 pounds of vegetables, making it the most bountiful of six gardens planted on Lutheran church-owned space in the Bay Area.

In an age when farmers markets are sprouting in every urban California neighborhood, the Free Farm is an unusual tale of success. Its "Hecka Local" brand produce, from tomatoes and zucchini to dwarf kale, pineapple sage and watermelon radishes, is prize-worthy, but is tended by volunteers and donated, no questions asked, to anyone who wants it.

"We want to provide an example of how to live based on generosity and sharing, instead of everything being seen as a profit," said a farm manager, who calls himself Tree.

He is joined Wednesdays and Saturdays by a dozen or more willing workers who mulch, shovel, weed and eat a communal vegan lunch. The volunteers come from all corners. There are students, teachers, members of a local temple, gardening mavens, food justice activists, the unemployed and people who describe themselves as living off the economic grid.

"We have eatings instead of meetings," said volunteer Pancho Ramos, as he sat with a bowl of bean stew and rice at the farm one day recently.

Ramos, who says he lives "without traditional currency," has watched the lemon and fig trees start to bear fruit and neighbors come by to get vegetables, surprised to find they are free.

"One woman took some zucchini and came back an hour later with empanadas," he said. "That's what a church should be."

Rohrer, executive director of Welcome, a faith-based nonprofit that works on poverty issues, saw the farm as a way to bring quality produce to inner-city residents. She had worked with the chronically homeless for about a decade and saw them struggling not only to keep housing, but also to afford good fresh food.

"The city wanted community gardens, but there was all this red tape," she said. "Everything was taking years, so I started talking to different Lutheran pastors about getting space."

One of the available spots was the lot on Gough Street, one-third of an acre that had had been unoccupied since a fire destroyed St. Paulus Church in 1995. Like much of the city, it sat in close proximity to wealth and poverty, blocks from the ornate Opera House, expensive condos and public housing.

Rohrer, who grew up in South Dakota, knew backyard gardens and had learned community organizing, but she turned to local experts for farming help. Tree and Lauren Anderson, founder of Produce to the People, which harvests food from backyards and community gardens, joined her.

Together with volunteers they built a ramp from recycled Christmas trees. They scrounged for old pallets, buckets, concrete and hardware. They fertilized the sandy soil and built a labyrinth with bricks salvaged from the burned church.

Today's scheduled celebration includes a greenhouse-raising. Tree hopes to use the structure for seedlings to plant and give away.

"I want to inspire people to pay attention to where food comes from," he said.

The Free Farm continues the work he's done since the 1970s, when he first started gardening and planting avocado trees in the Mission District. He took his name because of his connection to trees, he said, but prefers not to talk about himself. ("It's not about me. It's about the work we can do," he says.)

He started the Free Food Stand in the Mission District in 2008 to give away vegetables from community gardens and surplus collected from other farmers markets. The stand, which has given away more than 12,000 pounds of produce in the past two years, now also gets vegetables from the Free Farm. "Hecka Local" always goes first.

Megan's Mega-ministry

2010-12-23T11:43:00.001-08:00

Politically, it is often the loud suburban prosperity-driven mega-churches that get attention. Often in local church districts, it's the congregations that fill the most seats and generate the most income for the congregation (even if they don't share or tithe with the local church bodies) that get the most attention and respect.

As the Executive Director of Welcome, where we've downsized from 3 staff members to 1 in the same year where hunger has increased 40% locally, I am consistently begging for funds and we are only able to keep the doors open because of the generosity of other interfaith congregations and faith groups.

In terms of our place amongst other congregations, some might think of my work as like one of the little fish that cleans the side of the tank or a bird that eats to bugs off of other bigger animals. Some have even thanked me for being willing to work with those who are not welcome at other congregations, or whom they cannot stand to see, smell or share coffee hour food with.

While financially these metaphors are apt, the last statement certainly says more about those who have said it than it does about me or my work.

Welcome is the little engine that could, keeping its doors open while bigger non-profits that work with those living in poverty disappear each year.

Our focus is simple. Rather than becoming a static place for direct services, Welcome seeks to educate faithful people so that their efforts can make a bigger difference in the neighborhoods they live in and to fill in the gaps where bigger programs and government organizations are unable to meet critical needs.

Sometimes this means filling out paperwork for people, serving food on a day when no other agencies are open, teaching people to learn the life skills they need to live indoors for the first time in 20+ years or organizing congregations and faith groups to share more than 5,000 blankets.

But even though Welcome has to beg for what we need and the funds to keep our doors open in with the same constant tenacity as those we serve, that does not mean our space in the church at large should be belittled.

So, starting today, I will now think of myself as a pastor of a mega-church. Called to be a pastor to the more than 4,300 homeless individuals in San Francisco, Welcome has more members than any other congregation in town. What other congregation could say that its membership includes 1 in 6 San Franciscans (the number of people who go hungry each day)?

Our goal is not prosperity, but rather true quality of life and dignity for all. And we work each day in hopes of decreasing our membership list. This 2011 I may be the only pastor in the country who would rejoice if my membership dropped by 50%.

Have a blessed holiday season, pray for San Francisco and the high suicide rate that we have this time of the year. And thank you for being an encourager, supporter or follower of this mega-ministry!

Pastor Megan Rohrer
Executive Director
Welcome
1751 Sacramento St
www.sfwelcome.org

Location:Polk Gulch, San Francisco

Email Newsletter

2010-12-14T20:13:00.000-08:00

Learn more about our successful blanket drive that distributed more than 5,000 blankets, get invited to some upcoming events and participate in our non-event fundraiser. Read our newest email blog. You can subscribe to the email newsletter at the top of the page by clicking "Join" if you'd like to get it delivered directly to your inbox in the future.

Homeless React to the Sit/Lie Law

2010-11-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

learn

2010-11-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Education is the root of everything we do at Welcome. In addition to preaching and teaching about poverty at more than 56 congregations, organizations and schools each year, Welcome also provides the following educational opportunities for our guests:

Urban Food Share: The Urban Food Share Program is a community space to learn about nutrition and the slow food movement. This will include individual guidance for people to discover their own particular dietary needs and create a model for sharing food that uses a choice and empowerment model to explore ways to enable individuals with little or no access to a kitchen, refrigerator or microwave to eat healthier. We also hope to create a community gardening space so that our guests can have a closer connection to the foods they are eating.

Community Gardening Project: The Urban Share Community Gardening Project takes advantage of underutilized city spaces by transforming them into community spaces; the results providing a tangible resource and tools for residents to learn about environmental protection, creative reuse and to address local hunger. Educational classes are available to help members of the community learn to create their own gardens in person or through our blog.

Somatic Trauma Care: Designed to help the homeless and other low income individuals learn the skills they need to heal from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In addition to the family and life trauma's that afflict many people living in poverty, there are also 2,100 homeless veterans, according to the San Francisco Chronicle who are in need of this care. Learn more about how trauma care helps those living in poverty improve their quality of life.

Individual Pastoral Support and Referral: Pastor Megan provides support to our guests and chaplains. Types of support include assisting guests to access obtain their identification, emergency housing or entry into drug detoxification and treatment services; accompanying guests to medical or legal appointments; and visiting guests in hospitals, jails and treatment programs. Whenever possible our one-on-one support seeks to educate guests to advocate for their own needs and to make and keep goals.

For more information on how to volunteer, please contact: megan@welcomeministry.org

eat

2010-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

At Welcome we believe that all people need to be fed in their mind, body, spirit and stomach. Poverty has made it difficult for some individuals to gain the access the food they need to survive. We not only provide food for those in need, but we also help our guests learn sustainable ways to secure food in the future. At Welcome there are no lines, we serve resturant style (bringing food to seated guests) and always eat with our guests. As a result, our meals are community building experiences that help those who are often marginalized to learn social skills, feel connected to their community and to provide us with direct feedback about our programs.

Urban Share Community Gardening Project: The Urban Food Share Program will work to create a community space to learn about nutrition and the slow food movement. This will include individual guidance for people to discover their own particular dietary needs and create a model for sharing food that uses a choice and empowerment model to explore ways to enable individuals with little or no access to a kitchen, refrigerator or microwave to eat healthier. We also hope to create a community gardening space so that our guests can have a closer connection to the foods they are eating.

The Welcome Center: Every Tuesday from 2-4 pm Welcome offers a light lunch to guests in a safe communal setting, where guests and volunteers eat together. Here members of the community are able to fill their hunger and gain access to the other support services that Welcome has to offer. Many of the guests at this meal have been homeless for more than 20 years, so slowly helping people become comfortable with socialization is a big part of what we do. Welcome Center guests make appointments with Jay and Megan to get more individual support throughout the week.

Saturday Community Dinners: Every 2nd and 4th Saturday a month we provide a meal to 200+ members of the community, including the homeless, marginally housed and many low income seniors. Different congregations, students or group provide the food and volunteer each dinner and eat with guests. On special occasions we also hand out clothing, socks, help people send cards to family members and hand out blankets. How to host a community dinner.

For more information on how to volunteer, please contact: megan@welcomeministry.org

Reformation manifesto against poverty & homelessness and for pastor self care

2010-10-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

10/22/2010
Times Square New York

My last night indoors before my 7 days and 7 nights on the street this year I'm spending in Times Square. It wasn't planned to be an intentionally poetic thing. I'm doing a panel talk at CUNY's Graduate Center tonight for Out History. I fly back in the early morning and then head immediately to Davis, CA to preside at the closing worship of the Sierra Pacific Hunger Network's gathering. Then, I'll head immediately to Old First Presbyterian for the Saturday Community Dinner which will feed about 300 people. Afterwards I'll be joining the group of fools (no really, that's what we call ourselves - Faithful Fools after St. Francis of Assisi) and I'll be one of the huddled masses sleeping on the concrete outside of First Unitarian Universalist Church.

This street retreat, I'll be working on and off while I sleep on the streets at night. While this is a little different from past years, I think it will be a revelatory experience. First, I always find it helpful to feel how it feels in my bones to participate in the typical activities that I regularly ask homeless volunteers to participate in. Experiencing it helps me to understand what are unhelpful rules or just make life more difficult and painful for folk.

Another purpose of my continuing to work is to highlight the struggles of the working poor. This time in our economy more than ever, there are so many people working jobs that don't pay all their bills. Even I, someone very well off compared to the lives of those living on the streets, is currently working more than one job in order to get out from under debt, to pay my exceedingly high mortgage and because I haven't had a raise in three years.

And though there are a million reasons that my working while on street retreat can be illuminating, the final one I'll give here, is that during this week before the anniversary of the Reformation I want to highlight the way that pastors that chose to serve those with the least are consistently overworked and underpaid.

Without the ability to get good self care (through vacations, time off to think, time away from crisis and time away from bill worries both at work and home.

So for all these reasons, and all those that will come to me along the way, I officially declare my street retreat (from October 23 - 30) a call for a reformation to: solve domestic poverty; to pay living wages for individuals and families; and to provide self care and support with our prayers, money and priorities for pastors, particularly those engaged in community ministry or the diaconate, to get the self care they need.

Join me on my street retreat/reformation at: mystreetretreat.blogspot.com

And since I will beg on the streets, and in most of these notes, you might as well get used to me begging you to support the vital work that I'm able to do at Welcome. (via the mail: 1751 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94109 or via the interwebs at: www.sfwelcome.org).

I get the privilege of developing creative ways for folk to respond to poverty - whether they live in it or not. If you feel like my blog will entertain you as much as a movie, give $11. If it makes you think like a book would, give $25. If it feels like church, consider tithing %15 of next weeks salary. If you learn as much as a college class consider donating $255. If it changes your life, or at least your perspective, how much is that worth to you?

Since most of my time is spent finding ways to make things free that people in poverty can't afford, I won't be upset if you don't give. But, anything you do give will help me spend less time begging (and more time helping those living in poverty improving their quality of life) when my street retreat is over.

Blessings upon blessings to you and yours. May you be warm and fed, today and all the days of your life.

Pastor Megan

Location:Time Square, NY, NY,United States

Loaves and Fishes

2010-08-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight at our Saturday Community Dinner, which we host every 2nd and 4th Saturday, we served 276 people and handed out clothing and toiletries to more than 150 of our guests. At this time last year we served 153 people. Since no other organization has meal programs on Saturday nights, despite the fact that we don't advertise in the local free eats charts, our numbers have been rising steadily over the last three years.

For these dinners we depend on the generosity of congregations and other organizations. Churches and volunteers donate their gently used clothing and toiletries that they collect from hotels during their travels. The congregation at Old First Presbyterian recently had a sock and undy Sunday in order to help us get more clothing and toiletries for our dinners.

The truth is that if we had twice as many donations, there is enough need to give away twice the number of donations.

Tonight I went to the grocery store three times to get more food and supplies so we could feed the additional 100 people who were hungry tonight.

We need your help to serve those who are in need for the rest of the year. All our 2nd Saturday dinners have groups that are bringing the food for our guests, we need individuals and/or organizations who would be willing to help us serve and will either bring food or would like to sponsor the food for our 4th Saturday dinners.

The dinners typically run between $1.50 to $6 a person, depending on the quality of the food and if the dinner hosts cook it themselves or get pre-cooked food.

Contact Megan if you're interested in sponsoring a dinner. From now until January, we will be preparing enough food for 300.

Online Silent Auction

2010-06-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

An online silent auction has been created for the upcoming fundraiser. New items will be added up until July 24th, so check back regularly.

View the auction here.

Join us on July 25th

2010-06-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

Extending the Welcome
a fundraiser

Friends of Welcome -

Today I'm writing to invite you to two events. On July 25th, 7 GLBTQ pastors, including myself, will be welcomed onto the official roster of the Lutheran church (ELCA). This day of extending the welcome to GLBTQ members of the Lutheran church is 20 years in the making. You can join us in person, at St. Mark's Lutheran at 4pm or watch the service on the internet by live stream. Click here for more information about the service.

After this historic service, join Welcome at an after party fundraiser. Enjoy dancing, a silent auction, appetizers and drinks (beer, wine and soda). You need not attend the service to join us at the fundraiser.

Welcome has been working since 1996 to help the chronically homeless and hungry move indoors, get connected to life saving services and learn the skills they need to improve their quality of life.

Join us in the ballroom of the Hamilton Hotel (631 O'Farrell) to extend the celebration for great cause. For more information and to buy tickets for the event, click here.

If you are unable to join us and would like to send a donation or pay for one of Welcome's guests to participate, you can donate online.

Or, mail a check to Welcome:
1751 Sacramento St.
San Francisco CA 94109

For more information about Welcome visit:
http://www.sfwelcome.org

Blessings,

Rev. Megan Rohrer
Executive Director
Welcome

P.S. I hope you'll join me for the service and the fundraiser. This is one more opportunity for us to raise funds to match the challenge gift of $15,000 we received from St. Paulus Lutheran.

$15,000 Challenge Grant from St. Paulus Lutherans

2010-06-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Friends of Welcome -

I'm excited to announce that our friends at St. Paulus Lutheran Church in San Francisco have given Welcome a $15,000 challenge gift this month in order to inspire donors and congregations to support Welcome during this important time.

To date, congregations have pledged $64,050 and we will be receiving another $21,500 from grants. Together with other donors and congregations, your support now will enable Welcome to raise the $15,000 in salary support we need to raise in 2010.

Once we reach our $15,000 goal, Welcome will be able to use the additional support that comes in this year to replenish our savings account. A healthy savings account is important for sustaining Welcome through difficult economies (we were sure grateful for these funds last year!) and ensures that Welcome will be able to provide support for individuals living in poverty for years to come.

So if you've been following all the wonderful projects that Welcome has been working on over the last couple of years, whether your are giving for the first time for the hundredth time, we hope you will consider a special gift to help us raise our $15,000 goal. And for those of you who need to be challenged to do it, St. Paulus Lutheran double dog dares you to help match their $15,000 gift.

Donate Online or mail a check to: Welcome, 1751 Sacramento St, San Francisco CA 94109

Blessings

Rev. Megan Rohrer
Executive Director
Welcome

P.S. Thanks for all the ways that you support Welcome through your donations, prayers and volunteer time. St. Paulus Lutheran challenges you to help Welcome meet it's goal to raise $15,000.

Join Us and Support Welcome

2010-04-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

Join us for
A Free Farm Afternoon
Gough & Eddy
in San Francisco
May 22, 2010
2:30-4:30

3:30 Talk by Novella Carpenter, Author of Farm City

Music Provided by: Lia Rose

Food Donated by: farm:table, Mama's on Washington Square, Greens, Maggie Mudd, and Bi Rite Market.

A family friendly afternoon at the Free Farm. Food from Mama's on Washington Square, Green's Restaurant and many more. Wine tasting. Coffee from Farm Table Cafe. Carla's kid's corner. Music and Poetry. A fun and very special afternoon.

A special talk by Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, a book about her first year running Ghost Town Farm in Oakland. Novella Carpenter will speak at 3:30 pm. ghosttownfarm.wordpress.com

Join us and support WELCOME. We provide a communal response to poverty with a simple philosophy of providing food, education and counseling to the communities we serve.

tickets $75, $50, $25. Pay what you can afford. Consider buying two tickets to sponsor one of our community members.

Our Organization:
When Welcome was founded in 1996, our initial mission was to work with the homeless in San Francisco's Polk Gulch District. In 2008, our work resulted in over 155 people moving indoors. We continue to work with the same low income individuals to help them learn the skills they need to remain indoors, to improve their quality of life and to become self-sustaining individuals through meals, one-on-one support and creative community projects that address the health needs of those living in poverty.

Location:
At the Free Farm at the corner of Gough & Eddy in San Francisco

The Free Farm:
Is a farm that will grow 12,000 pounds of food that will be distributed for free to members of the community. You can find information about the free farm at thefreefarm.org

Order your tickets now: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/107417

In the News

2010-04-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

Check out this great story about the Free Farm from KQED's Bay Area Bites Blog.

excerpt:

Or, what about starting from the very beginning, and growing more food from scratch right here in the city? Even in cities as highly populated as San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, a surprisingly amount of arable land is still available. Just look at the Free Farm, which was started on a vacant lot at Gough and Eddy Streets in January of this year.

Pastor Megan Rohrer, a young Lutheran pastor who works with a variety of homeless communities around the city as the executive director of Welcome Ministry, wanted to expand the work she was doing, going from feeding the hungry of San Francisco to growing food for those same communities. The St. Paulus Lutheran church was willing to offer an empty lot it owned to her and a dedicated community of volunteers to make a garden.

Meanwhile Tree, a longtime food-justice activist and community gardener as well as the founder of the Mission's popular Free Farmstand, was looking for a place to grow more local food to supply the farmstand. Once Megan's church connections met Tree's gardening expertise, the Free Farm was born. With grants from the Mesa Foundation along with several local Episcopal and Lutheran churches, plus a whole lot of wheelbarrow-pushing volunteer labor, the weedy lot has undergone an astonishing transformation.

What was once a trash-strewn, needle-littered eyesore that neighbors called "The Pit" is now a welcoming, mural-lined space full of neatly mounded raised beds planted with salad mix, potatoes, beans, broccoli and lettuce. Bricks salvaged from the St. Paulus church (which stood on the space before burning down in 1995) now form strawberry beds on the hillside and a winding spiral bed planted with flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Cold frames and a newly built greenhouse are filled with trays of tiny seedlings, everything from kale to tomatoes to marigolds started from seeds donated by church communities across the country. Bright garden-themed murals by local artist Leanne C. Miller cover the concrete wall on the west side, and there are plans to bring more artists and sculptors into the garden to create site-specific works.

Volunteers get down and dirty every Wednesday and Saturday from 10am to 2pm, building infrastructure, hauling mulch, manure and compost, planting seedlings, waterings, and more. A volunteer-made vegan lunch, often featuring produce harvested from the garden, is shared by all. Volunteers will also share in the harvest, with excess supplying the Free Farmstand (Rohrer hopes to establish another neighborhood Free Farmstand on the site) as well as providing fresh local produce for twice-weekly homeless dinners organized by Welcome. (For more information on Welcome's additional garden projects around the Bay Area, go to Urban Share.)

Read the whole article and leave comments about the article at: KQED's Bay Area Bites Blog

In the News

2010-03-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Free Farm San Francisco - Tonic

Volunteers turn an overgrown lot in San Francisco into a farm that will provide free food.

San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the country, which makes the idea for the Free Farm all the more remarkable. The 1/3-acre lot located at the corner of Gough and Eddy streets is planning to provide free food to whomever wants it, with much thanks to a man who goes by the name Tree.

As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Tree, a resident of the city's Mission District, opened what he called the Free Farm Stand in his neighborhood back in 2008, thanks to donations for the supplies he needed and a lot of hard work from various volunteers. Even though Tree said, "I've always got more people in line than food," he's managed to grow and give away more than 6,000 pounds of food.

Tree oversees the volunteers at the plot of land located at Gough and Eddy, land that used to be "an overgrown space for the homeless, junkies and partying gang members." The Rev. Megan Rohrer, executive director of The Welcome Ministry, a San Francisco nonprofit aiming to end poverty, asked the land's owner, the Lutheran Church, if Welcome could grown food on the lot, and the church agreed, unofficially giving them three to five years. Following a three-month cleanup, seedlings are now being planted and while it could be months until workers start to give out food, it's going to happen.

Not only will it help those in need, but as Tree explained in the article, it also helps the community at large. "Doing things for free encourages people to share. It encourages people to be community, to be family. It provides people the chance to be generous with each other." Let's hope the generosity continues to spread.

See the original: Free Farm San Francisco

In the News - SF Chronicle

2010-03-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

From: Free Farm Plants Seeds of Community, Generosity, San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 2010

Free Farm plants seeds of community, generosity

March 22, 2010|By Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

The folks planting a farm on the corner of Gough and Eddy streets in San Francisco hold no illusion that they'll cure urban blight with a head of lettuce.

They make no claim that a fava bean sown today will reduce the prison population tomorrow.

"I'm a simple person," said a man who goes by the name Tree, a Mission District resident who oversees volunteers as they plunge seedlings into mulch. "We're going to grow food here, and then we're going to give it away to people who need it."

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The 1/3-acre lot, known unofficially as the Free Farm at the Corner of Gough and Eddy Streets, will soon provide free food to anyone who wants it. It's being built and cultivated by a group of people who decided the unused parcel, on a particularly busy Western Addition intersection, was a great place for a peach tree to grow.

And a mulberry tree. And potatoes.

"Doing things for free encourages people to share," Tree said. "It encourages people to be community, to be family. It provides people the chance to be generous with each other."

Tree first put his proverbial money where his mouth is in 2008, when he opened the original Free Farm Stand in his Mission neighborhood at 23rd and Treat streets. Relying on donations for supplies and elbow-grease from volunteers, by his count, he's since grown and given away more than 6,000 pounds of food on Sunday mornings.

"I've always got more people in line than food," he said.

Going home with a plant

Tree also sends visitors away with potted plants and small fruit trees. "I don't know if they go home and plant them, take care of them, or throw them away," Tree said. "I just know that I gave them a plant."

Tree has a salt-and-pepper beard (mostly salt), a diminutive frame, but the thick and soiled hands of a lifetime gardener. He declined to share his birth name because "this story is not about me."

The Rev. Megan Rohrer, executive director of Welcome, a San Francisco nonprofit that works to end poverty, helped start the Gough and Eddy project after she asked the landowner, the Lutheran Church, if the organization could grow food on the church's unused lot. Through Welcome, Rohrer has persuaded about six Bay Area churches to convert vacant land into urban gardens and farms in the past couple years.

The Western Addition lot was once the home of St. Paulus, an ornately designed church with Gothic arches and a towering spier that was destroyed by fire in 1995.

For more than a decade, it was an overgrown space for the homeless, junkies and partying gang members. When Rohrer lead the three-month cleanup effort, it took weeks before she could walk across the soil without hearing the sound of crunching glass.

Value of free food

Rohrer said the church has agreed to let the food farmers use the plot for three to five years, but nothing is in writing.

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"We're secretly hoping the farm will be so exciting they'll let us keep it," Rohrer said. "But I know the realities of the economy, and how much the land must be worth."

The concept of worth, and market value, is something the workers at the Free Farm like to challenge.

To Pancho Ramos-Stierle, a volunteer working the land last week, the worth of a farm that generates free food for a community can exceed the worth of a high-rise condo. Ramos-Stierle met Tree at the Mission Free Farm a few years ago and was so inspired by his generosity he began working at the Karma Kitchen, a cafe in Berkeley that opened in 2007 and operates on a "give what you can" billing system.

Trying to feed everyone

"If the community appreciates it," Ramos-Stierle said of the farm, "it will support our work. No strings attached. ... Why can't there be a re-emergence of a culture of generosity?"

It will be weeks, maybe months, before workers begin handing out roughage and beans, Tree said. It will be at least a year before the fruit arrives.

Yet each passing day another volunteer arrives at the gates and asks to help, and each week seems to lure another interested neighbor.

"We're trying to live with a certain intention," Tree said. "Our intention is to feed everyone. In terms of whether we can accomplish this in this city, I don't know."

Urban Gardening Project in Full Swing

2010-03-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

learn more about the gardens at: urbanshare.blogspot.org

Free Farm
The Free Farm is located in the vacant lot that used to be St. Paulus Lutheran Church (Eddy & Gough in San Francisco), before it burned down in 1995. We’ve partnered with No Penny Opera, Produce For the People, Stanford’s Gleaning Project, the Diocese of California to transform the site into a space for community arts, health education and of course free food for the neighborhood. Currently we’ve completed a mural, built a ramp, steps, a shed and planted strawberries, artichokes and irises. In process is a garden mound labyrinth, a green house and large beds for growing bulk produce. It is estimated that the site will grow 12,000 pounds of produce each year that we will give away for free!

Work days are (vegan lunch provided):
Saturdays 10am-2pm;
Wednesdays 11am-2pm

Little Farm of Bethlehem
At our farm at Bethlehem Lutheran in West Oakland, we are working with the good folk at Urban Farming and the corporate sponsorship of Kraft will provide the topsoil, seedlings and the tools needed to launch the project. A ground breaking celebration will take place on March 20th from 10am-2pm. In addition to the beds created with Urban Farming, we will also be creating a labyrinth garden and working on a mural to spruce up the area around the garden.

Other Garden News
At Christ Church Lutheran (19th and Quintara in San Francisco) we’re filling open tree wells with wild flowers and replacing the bushes with drought resistant plants that help preserve water and create habitats for local birds, bees and butterflies.

The St. Mark’s Lutheran garden ground clearing is complete. This garden will be serve not only the members of St. Mark’s, but also the seniors living at Martin Lutheran Towers.

At Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran in Berkeley will be creating a biblical garden that the congregation will use for Lent, their Bible School and may even allow some local Girl Scouts to get organic gardening badges!

Thanks to our Major Garden Supports
Bill Graham Memorial Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties.
ELCA Domestic Hunger Program
Episcopal Charities
Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN
The Sam Mazza Foundation
St. Francis Endowment of St. Francis Lutheran Church

Staffing Change

2010-03-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Because of the loss of several major grants, due to restructuring of their giving or closing, the Rev. Jay Wilson’s last day at Welcome will be on April 15th. We are thankful for all the work Jay has done at Welcome during his time with us over the past two years. Below is just one of the many ways Jay enriched our work.

Rev. Jay Wilson, Director of Independent Living
Pastor Jay created a unique power point presentation that talks to kids about poverty and homelessness. Pastor Jay talked to 70 third graders at Argonne Alternative Elementary School and 20 students from the San Francisco Friends School. During these talks students learn about discrimination, disabilities and safe ways to be around people who live on the streets. At the end of each presentation, the students helped us to plant seeds for our garden project, which they will be able to watch grow online at urbanshare.blogspot.com.

Frida
While not on Welcome’s paid staff, Frida primarily works as Pastor Jay’s assistance dog. Frida has also been working with some of our guests as a therapy dog. In 2009, she worked with guests 40 times.

Creatively Responding to Poverty

2010-03-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Rev. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director
Did you know that Pastor Megan teaches communities and congregations, not only in the Bay Area, but across the country to respond to poverty?

In 2009, Pastor Megan taught 2,458 individuals about poverty issues. One of the most requested talks is called “Servant or Sucker: A Faithful Response to Panhandlers.” Inviting Pastor Megan to your congregation to preach or teach is a great way to direct pulpit supply funds to a justice ministry! Contact megan@welcomeministry.org to invite Pastor Megan to speak to your congregation or community.

Pete Feltman, Volunteer and Donation Coordinator
Vicar Pete, is an intern from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. In addition to his work coordinating donations and volunteers, Pete also provides music ministry to our guests. Pete not only plays music at our meals to lighten the mood, but he helps our guests play music for and with each other. Using music to help guests learn basic social skills, as pastoral care or to help guests recover from addition, Pete has also been providing individual music lessons for some of our guests. Pete also provides music for Welcome’s weekly worship service each Thursday from 3-4pm.

Case Garver, Program Assistant
Case, a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corp, helps individuals of all social economic backgrounds volunteer at our community gardening spaces. When a long time guest of Welcome who is formerly homeless came to volunteer at the Free Farm, Case helped the guest take breaks, fit in with other volunteers and stay hydrated while working in the sun. Case’s willingness to chat with neighbors has they walk past our gardens has also encouraged many local residents to join us at our workdays each Wednesday and Saturday from 10am -2pm.

Doing More with Less

2010-03-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Throughout this blog, you have probably noticed that Welcome is doing more to directly support those living in poverty and to educate communities about homelessness and poverty than we have ever done before.

We not only have more programs, but we are also serving more people than ever before due to the economic downturn and closure of many other local organizations. At the same time, foundations that we were once able to count on for regular operational support have shifted their focus or stopped giving out money all together. While giving from individuals exceeded our budget in every area, we still had to tap into our rainy day fund in order to make it through 2009.

Thankfully, frugal spending and smart saving in past years was able to help us weather this difficult new economy. This year, Welcome faces the unique challenge of not only raising our general operating expenses, but also replenishing our rainy day funds.

Other organizations like to show that only a small percentage of their budget goes to staff salaries, Welcome works so closely with the community that we are able to get in-kind donations for nearly all of the food, toiletries, garden supplies and other material items that we share with those living in poverty. As a result, almost our entire budget is the salaries of our Executive Director, Director of Independent Living, Intern and Volunteer Corp member.

While the overwhelming majority of our donations come in during November and December (around Thanksgiving and Christmas), the salaries of the Welcome staff are paid evenly throughout the whole year. This year, because we do not have a surplus from 2009, we are currently forced to do more with less than ever before.

Today I ask you not to wait until November or December, and if you can to give your full annual donation now. Your gift today will support the staff of Welcome and help us spend less time fundraising and more time directly work with our guests.

Rev. Megan Rohrer

Community Learning Opportunities Regarding Disability

2010-03-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

So much of the work that we do with individuals at Welcome is at the intersection of poverty and disability. Here are some free and accessible opportunities to learn more:

A Ramp is Not Enough: A Religion and Disability Conference is a free day-long conference at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Open to the general public, with speakers who are particularly relevant to clergy, members of religious communities, and students. Come see Welcome's Pastor Jay on a panel speaking about how Welcome incorporates anti-ableism and disability rights/independent living work into our daily community life. Don't forget to register if you plan to attend.

Wondering about the history of disabled people working for civil rights in San Francisco and the world? Multi-media from National Public Radio with links to more information.

One local resource for people seeking political, practical, or advocacy information about disability in San Francisco is the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco. Specialists focus on empowering individuals to take charge of their own lives, offering resources varying from help with finding the most helpful adaptive technology, to help with disability-related housing issues, to information about how to make the most of benefits. In fact, their housing advocate has given a Skill Share for Welcome guests, as well as being a frequently-consulted resource for the community. Also to note are some great easy-to-read but information-full publications that you can download.

I'm posting just these three resources for today, but feel free to E-mail me at jay@welcomeministry.org if you are seeking a particular resource or are wanting more information.

Skill Share Schedule for Winter 2010

2010-02-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

All are welcome to join us in sharing skills for healthy living.

February 4, 2-3 pm	BEYOND SURVIVING TO THRIVING: Struggling to survive uses particular skills and resources to stay alive and safer. When we start meeting our basic needs and accessing resources, new uses for the same skills and new skills can help to be healthier, safer, and more happy in the longterm.
February 11, 2-3pm	AGING WITH HEALTH: Guest Presenter Rev. Genie Kinney, Director of the Doris Kraus Senior Center Hear and discuss ways to stay as healthy, active, and mobile as possible while aging with grace. Knock down ageism!
February 18, 2-3pm	HYGIENE AND HEALTH: Getting and keeping healthy is easier with some basic hygiene steps. Learn hygiene truths and misconceptions, discuss tips and resources, find paths around common barriers, sample products to practice with and take.
February 25, 2-3pm	GARDENING PROJECT UPDATES: Presenter Case Garver, Lutheran Volunteer Corps worker at Welcome Have you heard about Welcome's community garden projects? Case has been setting up garden sites to grow food for meals and giveaway, with lots of volunteer opportunities to garden.
March 4, 2-3pm	IDENTIFICATION ACCESS: Have you heard about Welcome's ID Project? Every year, Jay helps many people to get birth certificates, state ID, Social Security cards, military papers, disabled transit cards, & other IDs. Learn about why ID is important, and how to protect your identity. Bring questions.
March 11, 2-3pm	AVOIDING ISOLATION: Feeling lonely? Isolation is a common complication of poverty, disability, and mental health distress. But there are free and easy ways to start building community and building a support network.
March 18, 2-3pm	MUSIC FOR HEALTH: Presenter Pete Feltman, pastoral intern & musician Music is a powerful tool toward health and mental health. Hear and see how music can help. All are invited to share in making music, but you're welcome to just listen if you prefer.
March 25, 2-3pm	BUGS AND THEIR REMOVAL: Guest Presenter Sara Page Hear about how to get rid of bugs safely and cheaply. Learn about what you can do about bugs in SROs. Bring or submit questions!

Skills Shared and Skill Shares

2010-02-16T12:28:00.001-08:00

Have skills? Want to share them?
Want to learn skills by doing?

At our Tuesday Welcome meals, we have begun sharing professional self-care/body care/hygiene when skilled volunteers are available.

We have begun with a monthly volunteer who has professional haircutting and styling skills, averaging six haircuts each month! It is hard to find free haircuts these days, and at best they are often a rough buzz cut. That is why is to so amazing that a Welcome has committed to providing professional haircuts monthly for Welcome guests.

Maybe you have a skill around self-care or body care that you could share Tuesdays 2-4pm. We are particularly looking for massage, holistic health practitioners, poverty/trauma-informed nursing, relaxation exercises...if you've got a self-care or health professional skill, we would love to talk to you about volunteering two hours monthly with our guests.

Thinking that you are not skilled in such ways? We can use your ordinary and extraordinary gifts in our regular programming, whether in cooking, cleaning, chatting with guests, visiting people who are isolated, or sorting clothing and toiletry donations.

And there is another opportunity if you are skilled in life, health, or nutrition skills- come share with a Health Skill Share class. Staff support includes facilitating discussion, help incorporating various learning styles, ground rules, and providing space and snack set up. Leading a Skill Share involves preparing 30 minutes of presenting or a 50 minute discussion on a particular health skill with time for questions and discussion.

Topics we would like to find skilled community members to cover in the future:
-Foot care
-All sorts of nutrition topics from poverty-informed perspectives
-Legal rights/questions around homelessness, poverty, and SRO housing
-Heart and lungs
-Vision care
-Community politics
-Transportation, pedestrian issues
-Many mental health self-care topics
-Safer sexuality

Interested? Contact Pete Feltman for general volunteering and Tuesday meals or Pastor Jay Wilson for Skill Shares.

Sock it To Wet Feet!

2010-01-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

Photo Creative Commons:Attribution/ShareAlike by Alyssa (partie traumatic)

Clean and dry socks help to keep people comfortable and healthy. During the winter months, this is especially important to people living outdoors. Welcome relies on donated items for distribution- which means when we don't get donated socks, we don't have any to distribute. This week, like many weeks, we ran out during our Tuesday programming so about 30 people had to go without.

In an average month, we get more than 200 requests for socks, and we're grateful for the 100 or so pairs that are donated to partially meet this need.

Details:
-Men's regular or large sized socks, tube sock (calf length) style are the most useful. Please no tiny socks- donate them instead to organizations that work with many children.

Other things we can use right now:
-Blankets- we have been getting blankets from government surplus, but this year we only received 5 boxes (we've got the last 15 blankets left after 3 weeks).

-Deoderant, strong, not flowery- we rarely get this, and it can make a big difference for job interviews and feeling clean

-Antibiotic cream, like neosporin- injuries happen more often when living outdoors or in bug-infested places, and it's hard to keep them clean and infection free.

-Anti-bacterial soap- we get lots of soap donations, but this is a particular need for people with skin conditions exacerbated by poverty.

-Wet wipes, preferably anti-bacterial

-Men's pants, all sizes

-Warm shirts, hooded sweatshirts, and coats (especially rain gear)

-Scarves, hats, gloves (all adult sized)

-Big shoes, preferably wet-weather appropriate

As many of our guests are indoors but without many resources, we are also seeking some bigger donations to help adjust to living indoors and improve information access:
-Working Televisions, either with a converter box or digital-ready (remember that the deadline for digital converter coupons is past, and the boxes cost $50-100 without)

-Working computers (we don't have access to repair help-unless you'd like to volunteer!)- access to E-mail and good information, ability to type documents, and connection to resources are huge benefits to people seeking employment or stabilization.

Your big and little donations make a big difference for people!
Thank you!

WELCOME Needs Donations

2010-01-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

One of our more recent programs is an interfaith/meditative time of worship every Thursday for any and all that wish to come. There are a number of things we need to do to transform our worship space. The following list of donations would be most helpful to us in making the space as worshipful as possible

Unscented white candles of all sizes (especially tea lights)
Simple decorative candle holders (with no scent).
Cultural tablecloths/tapestries
Any framed or sturdy visual art
$50 donation to acquire music rights for J. Rundman songs.
Recorded/sheet music for simple interfaith songs.
Basic craft supplies for adults – such as markers, cardstock, etc (all unscented/non-toxic)
Prayer books and/or devotional objects for interfaith.

We are also looking for Volunteers to help with this time of interfaith meditation. Volunteers would help set up/clean up. Any volunteers that would be interested in sharing music, prayer, or crafts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for considering these needs!

Community Dinners!

2010-01-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

On the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, WELCOME hosts a Community Dinner at Old First Presbyterian (1752 Sacramento at Van Ness) for any and all that need a good, hot meal. Our guests usually start lining up to come in around 4pm, and then we open the doors to begin serving at 5:30. We have been serving around 200 people per dinner.

As you might imagine, this sort of undertaking cannot be done without a solid volunteer base. If you or a group that you're involved with would be interested in volunteering with these meals, please email our volunteer coordinator at: petefeltman@gmail.com.

We are currently looking for people or organizations to donate food, paper products, and the time to cook and serve.

Here is a typical rundown of our dinners.

2pm: Cooks arrive and begin prepping and cooking the meal.

4pm: Volunteers begin to arrive. They prep the dining room as they set up tables and chairs (and in some cases decorations!), coffee station, serving station, and clothing distribution room.

The coffee station never fails to see a lot of activity and we're always looking for creamer and sugar donations as our guests love to flavor their coffee.

The serving station is set up in the Munroe Room of Old First, and is simply a few tables with food on them.

The clothing distribution room (which doubles as our guest computer lab during the week) is where we give away all the clothes and toiletries that we receive as donations.

5:15: Volunteers circle up to receive instructions about serving. Generally, every volunteer gets one table which becomes their only responsibility for serving throughout the dinner hour.

5:30: The doors open and our guests file in to find a spot at any of our tables. Then the fun begins!

6:30: Most guests are done eating and volunteers begin the clean-up process. Clean-up usually takes about an hour if all the volunteers are working hard.

The dinners are always well received by our guests – and we attribute this to the fact that we cook tasty, healthy meals and that we provide a safe space for all that need to sit and rest for a little while. Our volunteers have enjoyed the work that they do as well – many of them have become regulars for every meal. Perhaps you would like to as well?

Get in touch with us at: petefeltman@gmail.com

Community Garden Workday

2009-12-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

We will beginning regular work days at the St. Paulus community garden (Eddy and Gough) every Saturday from 10 am -2 pm starting January 2nd. Volunteers are encouraged to bring a sack lunch and wear long pants and close toed shoes. Volunteers of all ages are welcome and will be required to sign a waiver before they work in the garden. Bring gardening gloves if you have them.

There will be tasks that range from physically demanding to light.

Work days will be canceled if it rains.

If you would like more information about volunteering please contact: pete@welcomeministry.org

If you would like to be notified by email of future workdays please sign up for our newsletters using the box in the upper right hand corner of this blog.

Will Write for Food: a benefit for WELCOME

2009-10-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

A Conversation with Anne Lamott
Saturday, November 21st
Reception with our Writers: $100 at 7pm
General Admission is $20 (main event at 8pm)
The event will be followed by a book signing
Tickets can be purchased a the door or online at: www.willwriteforfood.eventbrite.com

Proceeds help support the additional food needs of the homeless and hungry in San Francisco. You can learn more about WELCOME at www.welcomeministry.org

Fall 2009 Skill Share SCHEDULE- now Thursdays 2-3pm

2009-10-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

NOW ON THURSDAYS 2-3PM, FOLLOWED BY WELCOME WORSHIP
If you miss a topic that you'd like to learn about, E-mail Jay for resources:
jay@welcomeministry.org

FOOD AND MENTAL HEALTH: What we eat and drink can affect how we feel. Thursday October 8, 2-3pm
Learn about some common reactions to foods and drinks, how to identify how foods affect you personally, and tips to eat toward better mental health.

PREPARING HEALTHY FOOD WITHOUT A KITCHEN: Thursday October 15, 2-3pm
Guest presenter- Welcome Lutheran Volunteer Corps worker Case Garver
Learn and share ideas for making healthy food without a kitchen.

MEDITATION FOR ALL PEOPLE: Guest presenter Orion Pitts Thursday, October 22, 2-3pm
Learn about and experience meditation as a tool to relax, improve physical and mental health, and increase peace in your life. Our guest is studying meditation in religious traditions including Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, and can also speak to meditation without a specific tradition. He also runs a weekly Christian meditation group at First United Lutheran Church.

CHOICES ABOUT PSYCH MEDS: Thursday, October 29, 2-3pm
Learn about medications for psych symptoms, their risks and benefits, how they can help (and sometimes hurt), info that can help you make choices, and how to stand up for your choices about seeking/refusing meds.

MUSIC AND HEALTH: Guest Presenter: Welcome Intern Pete Feltman
Pete will share about how music can help with physical and mental health, including what is music therapy, how to use music to be healthier, and samples of what/how music can help. Thursday,November 5, 2-3pm

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS: Thursday,November 12, 2-3pm
Most people with disabilities, whether major or minor, can participate more fully with specific accommodations. Hear about your rights, when/where they might be needed, accommodations that might be helpful to you, & how to get them.

RELAXING AND BREATHING: Thursday,November 19, 2-3pm
Guest presenter Judith Lavender Dancer, minister of embodiment at HerChurch
Learn, see, and practice easy and free ways to lower anxiety and help your breathing, with a whole-body perspective.

WELCOME IS CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING November 26

FUNDING OF HEALTH PROGRAMS, EFFECTS, AND OPPORTUNITIES: Thursday, December 6, 2-3pm
Recent budget cuts at state and local levels have changed the resources for medical care. Hear about the changes, how they might affect you, resources, and how you can help next year's budget to prioritize health care and services for all people.

HEALTHY AGING: Thursday, December 10, 2-3pm
Guest presenter Rev. Genie Kinney, Dir. of the Director Doris Krauss Sr Center
Defy stereotypes and get healthier as you age. Learn about resources and simple ways to age healthy.

DEPRESSION: Thursday, December 17, 2-3pm
What is it, do I have it, and what can I do about it?
Learn about resources and simple, free ways to self-treat depression symptoms.

WELCOME IS CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS EVE December 24
WELCOME IS CLOSED FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE December 31

New Thursdays at Welcome!

2009-10-08T16:50:00.001-07:00

New schedule for Thursdays- every Thursday Welcome will be open 2-4pm:
2pm-3pm Health Skill Share- now every week!
3pm-4pm Welcome Worship- reflective, interfaith with Christian roots

All people are welcome to come participate and/or volunteer.
Have a skill to share? Like to set stuff up? Want to bring a snack?
E-mail Pastor Jay: jay@welcomeministry.org

-More information about worship

See new Skill Share schedule in the next post.

Community Gardening Project

2009-07-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

We're working on community gardens as a way to provide food for low income individuals. Below is something we are going to try to use to create some roof top gardens.

Urban Food Share: Community Gardening Project

2009-07-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Just a hint of some of the work we're doing to help people recover from the recession. Our new partner in this project is Produce to the People.

Ordinary Sundays

2009-07-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

God's work, our hands

2009-07-09T20:18:00.001-07:00

Welcome Worship: Volunteer and Participate

2009-06-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

We're seeking volunteers of all and no faith traditions for our new Welcome worship service. Info on what we're up to is below, also see last post for detailed information for participants.

Welcome worship will happen every Thursday 6-7 pm, in the Fellowship Hall at Old First Presbyterian Church at Sacramento Street and Van Ness Avenue.

We will need some volunteers every week. We have help with music and set-up/clean up, but are looking for a few people with specific skills to help participants worship together. We are also looking for people to come worship, so you're welcome to do that without volunteering too.

If you are interested, contact Pastor Jay to sign up to do one or more of the following for a Thursday this summer: jay@welcomeministry.org

-Set Up- need to be able to lift/move heavy things and/or arrange things
attractively *Need to arrive by 5:00 at latest

-Presence at prayer station- need to be calm presence, de-escalation skills and ability to pray with people within their own spirituality *Arrive at 5:30

-Help at art station- basic skills in using and explaning materials like
glue, scissors, how to work together on a project *Arrive at 5:30

-Manage door/watch for potential escalation- need to be able to de-escalate, answer basic questions, and recognize when staff needs to intervene *Arrive at 5:30

-Reader- person to assist with any text-based stations. Must be able to read fluently in regular-size print, or request ahead large print or other
formats *arrive at 5:30

-Clean up- need to be able to lift/move heavy things, as well as accept
direction or know where to return items *Arrive at 5:30, need to stay
until clean up is done (8pm at the latest)

Welcome Worship
A new way to be community offered by the Welcome Ministry.

Have you ever felt like you weren't welcome at a worship service?
Wanted to join in but didn’t know how? Couldn’t follow the service?
Wondered why the stories told didn’t match your life?

We welcome you to a worship service by, for, and with you
and your Welcome Ministry neighbors and community.

It will be based in Christian traditions but also sharing interfaith texts and comfortable for people with no religious tradition as well. Communion is available but optional. Accessible, hope-filled, and peaceful.
Many ways to participate, no pressure.
Hear and participate in music, see art, pray or meditate in different ways.
Have conversation about spirituality without being proselytized to.

Want to know more? Read here.

Welcome Worship

2009-06-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Welcome Ministry is excited to share an opportunity to create a community worship together. After a year of research and planning, we have started!

We hold several values which will be upheld in our worship together:

· Many people in our community already worship, but feel our perspectives to be missing. Many others would like to worship but feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in other settings.
· There are few religious communities worshipping centered in the experiences of our community.
· The Welcome Ministry community is gifted in diverse experiences, visual arts, music, poetry, and performing arts.
· We value the diversity of religious and atheist perspectives in our community.
· We also value the roots of the ministry and support of religious and secular individuals and organizations.
· Pastors Jay Wilson and Megan Rohrer are pastors to the Welcome Ministry community. They come from Lutheran traditions and value interfaith pastoral care. This means that they can offer the Christian sacraments of baptism and communion as well as the practices and rituals of worship and confession, but that they can also respectfully work with individuals of all and no faith backgrounds without proselytizing.
· We seek to be rooted in the Lutheran lectionary texts, informed and inclusive of all beliefs. There will always be opportunity to share a text with the larger church, as well as opportunity to avoid scripture.
· We strive to hold the voices of community participants central in our planning and worship. We particularly strive to hear the voices most frequently dismissed or ignored central to our worship together.
· We strive to make worship as accessible to everyone as possible. We commit to always having access to people with mobility disabilities, vision and reading disabilities, mental health status, and sensory disabilities. Access to people who are feeling shy, traumatized, or oppressed are also priorities. If you see ways we can increase our accessibility, tell Pastor Jay.
· We will seek to avoid as many potential trauma, anxiety, and sensory triggers as possible. We have a quiet room available if you feel overwhelmed or just need time alone. Please let us know what triggered you when you feel better so that we can avoid it in the future.
· Worship will in no way ever be required or recommended in order to access Welcome Ministry services, meals, or events. It is entirely voluntary.
· Pastor Jay can only do one thing at a time. Please make an appointment or come to the Welcome Center on Tuesday 2-4pm if you have individual needs.

We seek to provide a welcoming environment for everyone. Because we know the history and current climate of many religions excluded and continues to exclude many in our community, we offer the following statement of welcome. If you do not see yourself of your concern listed, talk to Pastor Jay and know that we mean you are welcome here!

You are welcome here however you identify or experience your own:

· Sexual orientation and gender identity

· Religion, philosophy, or atheism

· Disability, illness, HIV/AIDS status, mental health, Deaf community, or assistive technology use

· Veteran or peace movement participation, political commitments or political avoidance

· Race, ethnic origin, culture, immigration status, and language

· Height, weight, pregnancy, having had or protested abortion, and body shape

· Homelessness, evicted, sharing, squatting, renting, in a shelter, owning, or creatively housed

· Age and generation

· Trauma survivor, psychiatric consumer/survivor, or seeking to access or avoid mental health systems

· Whether you feel dirty or smelly, whether you can wash your body and clothes regularly or not

· Criminal history, incarceration, or current dilemmas about the law (as long as you are acting safely)

· Income amount and source, welfare benefits status, relationship to the Social Security system

· Education, literacy, and learning style

· Any other reason you might feel or have been excluded.

In order to uphold this welcome, in addition to our regular program rules we ask participants to commit to the following guidelines. We will help to follow these, as they take skill and self-awareness that are new to many people:

· We encourage the sharing of individual faith experiences. Proselytizing is not allowed.

Sharing sounds like “I believe…” and proselytizing sounds like “you should believe” or “do this.”

· Participate at your own pace. We encourage you to pay attention to your body and mind and to take care of yourself. Some ways to do this include taking breaks if you get overwhelmed, seeking help if you need it, or choosing how to participate that works best for you.

· No racism, homophobia, sexism, disability discrimination, ageism, classism, or other oppression. We all work together as a community in learning ways to speak to and about each other that welcome all.

· Take turns, allow people to share the worship space.

· To maintain a place of calm and safe worship, we especially remember the rule of no threatening behavior. This includes screaming. If you need to scream, please ask Jay for a space or step outside.

· We cannot help with individual needs during worship. Please schedule a time with Pastor Jay or come to our regular events (see last point on front).

Guests, volunteers, and staff working to keep city and state services

2009-06-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

The city and state budget crises continue as budgets are being set for 2009. The impacts on people living in poverty, children, elders, and disabled people are projected to leave many without needed supports and services. In many cases, these services were inadequate to meet needs prior to cuts.
We have been working with guests, donors, and volunteers to find ways to advocate for community priorities to improve the lives of more vulnerable community members.

This week in the news:
SF Chronicle article with guests working for changes in the community
-We found out yesterday that this advocacy was effective, that the Central City Hospitality House Tenderloin Self-Help Center was restored funding. This center works with many Welcome Ministry community members to also help with getting IDs in ways different than the Welcome Ministry is able to help, so we refer people to each other when needed. TSHC is also helpful to guests in drop in space, art studio and lessons, support groups, a shelter, shelter sign-up for the city, and many other needed community-led supportive spaces.

We are continuing to work with neighboring services that are still scheduled to be cut, however, including:
-Caduceus Outreach Services
-Mission Neighborhood Resource Center- many Welcome Ministry guests use this is a primary place to shower and wash laundry. There are few other resources for these needs.
-Ozanam Detox
-MAP van- this provides safe rides to shelters from community services, medical services, and shelter sign-up. They also provide transportation for people who are intoxicated and need safe transportation to community resources. We call MAP vans an average of twice a week for guests.
-SRO collaboratives- in San Francisco, this is a main way that homeless people move indoors and work together to improve the quality of hotel housing.
-Daytime access for shelters- without this, people must wait outside or at other public places during the daytime, even when ill, tired, or unsafe.
-Support Housing Employment Collaborative
-Supportive Housing Programs- for people who are needing help to maintain healthy living after moving inside, supportive housing provides mental health and physical help to remain housed. Many who receive these services will not be able to maintain housing without it.
-Mental health and substance abuse programs- currently people must wait 1-2 months to enter substance abuse programs after initializing contact, by which time many people have de-stabilized and are no longer able to enter. People are also waiting months to get ongoing mental health services as is. With cuts in funding, these services will not be accessible to many community members.
-Many more!

What can we do?
-Attend Board of Supervisors Budget Hearing on Monday June 22-
-4pm rally at Tenderloin Self-Help Center, 290 Turk Street
-5pm City Hall, Board of Supervisors chambers

-Call the Mayor's Office 415-554-6141
-Thank mayor for changes to budget including reinstating Tenderloin Self-Help Center
-Ask that other critical services for people living in poverty to be reinstated

-Keep informed about ongoing budget changes, and respond accordingly

-On the state level, California Disability Community Action Network offers great updates and actions to take

Have other resources on politics or ideas for changes?
Feel free to comment.

Video from trip to Philadelphia

2009-06-15T16:18:00.001-07:00

Celebrate our identity crisis!

2009-05-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

In 2008 the Welcome Ministry started a new program called the Homeless Identification Project. We discovered that lack of identification was a barrier that prevented our chronically homeless and hungry guests from accessing the crucial support they needed from government, health and social service organizations.

With a substantial support from Wheat Ridge Ministries, the Welcome Ministry set out to help 150 people obtain their identification. In 2008 we got 340 and already we helped with 149 in 2009. We have not only exceeded our goal, but we also helped a substantial majority of our homeless friends to move indoors.

So today I am proud to announce that the Welcome Ministry has an identity crisis. It no longer makes sense to call ourselves a homeless ministry. Our board will be meeting soon to talk about what our new identity will be.

We continue to offer support to our community, to listen for the small things we can do to a miraculous difference in the lives of those living in poverty and to teach people the skills they need to live independently as a full member of the community. And as we begin our new community gardening and cooking program, we are starting to reach beyond our community in to spark an Urban Sharing movement that we hope inspires communities across the country to share their resources in this vital time.

Today I invite you will join me in celebrating the Welcome Ministry’s identity crises. The Welcome Ministry no longer primarily serve the homeless. Thanks be to God!

Rev. Megan Rohrer

Director

P.S. The Welcome Ministry is unlike other organizations that celebrate low administrative costs. We believe that all the resources we need are out there and find that people will share them when we they know what we need. We strive to get all our supplies and food donated. Your financial support enables us to spend less time fundraising and more time helping people help themselves. Donate Online

How to respond to panhandling?

2009-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

When someone asks you for a dollar on the sidewalk, do you ever wonder what would be the most effective way to help?

Born out of a series of meetings between faith groups, businesses and local residents of the Polk Gulch District, the Welcome Ministry listens deeply to the needs of those living in poverty, the community and city government. Our programs not only fill in the gaps between what the city and other organizations provide, but focus on the crucial barriers that prevent people from improving their quality of life.

For example, when the Welcome Ministry learned that lack of identification was preventing hundreds of homeless individuals from gaining access to city and organizational resources, we developed the Homeless Identification Project. As a result organizations with ten times the budget of the Welcome Ministry began referring their clients to us. While helping 224 people obtain their birth certificate and 121 obtain state issued identification may not seem like much, the program enabled more than 155 individuals obtain housing in 2008.

This year, the Welcome Ministry is creating two crucial new programs. As we began to help our formerly homeless guests move indoors, we learned that their new homes do not have proper cooking facilities. Instead of giving out food like a typical food pantry, with an assumption that individuals have a way to cook groceries, the Urban Food Share Program will provide pre-cooked take home meals, opportunities for communal cooking and gardening and health and
nutrition classes.

But the needs of those living in poverty go beyond food and shelter, many of our guests have trauma from military service, domestic or childhood abuse, violence or as a result of years living on the streets. Stress and anxiety from trauma can be debilitating. Classes and direct one-on-one care will enable many of the most vulnerable in our community to cope with or heal from the trauma that prevents them from improving their quality of life.

If you are like the Welcome Ministry, and you want to invest in small changes that can make a big difference in addressing the root causes of homelessness, please join our unique community of San Franciscans responding to homelessness, one person, one sidewalk, one city at a time.

Support the Welcome Ministry

Begging Letter

2009-04-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

April 13, 2009

Friend of the Welcome Ministry

I woke up to yelling and a women gesturing with a knife. It was my first night in the women's shelter, and the cook wanted to let us know how grateful we should be that she was making our breakfast. The next morning she woke us up at five to let us know she would not be waking us up for another hour. When I told her I was allergic to dairy, she told me she had to put cheese in the eggs, or they would turn green.

After spending this last week on the streets and in the shelter, I experienced the abuse that is inflicted on others through lack of voice and choice. My nights in the women's shelter reminded me of life living with an abusive parent who praises or punishes in volatile way that kept me wondering at all times what the rules were. It turns out that the rules were whatever those with power said they were. I found myself growing passive and unable to advocate for my own needs (those who know me will tell you how unlike me this is). I also found myself jumping in front of a swinging cane to prevent a man from hitting a woman. After he left she remarked: "He thinks I'm his girlfriend, but really I'm his punching bag." Then I remembered that human nature sometimes makes it easier for us to care for others.

The Welcome Ministry is designed to be an antidote to the experience that many hungry and homeless individuals live with day to day. After living on the streets for a week, I am convinced that the Welcome Ministry offers our friends is unmatched by other service agencies in the city. We listen more than we speak, we center our programs around community and work with our guests to increase the number of choices they have. When their voices are not being heard, we advocate for them whilealso teaching them to advocate for themselves. And at the same time we are able to help our guests acheive their goals. Last year 155 of our guests were able to move indoors.

You can read about my reflections on the streets at: http://mystreetretreat.blogspot.com

Now that I am back in the comforts and privilege of my work at the Welcome Ministry, I am excited to work on creating ways that we can help our friends take care of their bodies and in encouraging them to exercise choice and strength in their voice.

Our work includes helping our friends heal from post traumatic stress disorder and learn more about life skills and health. Later this year we will begin to provide worship that is designed for their particular mental health and addiction needs and a media story telling project that will connect guests to their family.

Please support this work with your time, talents and treasures. The more financial support you offer the Welcome Ministry, the more time I will have to share my learnings from the street with faith groups, organizations and politicians. And more importantly, the more time I will have to give one on one support to help our guests improve their quality of life.

I beg you to send a gift of $77, $770 or $7000 to the Welcome Ministry in honor of my 7th street retreat.

Humbly yours,

Rev. Megan Rohrer
Director

P.S. Your gift to the Welcome Ministry allows the homeless to improve their quality of life without losing their dignity!

New Contact Information!

2009-03-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Welcome Ministry phone numbers are changing, effective immediately:

To reach Pastor Megan Rohrer or Pastor Jay Wilson, call us at 1-866-999-3596
Pastor Megan is at extension 501, Pastor Jay at extension 502 (the outgoing message will tell you this as well)
Fax and E-mail remain the same.

Why are we changing our phone numbers?
-To save lots of money so that we can spend more on meeting guest needs
-So that our guests (and everyone else) can call us toll free
-To improve our phone service, which had difficulties when using cell phones in our offices
-To make sure we don't miss any messages, because they'll come to our E-mails as well
-To give people more ways to reach us- you can also find us on Skype at 925-348-9344 under the screenname "mmrohrer" (don't be fooled- we're both at that name)
-To help us set better boundaries about when we're available to take calls and when we're not

Let us know if you have any difficulties reaching us, so that we can fix any potential problems. Our E-mails remain the best way to reach us:
Pastor Megan: megan@welcomeministry.org
Pastor Jay: jay@welcomeministry.org

Work Featured by HRC

2009-03-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

Profile in Ministry: Expanding the Definition of an LGBT Advocate

Photograph by Gabriela Hasbun.

Rev. Megan Rohrer was recently featured in the exhibit, Polk Street: Lives in Transition, that explores San Francisco’s Polk Gulch neighborhood from the 1960s to the present. Examining the historic changes that have occurred in this famous community, the exhibit asks tough questions about the ways gentrification challenges lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender hospitality. It asks us to think about what it means to welcome LGBT people? Does economic disparity narrow our sense of welcome? When we advocate for the LGBT community can our vision incorporate a spectrum that includes sex workers, homeless seniors and runaway youth? What are the intersections with our work for LGBT justice and the work of building and sustaining healthy communities where all can prosper?

One of the participants in this project, Rev. Megan Rohrer, challenges us to think about our communities in just such ways. Megan first came out as a lesbian (later she would identify as gender queer) at 18 in South Dakota and discovered at the same time that she wanted to be a pastor. While leaving the overt homophobia of South Dakota for seminary at the Pacific School of Religion and the progressive community of Berkeley, Calif., she still felt a sense of alienation—this time because of class--among the affluent neighborhoods in the Berkeley hills. She eventually found her way to what would become her true calling, ministering to the homeless through the Welcome Ministry program at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

The people Megan ministers to range in age from teenagers to senior citizens and are largely sex workers, transgender people, gays and lesbians –many of them from small towns across the country--who came to San Francisco to escape persecution and judgment. Although they may not identify on paper as LGBT, Megan recognizes many commonalities. Like her, many came from across the country to San Francisco--the Mecca for LGBT folks--only to discover that hundreds of thousands of other people had made that same choice. As Megan describes:

They didn’t have any family connections to help them out, and everybody knows rent is so expensive in this town that, the only thing that was left for them was sex work. As the gay community--as the richer gay community--moved towards the Castro, the less wealthy gay community stayed here, and a lot of the sex workers who worked along Polk Street continued to stay here because they always would have people who would bring them food, here. . . . and they knew, as long as they stayed in this neighborhood, even if they weren’t pretty enough anymore to be sex workers, people would take care of them.

In the spirit of Jesus who also spent much of his time among sex workers, Megan’s ministry has sought to build community among the most marginalized and in the process to expand our vision of what community and LGBT advocacy can mean. As we work to build support in Congress for hate crimes legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act during an economic crisis when job discrimination and violence is escalating, we are reminded that it is the most marginalized in our communities that suffer first and are hit the worst. Megan’s ministry models for us what it means to build truly inclusive community that can sustain all of us.

To follow Megan’s ministry, read her blog: http://mystreetretreat.blogspot.com/. Also, check out her contribution as a writer for HRC’s Out In Season, a seasonal preaching and devotional resources written from a transgender perspective.

To learn about the other stories from Polk Street, check out the exhibit Polk Street: Lives in Transition. If you live in the Bay area or are traveling to San Francisco any time before May 31, 2009 you can view the exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society, 657 Mission Street, #300. Visit their website to learn about more community events and future developments of this important project.

See: http://www.hrc.org/issues/religion/12189.htm

Mail for Justice

2009-02-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

Did you know that supporting the Welcome Ministry means promoting just mail.

The Welcome Ministry believes that it is unjust to require individuals to have a “residential mailing address” in order to obtain access to vital and life saving services.

Many of the individuals we work with are unable to use the address of the place where they live because they facilities refuse to accept mail, others stay in shelters, live on the streets or have other unstable situations that prevent obtaining an address that the location where they dwell. Still others have accessibility needs and need help reading their mail, determining what mail is important or other assistance.

The Welcome Ministry provides a safe place for people to obtain their mail, in a way that keeps them safe and helps improve the quality of life of the individuals who receive their mail here.

2008 Annual Report

2009-02-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

While the best measure of our success can be found in the stories of how the lives of our guests have changed, a more tangible way to see our success in 2008 can be seen by looking at the numbers of what we have accomplished. In 2008, we took a leap of faith and hired an additional staff person (doubling our staff and our budget). We are proud to report that we were able to raise $1,525 more than we spent.

Our two paid staff members, pastors Megan Rohrer and Jay Wilson, spent their time in the following way (recorded by number of sessions):

• 3224 Meals served (Welcome Center: 1560, Evening Outreach: 225, Saturday Community Dinners: 1439)
• 682 Providing Pastoral Care sessions with Individuals/Families
• 68 Connecting individuals with their family
• 63 Accessing transportation
• 224 Obtaining birth certificates
• 121 Obtaining state and other types of identification
• 157 Assisting with Social Security programs
• 94 Teaching money management
• 241 Responding to special requests for specific material needs
• 255 Referring to housing (including 153 instances of coordinating with the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team which typically ends in obtaining housing)
• 84 Accessing medical care
• 125 Accessing social services (including 64 instances of coordinating with case managers or allied professionals)
• 34 Advocating for other Disability accommodations or support
• 50 Directing to & utilizing legal resources
• 145 Directly reducing anxiety/stress (including 55 instances of PTSD direct support)
• 48 Facilitating to seek employment
• 13 Resolving mail issues (in addition to delivering mail daily)
• 8 Supporting individuals to apply for colleges/scholarships/jobs
• 1079 Distributing socks and toiletries
• 57 Testing for Tuberculosis 5 Conducting Memorial services
• 52 Participating in Health Skill Share classes

In 2009, you can expect the following new programs at the Welcome Ministry:
Urban Food Share Program: The Urban Food Share Program will work to create a community space to learn about nutrition and the slow food movement. This will include individual guidance for people to discover their own particular dietary needs and create a model for sharing food that uses a choice and empowerment model to explore ways to enable individuals with little or no access to a kitchen, refrigerator or microwave to eat healthier. We also hope to create a community gardening space so that our guests can have a closer connection to the foods they are eating.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Program: to help the homeless and other low income individuals deal with PTSD. In addition to the family and life trauma's that afflict many of the homeless, there are also 2,100 homeless veterans, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Worship and Reflection opportunities:
In 2008 we initiated a study of the spiritual practices and needs of the Welcome Ministry community. While many individuals have found ways to partially meet these needs in other communities, even those with ties to other communities still wanted to participate in a worship here. We will be working on crafting an interfaith service in emerging church style, with reflective and community-building opportunities. In honoring both the expressed needs for interfaith space as well as Christian space, we will be using station-based planning so that people can choose which practices best fit their beliefs while sharing in community. Access in terms of financial/socio-economic, cultural, spiritual, anti-oppression, and disability access will be integrated in the process of planning, so that people whose experiences are marginalized are the center of this community. While initially staff and volunteers will plan and support this worship, we will draw directly from the Welcome Ministry community in all aspects of planning and implementation, particularly utilizing the vast artistic and musical talents of our guests. In addition to providing a more direct avenue for pastoral care, this will also supplement our main goals of creating community and empowering guests to use their gifts.

Organizations we worked with

-Adult Services, City & County of SF
-CATS- Community Awareness and Treatment Services
-CATS Coronado Hotel
-Central City Hospitality House
-City Hall, Board of Supervisors
-Coalition on Homelessness, SF
-Community Behavioral Health Services for the City & County of San Francisco
-Cornell House- Federal and State Prison Release Programs
-Department of Motor Vehicles, SF
-Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
-DisAbled Student Union at the Pacific School of Religion
-Elk Hotel (Tenderloin Housing Clinic)
-Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
-Faithful Fools Street Ministry
-GLAAD (ordination media support)
- GLBT Historical Society
-Glide Memorial Walk-In Center
-Grace Cathedral Episcopal Church
-HOME Team (psychiatric emergency placement)
-Independent Living Resource Center of SF
-Independent Living Resource Utilization (free continuing ed broadcasts and resources)
-JobCorps
-Larkin Street Youth Services
-Lighthouse Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
-Lutheran Social Services of Northern California
-Mayor’s Office on Housing, SF
-MediCal & Medicare
-Martin De Pores House of Hospitality
-The Mental Health Association of SF
-Middle Polk Neighborhood Association
-National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter
-National Center for Transgender Equality
-National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
-New Leaf Services for Our Community
-San Francisco Department of Public Health
-Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
-The San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team
-The San Francisco Night Ministry
-Social Security Administration
-St. Anthony Dining Room
-Swords to Plowshares
-Tenderloin Housing Clinic
-Trans Shelter Access Project, Toronto, Canada

Organization who provided In-Kind, Benevolence or Volunteer Support:

-Chinatown Presbyterian, San Francisco
-Christ the Good Shepard Lutheran, San Jose
-Christ Church Lutheran, San Francisco
-Community Thrift
-ELCA Domestic Hunger Program
-Episcopal Charities
-Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
-Faithful Fools Street Ministry
-First Congregational Church, San Francisco
-First United Lutheran Church, San Francisco
-The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN
-Girls, Inc. Oakland
-Glide Memorial Walk-In Center
-HerChurch (Ebenezer Lutheran), San Francisco
- Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, South San Francisco
-Lutheran’s Concerned/North America
-Miraloma Community Church
-Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco
-Palo Alto Lutheran
-The Presbyterian Hunger Program
-Spirit Garage (Lutheran mission congregation, Minneapolis)
-The St. Francis Foundation
-St. Francis Lutheran, San Francisco
-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco
-St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
-St. Paulus Lutheran, San Francisco
-San Francisco Department of Public Health AIDS office
-The San Francisco Presbytery
-Sisters of St. Dominic
-Sojourn Chaplaincy at San Francisco General Hospital
-Spirit Garage, Minneapolis, MN
-UCC Neighbors in Need
-Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation
-Wheat Ridge Ministries

Poverty

2009-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Poverty is a way of being by which the individual lets things be what they are: one refuses to dominate them, subjugate them, and make them the objects of the will to power. One refuses to be over them in order to be with them. This demands an immense asceticism of the renunciation of the instinct to power, to the dominion over things, and to the satisfaction of all human desires. L. Boff

Ordination, Anti-Oppression Work, and Worship– What does it all mean?

2008-11-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

While ordination in the Lutheran church looks a lot like the priesthood of the 16th century, pastors in this tradition are called to a particular role rather than to a state of holiness or vocation other than that of all people. There’s no blue gas that turns people into pastors, no ontological state-of-being change, no magic that turns a person into a pastor. Ordination in the Lutheran church involves discernment of a personal call to ministry, other groups of church members and seminary professors validating that call, a whole lot of education and experience, and having a congregation/ministry decide to call (hire) you to serve in the role of pastor with them.

Pastoral care and counseling, leading worship, preaching and teaching are the tasks of a pastor. Officially, I’ll get to preside over communion, preach God’s word, and baptize people into faith. Lutherans believe that sharing God’s love and mercy is the call of all who believe, only the tasks and the roles differ. The church and the world needs us all to share God’s love, to speak out against injustice and oppression, and to share mercy and forgiveness, moving into liberation for all.

I’m particularly aware of the privilege involved with reaching the point where ordination is possible. The reality is, most people in our world, whether called by God to public ministry or not, do not have access to graduate degrees, financial support to take “good experience” internships and jobs, or the healthcare that middle class family employment provides to stay healthy enough to get there. While I’ve worked hard toward ordination, I am humbled every day by the Welcome Ministry guests with whom I minister, who are far more effective than me at sharing God. I see their witness to the rest of our church communities, a challenge to the clericalism that has based the god of power in the clergy and disempowered the masses. Lutheran theology calls all of us to “the priesthood of all believers,” and Paul writes that “we are all one body in Jesus Christ,” but so often the structure and culture of our churches do not empower this radical ministry call of all who gather. Our jobs and tasks differ depending on our gifts and circumstances as to whether we’re called to be children in school, homeless recyclers, bishops, street preachers, doctors, parents, lovers, teachers, or even pastors (or all of these at different times in our lives). But in Lutheran theology, we are all called to bring love and reconciliation to the world, to share love with our neighbor, and to tell God’s good news of grace through faith.

Being a postmodern Lutheran with anti-oppression beliefs, I acknowledge that I and we have a long way to go and much to confess for the ways in which we have fallen short of being God’s body on earth. This is especially relevant within our Christian traditions which have a history of imperialism, racism and cultural appropriation, among many other forms of cultural oppression. I ask all of us to continue examining our histories and current practices, the ways in which we can tell our stories of privilege and oppression to and with each other, and ways to move toward greater liberation and equity.

I have been denied ordination and work in the church due to discrimination about being transgender, queer, and disabled. I’ve encountered bits and pieces of oppression in life that I can name as sexism, heterosexism, and ableism, but those stories have been the exceptions to a lifetime of lots of privilege. The combined effects of growing up in a white middle class nuclear family in the US meant that I had access to education, a home, love, and relatively respectful treatment and easy access to resources in most of the areas of my life.

I can tell stories about being denied participation in sixth grade gym class due to ableism, about being teased or about being asked to leave restrooms due to sexism and heterosexism, but really, these are the oppressions of someone who is used to having access to most every part of public life.

I’ve written some about my personal journey discovering power and privilege on the Welcome Ministry blog, but I’d like to say it here too. I urge you to consider continuing this dialogue, and welcome your thoughts.

So while I celebrate ordination, particularly through and to the faithfully vibrant communities of faith in First United, the Welcome Ministry, and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, I also confess, and seek to challenge being part of a system of clerical ministry which currently denies:

-Regular ordination to people of diverse gender and sexual identities, based on oppressive and unrealistic sexual ethics set forth with the goal of oppressing gay and lesbian people who were called to ministry.

-The one-track classist, ableist, racist, and elitist system which over-privileges specific kinds of inaccessible education and experience as the main evidence of ministry capabilities.

-The history of the Christian church which has yet to apologize or seek to remedy the cultural and religious imperialism which exported a Christianity, wiped out cultures and populations, supported slavery, and contributes to worldwide oppression of millions of people today.

-Ableist (over-privileging of certain abilities, or disability discrimination) and sexist structural requirements and cultural norms which devalue the ministries of disabled pastors and limit women’s gifts in/from ordained ministry.

-The racism and ethnocentrism in the Lutheran church in all its forms.

-The silence of the church on issues of oppression and the silencing of pastors and congregations who seek the justice of the prophets.

As part of anti-oppression work, most of which I enter into as a privileged ally, it’s important to me entering into a more privileged power arrangement as a pastor to be clear both about the power that comes with the office as well as the ways in which it has been abused in our history, how I benefit from that, and what I intend to do to avoid abusing that power and to give it up when possible to empower others.

And this is where we move from what Lutheran’s traditionally call “the law,” or the brokenness of our world, to the Good News of the gospel. We have a God whose history and relationship has dealt with this very problem, a record of which exists for us in scripture. Shortly before the 2nd text, Paul writes that God valued the relationship with humans so much that our God gave up god-ness to dwell with us as a human, “Christ, though in the image of God, didn’t deem equality with God as something to be clung to—but instead became completely empty and took on the image of oppressed humankind…” (Phil. 26-7a). God, in Jesus, reconciled to us, empowering us with the ability to be in real risky relationship with others, defined throughout scripture as sharing in both the joys and burdens of our neighbors. The Holy Spirit, “Lady Wisdom” or Sophia in the original languages, blows like the wind, refreshing our faith and our relationship-building power. I don’t claim to know how this all works, but I know this: that in Jesus’s reconciling work, we are moved into a relationship with God that allows us to love, reconcile, and simply be. We Lutherans speak of being “saved by grace through faith” in Jesus Christ, meaning that it’s not the work we do or even the belief, but the relationship with a faithful God which brings us life and wholeness.

We don’t earn God’s grace through our working for justice, rather, it’s what happens when we allow God’s grace to move through us in true, radical reconciliation with our neighbors. We, together, form the body of Christ on earth.

Justice work flows from radical reconciliation with God, neighbor, and earth; the confessing of brokenness and experience of forgiveness. Yet, this call to justice is a human call, not Christian.

Let us experiment with experiencing God in the midst of our naming oppression like the prophets and the Holy Spirit, and rejoice in the reconciliation through Jesus. May you be empowered to share in relationship with God and your neighbor. -Jay

Please join us at Jay's ordination on December 6th. Learn more at: www.welcomeministry.org/ordination

Questioning Thanksgiving

2008-11-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

I remember this November the realities of genocide and destruction that we have chosen to forget in claiming "Thanksgiving:"
Resource on myths about Thanksgiving
Longer version with more references

In San Francisco, I remember that we live on land stolen from the the Ohlone people, and the people who were exploited in the Mission era. I remember the legacy of disproportionate poverty and hunger, homelessness and addiction which Europe brought to this land, which we who participate in America's economy maintain. On this Thanksgiving, I ask you to reflect on ways that we can join together in the struggle against these continued abuses of power and privilege.

Another perspective- it can be helpful to some homeless people to have access to big Thanksgiving holiday dinners, but it does little to solve the real problems of hunger, homelessness, substandard and non-existent housing, isolation, and respect. Here's a video from a New York homeless solidarity organization (the address for the event at the end is for NYC):

More info about community Thanksgiving meals in San Francisco if you are a person for whom this would be helpful.

What does this mean for us? One great thing about holidays is the tendency for people to want to donate to charities that serve the poor, playing on guilty feelings about people not having somewhere to celebrate. While this is useful to many homeless people, we urge you to instead or also think about what it would look like to pledge on Thanksgiving or December holidays to give year round, to work to advocate for justice and housing, and to work to counter the oppression in our society that leads people to get stuck in despairing situations without hope by organizing communities of liberation. We get plenty of donations in November and December, but remember that February and March are particularly cold and wet months in San Francisco- what about a pledge with your December gift to provide 10 blankets in February, or to join us in writing letters to the government to not leave poverty help out of the state/national budget?

Now more than ever, we are all beggars!

2008-10-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends of the Welcome Ministry:

It seems like all we are hearing about lately is the financial crisis and stock market bailout, so you may be surprised that I’m sending you a letter to beg you for money. Some of you are experiencing real loses or growing concerns about your budgets, homes, jobs and gas tanks. Now more than ever, you may understand how close we all are to homelessness.

Others of you are experiencing economic growth, have a new appreciation for your job security or the gift of good financial planning and wise housing decisions. Now more than ever, you may understand the privilege you have and your responsibility to give back and help others.

The Welcome Ministry is celebrating that we have been able to raise more money this year than any other in our 12 year history. We've needed to in order to hire Jay Wilson, both a pastor and social worker. But, the Welcome Ministry receives more than 90% of its funding from foundations whose funds are primarily dependent upon stock market returns . Now more than ever we need your support.

Regardless of your personal finances, you support the Welcome Ministry because you know we help the homeless, many that have been homeless for more than 20 years, improve their quality of life. Since April we have: helped 98 of our friends move indoors; provided pastoral counseling for more than 652 individuals and families; and fed more than 5300 hungry members of our community.

We have been able to do all this great work because you have invested in us. Thank you for supporting our work and sharing it with your friends. I beg you to support our work on behalf of those who for too long have had to beg for their daily bread. I ask, knowing that it may be financially difficult, because I know what a big difference it makes to the lives of our guests.

$50 will feed 422 people;
$100 helps one individual get their identification (the key to accessing health care, shelters, housing, food stamps and the ability to vote);
$250 provides 52 pastoral counseling sessions
$1,000 enables 150 individuals to attend classes to learn about health, budgeting, mental health management and addiction issues
$2,000 provides individual support for 20 individuals work on getting disability benefits and to move indoors

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

Rev. Megan Rohrer
Director
The Welcome Ministry

Abusive Language

2008-10-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

In our last Health Skill Share at the Welcome Ministry, we talked about all the ways in which our guests experience oppression, and resources to come together to oppose oppression. One of the topics that the group choose to focus on was how being labeled with a mental health disability or cognitive disability was one locus of oppression in their lives. We talked about some ways to come together to work against specific forms of this oppression, and ways to challenge the assumptions and policies behind it on societal/systemic levels.

One topic that came up was the way in which people are dismissed by being called "crazy" or "retarded." This was often part of a cycle of oppression, which at this level comes down to individuals being intentionally cruel or demeaning. A less-obvious manifestation of this use of violent language is when these words are used to denigrate ideas or persons who would not otherwise be labeled as such-- big words meaning when things are said like "that's so retarded" or "you're crazy!"

What happens when these words that have real meanings specific to certain labeled individuals are transferred to metaphors means that the assumptions behind those labels become suddenly clearer. Try asking next time you hear someone using crazy or retarded "what do you mean by that?" Common answers would be "bad," "out of control," "stupid" (itself a metaphor referring to the same group of people), or other negative connotations. But rather than just simply expressing a negative thought, the transferring back happens too--those who have been labeled with the term that is being used are then re-traumatized with those connotations with the extra force of acquired meanings.

And in case you're wondering what this has to do with the serious oppressions that seem so much bigger than language, lets look at the history of the label retarded. Did you know that IQ tests (still the measure for the current label of "mental retardation") were devised for the purpose of weeding out immigrants and people of color as well as disabled people in the US? Not just incidentally, but on purpose, the tests that were created were biased in terms of experience and class, racist and clasist so that science could legitimize the assumed inferiority of people deemed not to belong in America. The racist, classist, and ableist history of institutionalization reads that a label of mental illness or retardation was one way to get rid of people inconvenient to those in power by moving them out of sight, forcing sterilization, inflicting physical and mental abuse, and taking away all choice and control. *See resources on Eugenics below

These words are used as direct abuse, too, when someone is taunted, battered (often without protection of Hate Crime laws), bullied, raped, and belittled due to their label or the assumption of a label. People inflicting violence (verbal or physical) don't check IQ scores before the violence, but rather make assumptions based on society's stereotypes, which are strengthened every time these words are used to represent undesirability.

Regarding the homeless and hungry people who we work with, we can ask many of the same questions. Our experience shows that many of the people who are homeless have been labeled as crazy or retarded, hobos or users, or other terms specific to cultural or clasist slurs. We need to ask ourselves why we use the language we do, both informally and when we volunteer/work/participate at the Welcome Ministry.
-How does our language affect what we believe?
-What language is more empowering?
-How can we talk about tough realities without using abusive language or labeling people for life?
-How can our conversations with people help to question the stereotypes that control their options?
-How can each of us use our privilege to advocate with each other when we are labeled or languaged in oppressive ways?

So what can we do?
-Everyone can monitor their own language use and stop using words in ways that lead to abuse. This might require rethinking your associations with these words- if what you mean is "worthless" and what comes out of your mouth is "retarded," you're associating people labeled with retardation as being worthless.

-You can choose to challenge language that is abusive. You can do this in a million ways- politely, in confrontation, screaming, writing, whispering, in a group, alone, by commenting loudly to another person, by asking an advocate to assist you...
If you're uncomfortable with this, practice with a friend, write a short script, or get some of these free "Words Hit Like a Fist" cards. They're almost out, but Jay has ordered some which should arrive soon.

-You can work with or as self-advocates toward changes in the way that disability labeling happens, work to change public assumptions, work to help youth with disabilities develop positive self-esteem and pride, end institutionalization, or
redefine the labels. Try seeking groups like Advocating Change Together, The Icarus Project, Self Advocates Becoming Empowered, TASH, People First chapter, or your local Center for Independent Living.

Inspiration and Resources:
Video from ACT in Minneapolis about the use of the word "retard," interviewing community members, self-advocates, disability industry workers, and family members. See the 10 min. clip online or order the 29 min. full version.
Blog post from Self-Advocacy Movement participant Dave Hingsburger about his use of the cards above.
ACT resource list about Tropic Thunder controversy.
Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of MN has much good information about the contributions and options of people with disabilities in the community.
Anti-Oppression activist Eli Clare thinking about the response to "retard" as hate speech, Eli Clare excerpt about evaluating privilege, and Eli's first book Exile and Pride which talks a lot about coming to terms with abusive language and oppressive assumptions.
Ballastexistenz blog from autistic community on topic of the use of "Retard"

Eugenics Resources:
Facing History articles about the legacy of eugenics
History online museum exhibits about disability and eugenics
article about eugenics and disability
More resources about the histories of eugenics movements
Race in Science resources

9/27 Saturday Community Dinner Cancelled, Free Portraits

2008-09-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

There will be no Community Dinner this week.
Both of the spaces we have used are not available.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Community Dinners will resume at Old First Presbyterian
(1751 Sacramento Street) beginning October 11, continuing the 2nd and 4th Saturday each month.
See Free Eats chartfor other meal options.

In better news...
9/30 Tuesday we will have free professional photos! Individuals who would like to get a free portrait please come between 2-3:30.

Old First and Welcome Ministry Staff and Volunteers:

2008-09-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

The Welcome Ministry staff, Pastor Megan and Jay, thank you for helping us create consistent boundaries for our guests and volunteers! We continuously evaluate how our programs support or create barriers for the homeless and hungry who are trying to improve their quality of life. We hope this will make our expectations more clear and provide a safer space for all who participate in the life and ministry of Old First.

Remember that it’s Jay and Megan’s job to work with individual requests, so if you have any questions or uncertainty, just refer them to us!

-We accept usable donations from anyone, provided we have room to store them.

Many times, we are aware of unusual individual or community needs for donations that seem unhelpful to others. For example, one guest donated a broken stereo which another guest was able to fix and use. So if a Welcome Ministry guest wants to donate something, please let us know and we can gladly accept it (or not, if we need to decline the 8 foot tall paper mache elephant). That doesn’t mean that everything is usable or redistributed, but many donations from church/community members aren’t usable either. One of the ways in which the Welcome Ministry is a community and an empowerment ministry (rather than a traditional charity) is that we encourage, welcome, and assist people to give back when they can. If we’re not here, and the items are small, put them in our offices, under the green benches, or ask the person to come back when we’re here.

-Please do not sub-contract work to guests.

If you want to employ a guest to do a one-time or ongoing job, you need to follow employment laws, pay at least minimum wage and go through Pastor Megan or Barry to do so. It is illegal, not ethical, and patronizing to pay homeless people under the table to do your work for you. It is even more unethical to ask guests to do your work for you for free, or to occasionally give them a small amount of cash to do your work for free. If you have more work than you can realistically do in your job at Old First or in volunteering, you need to discuss ways to solve this with your supervisor.

We welcome guests to volunteer, like we welcome anyone else to volunteer. Volunteer work is not paid, not professional-level work, and is entered into with a clear understanding of no pay.

It can be helpful and wonderful to help our guests to get real work for real pay, but please make sure that you are doing so in a way that is not keeping them from taking charge of their own life. All employees must be held to the same legal and performance standards -to do otherwise is discrimination. Remember that work can affect government benefits, so check with Jay to help a guest explore how to legally keep their benefits in good standing. However, Jay is not allowed to discuss details of guests’ finances with you without their written permission.

-Do not let Welcome Ministry guests (or others wanting to talk to Jay or Megan) in the building!

It may seem helpful to let people in and then inform us, but it is really unhelpful. We may be meeting with someone else, need a few minutes to prepare to meet with the person, or have already told the person we cannot meet their request and now must convince them to leave again. Also do not assume that because you know someone or because they often volunteer that they should be let in the building. We may have asked a regular volunteer to help in different ways or asked them not to come in early any more.

Megan and Jay are responsible for guests when in they are in the building, but it is difficult to be responsible when we don’t know who is in the building, where they are, or who let them in. The official waiting area for the Welcome Ministry is outdoors, not in the lobby. We hope some day to have a space where we have a waiting area and drop-in room, but for now this is how we try to be good stewards of the gift of the OFPC building and all who use it.

During regular office hours, there is really no reason that non-Welcome Ministry staff need to answer the door for our guests at all. If you do feel compelled to answer the door, simply ask them to ring the “Social Hall” button for Jay or “Welcome Ministry” button for Megan, or say, “I’ll go get Jay (or Megan),” and ask them to wait outside. You do not need to hear their request/story, give them anything, or ask what they need. It would be preferable to simply let us know the door needs to be answered. Often we are on our way to answer it before we hear from anyone, and then three people are trying to answer the door at once.

This is the same rule for everyone! Some church members (including Welcome Ministry guests) have keys if they have a need to be in the building, but most people who come to the church need to be let in. It’s helpful to enforce the rules clearly and consistently rather than selectively. Remember that choosing who you do and do not enforce a rule with based on whether you like someone, politeness, whether or not they look homeless, their grammar, or how cleanly they’re dressed is discrimination. If you let them in because they have a legitimate reason that they need to be in the building, regardless of these factors, that is not discrimination but doing business—just watch that your judgment of this is based on reasons and facts rather than stereotypes or rules that only are applied to people who look homeless.

Anytime you let someone in the building to use the bathroom or for another group (Welcome Ministry, Concerts or AA), you should wait with them until they leave the building or someone from the group they are with comes to greet them.

If Megan and Jay are not in the building, you can let a guest know that our activities are posted on the door and additional information about how to make an appointment is posted outside in the display case by the elevator door. Guests who call the church office should be directed to Jay at 424-3536 or Megan at 567-2661.

-Please do not give cash to guests/volunteers!

We want to make it clear that the Welcome Ministry does not give cash to guests. Instead, we help individuals with specific money problems, such as budgeting help, getting a payee, getting discounted services, helping with food/clothing/toiletries, referrals to community agencies, or getting addiction help.

The Welcome Ministry says “no” to all requests for money, and we ask all members and staff of the church to do the same. We also ask our guests not to ask for money in the church. When people give money to the few individuals who do ask for money, it is not fair to guests that follow the rules. Additionally, by giving cash, we teach them to keep coming to us for cash and the root of their problems never get solved.

If someone asks you for money, we encourage you to say something like “no, we don’t give cash, but you can talk to Jay about other ways you can meet your need.” Please DO NOT say, “ask Jay or Megan,” since you know our answer has to be no. It’s more helpful for people to hear a consistent “No.” If you feel compelled to personally give cash, do not do it on church grounds and make clear that it’s not from the church or the Welcome Ministry.

New Skill Share Schedule

2008-08-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our first quarter of Health Skill Shares has exciting, informative, and well-attended! Our first three months grew, starting with 3 and seeing regularly 5-10 participants each week. Evaluations have showed that people have liked the topics, format, and that the level of information was "just right."
Participants have shared experiences, learned skills both in health and in group participation, and posed questions and topics for future Skill Shares.

For the next three months, we've got two special guests, 6 topics suggested by guests, and a variety of health topics applicable to all people, from the perspective of people living in poverty. We'd love to see participants and volunteers from Welcome Ministry, Senior Center, and Old First Presbyterian, as well as the larger community.
Feel free to comment on topics you'd like to see, or skills you'd like to share!

Medical Marijuana-Special Guest Alex Darr

What are the risks and benefits of medicinal marijuana use?

How to access it safely and legally?

Resources and your questions answered.

Wed. September 10,

4:30-5:30

Discrimination, Prejudice, and Your Health-

-What is oppression and what can we do about it?

-What are common forms of oppressions in our communities?

-How does oppression effect everyone's health and safety?

-How can we work against oppression that threatens our health?

Wed. September 17,

4:30-5:30

Drugs and Alcohol- Use, Abuse, and Help

Special guest Randall Ehrbar, Doctorate in Psychology of

New Leaf: Services for Our Community

He'll be talking about a variety of topics related to assessing your own use, risks and benefits to continuing to use chemicals, how and when people might decide to make changes, and what options you have for getting help. He'll be sharing information about Harm Reduction and Stages of Change. Bring your experiences and questions!

Wed. October 8, 4:30-5:30

Avoiding Isolation-

Feel like you have no family or friends?

Get lonely, even in this city packed with people?

Wonder how to get started building a support network?

We'll talk about how and why people living in poverty may become isolated, why it's harmful to our health, and how to avoid isolation by finding community and creating a support network.

Wed. October 15,

4:30-5:30

Exercise-

-What kinds of exercise are healthiest, and how can you access them?

-How do you know if you're getting the right amount of the right kinds of exercise for your body?

-What about exercise when your body is strained from the realities of homelessness?

-What are the choices, challenges, risks, and benefits to exercising with disabilities?

Wed. November 12 , 4:30-5:30

Too much Stuff & Clutter- Health, Safety, Housing Risks & Resources

Wondering if you've got too much stuff? Not sure what you need?

Whether you're in a home you own or living on the streets, it can be hard to manage belongings and where you keep them. If you need help with cleaning, making decisions about what to keep, or anxiety related to stuff, we've got ideas and resources to help.

Wed. November 19, 4:30-5:30

Volunteers, Donations and Contributions Needed

2008-08-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

Volunteers Needed
Every Tuesday

Cook (11am - 2pm)
Servers (1pm - 4pm)
Clean Up (3:30pm - 4:30pm)

Every 2nd and 3rd Wednesday

Set up (4pm - 2pm)
Computer Room Helper (5:30pm - 6:30pm)
Drop In Volunteers (5:30pm - 6:30pm)
Clean up (6pm-7pm)

Every 2nd and 4th Saturday

Servers (4pm - 7pm)
Clean Up (6:30pm - 7:30pm)
Computer Room Helper (6pm-7pm)

Volunteers may drop-in or email megan@welcomeminstry.org for more information.

Donations Needed
Regularly

Men's clothing of all sizes
Toiletries
Scent-Free Toiletries (please store in a Ziploc)
Staples, Spices and Non-perishable food products.
Socks (white with gray athletic toes and heels)

Contributions
Financial support is always needed to sustain our work. You can donate online or by mail:
The Welcome Ministry
1751 Sacramento St
San Francisco CA 94109

Thinking about Privilege in Ministry

2008-08-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

In these last 5 months since I've started at the Welcome Ministry, I often think about privilege. The other night, after locking my keys in my office for the 3rd time, I chose between asking a neighbor to let me in to sit in my building or using my key card to sit in the comfortable Munro Room at Old First. Eventually I found someone with keys, who graciously let me in and allowed me to get on with my evening resting after a few hours of inconvenience.

The same night, one of our homeless guests slept outside after waiting for hours in a crowded dirty waiting room to get a shelter bed that never materialized. Many of our guests do not get let into public buildings to use the restroom, let alone to wait for two hours for keys to arrive.

My enormous unearned privilege as a white, middle-class, over-educated professional who does not personally know addiction, mental health disabilities, or poverty sent the message to my co-workers, acquaintances, and strangers that I was not a threat and would follow the rules. But this is based on our prejudices as well as our experiences.

Why talk about this privilege at all? Why not feel comfort in the hard work I did in school, the employment with which I earn my income, or the time I took to improve my hygiene, and say that I earned the right to be treated respectfully? Because the reality is that I didn't earn it any more than my neighbors, and I don't work nearly as hard as our guests who recycle all day long, travel according to the schedule of which meal site is open for which meal, panhandle as the only source of income, or engage in sex work because they feel there is no other way to sleep inside or to have food to feed their family.

Yet, the little bits of the oppression our guests face have touched my life, which may be why I'm noticing these differences:
-As a transgender and queer person, I have experienced discrimination in the church and employment, as well as stigma at times in my life. Yet my ability to relocate to supportive communities and my other privileges have led me to be employed and housed. At times in my life when I did not have sufficient income to cover my expenses, my family has been available to assist, and I can be reasonably sure this will continue, allowing me to take risks to pursue careers based on interests and schooling rather than economic need.
-I recently celebrated 20 years of diabetes without complications- complications that I avoided due to excellent medical care and health insurance, disability discrimination protections, stable clean housing, consistent access to healthy food, and not being addicted. But I see family members for whom one or two of these missing who have not avoided complications, and I wonder how our guests with diabetes survive. Imagine injecting insulin when you can only shower once a week and have no privacy or bed- if you can manage to get the insulin and supplies in the first place.
-As a person on the autistic spectrum, I have experienced discrimination in employment as well as social stigma. But as someone with access to education, I have been able to find places where my disability is mitigated by privilege. Having access to housing has meant that I can avoid many of my sensory triggers- imagine sleeping in a shelter when loud sounds hurt your ears and you can't read the danger signs from other residents! Far too many people on the autistic spectrum, let alone people with cognitive, brain injury, or mental health disabilities are institutionalized or limited to few choices for independence and autonomy. Yes, today, even adults with physical disabilities are institutionalized not due to necessities of their disability care, but due to a combination of lack of social/medical support, social value, and poverty.
-As a person who grew up as a girl, I have seen sexism. As an adult who identifies as genderqueer but passes as male, I can avoid being minimized due to my gender as long as I don't out myself. But I am acutely aware that women, particularly women living in poverty, are still treated as children, steered into lower-paying work, silenced in education systems, and subject to violence and rape.

This is a short list, but an important one. We who are privileged to have jobs where we work in positions of power with people who have experienced great oppression must always consider these questions:
-What privileges do I experience?
-What power do I have over others?
-How can I use that power and privilege to get out of the way of the power of others, to convince others that this oppression is wrong, and to work towards truer equality?
-What power must I personally give up to do this?

I pray today confessing my abuses of power and privilege, and asking that the God who gave up all power in order to enter into our human suffering forgive me and empower me to enter into my neighbors' suffering. Let me be open to sharing the gifts of our guests and neighbors, and to work that the world might also know these gifts. God of the Israelites, of Jacob and of Paul, liberate us from our oppressing! Amen.

Enjoying a Mid-Summer Saturday Community Dinner

2008-08-01T10:56:00.001-07:00

New Resources on Respectful Service

2008-07-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Serving respectfully and responsively are two priorities in our work with the Welcome Ministry.
One way we do this is by listening and responding to the requests of individuals, and another way we can do this is to draw on the wisdom of research in homeless and poverty communities, particularly when this research starts and ends with the people.

Invisible Men: FTMs and Homelessness in Toronto
In Toronto, the FTM Shelter Research Team asked homeless female-to-male spectrum transgender residents (as well as using their experiences as FTM shelter workers) how the shelter system was inadequate for protecting safety and promoting identity expression, and what could be done about it.

SAMHSA's Homelessness Resource Center
This is a broad resource highlighting best practice for homelessness services. As it is published by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, it focuesses on the role that substance abuse treatment can have, while also looking at the broader picture of culturally competent homeless services. For a government resource, it's remarkable in how it stresses looking to the population served to play key roles in all aspects of service, from volunteering for daily tasks to running boards of directors and research.

If you have ideas about how the Welcome Ministry can use these materials to broaden and deepen our welcome, comment here!

Remembering David

2008-06-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I presided over a memorial service for David. I must confess, coming up with a sermon was more difficult than normal because I didn’t really know David. I knew that he was playful and funny and that each week he came to share lunch he would pretend he couldn’t remember our names. I knew David’s name very well, since he received mail at the church. After he passed, I learned that David knew my name well too. In fact, the medical examiner informed me that on his contact information at the hospital he had listed my name on the line that said “home.”

While only four of us gathered to remember David’s life, we were joyful that David was not one of the hundreds of homeless individuals who die in San Francisco each year without anyone to remember them.

I often say that my most important job at the Welcome Ministry is to learn people’s names. After all, my journey to become a pastor began when God remembered my name and it was marked on my forehead with water.

The Welcome Ministry not only learns people’s names, we help them gain an identity. In the short term we help people get their state issued identification and birth certificates, but in the longer term we help them to improve their quality of life, to advocate for their needs and to gain the quality of life that all humans deserve.

Today, I invite you to support the vital work of the Welcome Ministry. I also hope that with your gift you will share the name of someone who has been important to your life, faith or identity. Whether you are able to give a lot or a little, remember that the little I was able to share with David was big enough to create a sense of home.

Blessings,

Rev. Megan Rohrer

Skill Share SCHEDULE

2008-06-11T17:17:00.001-07:00

Here is the schedule for summer Skill Share workshops. See post below for more information.

If you have ideas for topics, questions, or would like to share a skill, contact Jay.

Stress reduction in real life-

Poverty and homelessness are stressful! Stressing can make it hard to get/stay healthy, control mental health symptoms, and get/maintain housing or employment.

Learn free ways to reduce stressing in tough circumstances.

Wed. June 18, 4:30-5:30

How do I get and use health insurance?

Health insurance can open doors to preventative health care, ability to choose doctors and clinics, medical and adaptive equipment, alternative medicine, and disability services.

Many people are eligible for free/low cost health care through state and federal programs. If you have MediCal or Medicare, learn what is covered so you can get it. If you don't learn how to get insurance and how we can help.

Wed. July 9, 4:30-5:30

Healthy eating at convenience stores-

In our neighborhood for people without much money, it can be difficult to find healthy food. But even in convenience stores, dumpsters, and food shelves, you can make healthy food choices. Learn how to spot healthy options.

Satisfy your food needs and wants in healthier ways from the places you really get food.

Wed. July 16, 4:30-5:30

Options for managing mental health symptoms-

These days, I hear a lot that medication is the main tool most people have for managing mental health symptoms. But there are many other tools and options, many of which are low cost, free, or covered by MediCal. Learn about different kinds of counseling which work well, case management, natural/alternative options, journaling/art/music therapy, harm reduction, and many other useful tools for your mental health toolbox.

Wed. August 13,

4:30-5:30

Stretching your money and staying housed with money help-

Having trouble making your money stretch all month? Get confused by math and numbers? Lost your housing due to not paying rent? Learn about the options for getting money help.

You can get help to do or learn how to: plan a budget, make sure your rent gets paid, or save money for something you want to buy. If you decide on your own to get this help, you can control who helps you, what kind of help you want, and even how exactly you want your money spent.

Wed. August 20,

4:30-5:30

Health Skill Share Workshops

2008-06-11T17:13:00.001-07:00

Starting June 18, Welcome Ministry will be offering time to learn and share skills about health topics.

Skill Shares will happen 4:30-5:30 pm on Evening Outreach Nights prior to the meal- that's the 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of each month.

Assistant Director Jay Wilson or visiting educators will facilitate, and the hope is that people who have specific skills will want to share their knowledge. If you see a topic that you want to help with, contact Jay.

Come with your questions, skills, and suggestions for topics. We hope that a mix of people will come to each Skill Share, people of all levels of skills. Want to come but see a barrier? Talk to Jay to find a way.

In order to be able to offer a safe, comfortable, and effective place to share skills, in addition to the regular Welcome Ministry rules, we also ask that participants:

-Step up and step back- if you are reluctant to participate, STEP UP to try it.

If you know that you like to talk and other people haven't had a chance, STEP BACK to allow everyone to participate.

-Only one person talks at a time, no shouting- so that we can hear and respect everyone who speaks.

-Speak from your own experience, no erasing- You are an expert in your own experiences, so share them (remember this is a public space). Do not speak for other people, whole groups, or erase someone else's perspective.

-No racism, homophobia, ageism, or other ways of oppressing people.

-Jay cannot help you with an individual problem, get items or mail for you, or make appointments while we meet. Please see him before or after the presentation if you need to meet.

These rules are communication skills in themselves, so Jay will assist in remembering and following them.

See next post for schedule for the summer!

Contact Jay for more information, for questions, or if you'd like to share some skills.

Why do economy downturns have to hit the poor the hardest?

2008-06-02T18:41:00.001-07:00

Mayor Newsom released a budget today that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

Some highlights of the devastating impact of the budget include:

1) Closure Ella Hill Hutch shelter serving up to 100 people every night in the Western Addition.
2) Closure of Caduceus Outreach Services, a mental health treatment and wrap around support program for severely disabled homeless adults with co-existing addictive disorders.
3) Almost total elimination (66% cut) of SRO Families United program for families with dependent children living in hotels.
4) Cut of 22% to residential substance abuse and mental health treatment programs budgets.
a. Removal of support from Conard supportive housing program for severe psychiatric disabilities.
b. Closure of Cortland Acute Diversion Unit for individuals in psychiatric crisis.
c. Loss of 12 out of 24 community based medically supported detox beds.
d. Many more residential cuts yet to be determined.

5) Cut of 30% to all outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment
6) Almost total elimination of STOP treatment program.
7) 1,600 people lose psychiatric treatment through Private Provider Network.
8) Closure of Tenderloin Health, homeless multi-service center in the Tenderloin serving over 300 people a day, 16,000 unduplicated people a year. Program provides health services, HIV case management, HIV prevention, mental health services, harm reduction work, improving quality of life by getting people out of rain, providing hygiene kits, bathrooms, snacks, crisis intervention, 30, 000 shelter reservations a year.

Brought to you by the People's Budget Collaborative

Homeless Identification Project

2008-06-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Welcome Ministry recently initiated a new project to help homeless people who do not have govern-ment identification. All government resources and many private resources for the poor require government-issued identification as a prerequisite for service. Additionally, the government requires that businesses see identification before hiring, giving permanent or temporary tenancy or providing financial services (e.g., cashing checks and establishing bank accounts). At the same time, the government has made it more difficult and costly to obtain these documents.

Common barriers that make it difficult to obtain identification:

• In order to get California state-issued ID, you are required to have your birth certificate. In order to get your birth certificate, you need a copy of your state-issued ID.

• In order to get a copy of your Social Security card you must have a copy of both your birth certificate and your state-issued ID. Additionally, the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 states that you may only request a copy of your Social Security card five times in your lifetime.

• If you have a copy of your birth certificate that was issued before 2004, it will be considered invalid because it is printed on the wrong type of paper (even if it has a seal).

• Ordering a birth certificate costs $15 to $75; it can take up to a month to arrive. The requirements to obtain your birth certificate vary based on the birth state.

• Many states require that a notary witness your signature when you request a birth certificate, but without proper identification a notary cannot witness a signature unless they personally know the individual.

• You must have a mailing address to receive your state-issued ID, birth certificate or Social Security card. Often when you order a birth certificate, the address it is mailed to must match the address on the credit card that is paying for it.

• You must pay by credit card or check with the same address where the identification will be mailed.

Companioning someone while they secure the identification they need is more than just paperwork. It is an opportunity to advocate for people as a religious leader and to provide pastoral counseling in ways that many people never experience. When a homeless person, who previously has had little or no support, and a chaplain share that person’s birth history, spend two or three hours together on the bus and in the DMV or Social Security office, an incredible amount of spiritual care takes place and friendship develops. Having a compassionate chaplain listen to your stories, fears, joys and hopes can be life-changing.

To staff the Homeless Identification Project, the Welcome Ministry has created a second staff position that is responsible for getting acquainted with people needing ID, establishing a mutually trusting relationship and gaining sufficient personal history information to begin the ID application process. The position also coordinates volunteer participation in the ID project and publicity to attract people who need help and people interested in supporting the project.

Jay Wilson started as the new Assistant Director April 1^st. Jay has Master of Divinity and Master of Social Work degrees. He is experienced in assisting individuals and families to access services and understand state, county, Social Security, and educational systems.

-Barry Clagett, Welcome Ministry Treasurer

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T18:55:00.001-07:00

"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of The Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of The Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of The Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:2-4 RSV)

Today I am remembering all the veterans that have and are serving our country. We know that at least 23% of all of the homeless are veterans.

We also know that 18 vets commit suicide each day.

I am the child and granddaughter of veterans who recovered from the ravages of war in alcoholism. I wonder how many generations are affected by the traumas of war?

This year I'm getting special training to help people who have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans of nearly every war, have suffered from PTSD. Trauma is something that nearly everyone has experienced. The homeless, like veterans experience multiple traumas.

This Memorial Day I remember that another cost of war is the way that lives are forever changed. As a pastor, I hope to help all people recover from the daily battles that distract people from God(dess). As a pastor to the homeless I daily walk with people hoping that each step we take together will improve their quality of life.

-Rev. Megan Rohrer: Megan has been the Director of The Welcome Ministry (a ministry to the homeless and hungry in the Polk Gultch District of San Francisco, CA) at Old First Presbyterian Church since June of 2001 - and has been called to this ministry by a joint call from Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Christ Church Lutheran, St. Francis Lutheran and Sts. Mary and Martha Lutheran.