Presidio Hill Service: 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

PHS Middle School students Support Glide the Morning of 12/07/11

The PHS 6th and 7th graders rolled out of bed before the sun was up this morning! Thirteen of us met on a sidewalk in San Francisco's notorious Tenderloin at 6:30 AM. We spent the morning serving meals in the Glide Coffee House and worked preparing foods in the kitchen. Our students put an amazing amount of energy into Glide's many projects!

I chose to volunteer at Glide today because you get to help homeless people that need food. My jobs were to put pears inside containers and taking bread out of their bags and putting them into boxes. My favorite part was being able to talk to people while also working with them.

I didn't have a least favorite part because it was just so fun and awesome that there was nothing wrong with it.

~ Issalin Lopez

I chose to volunteer because I thought it would be cool to help people. My job today was serving people and refilling the pitchers with either water or coffee. My favorite moment was everything! My least favorite moment was nothing!

~ August

I choose to volunteer because I thought it would be fun. And it was! I put pears and various breads into big containers. These go to people who will prepare the food. My favorite part was when my friends where throwing pears at me. We were still getting work done, but it was fun. My least favorite moment of the day was that we had to wake up early. But it was worth it; another was wearing a hair net.

~ Isabella

Some would consider waking up at 5:00 am for the sole purpose of feeding the homeless a loss. I did too, until I went to Glide. I believe in the cause. I enjoyed my time, and believe I came out as, albeit it slightly, better person. During my time I prepared food for the homeless, additionally I was able to view the world of the homeless from their perspective. I truly become one of them (kind of) and was able to rethink my life. :) Bye

~ Emmett

I chose to volunteer at glide because I felt like helping people. After going there once I want to go to there many more times. Today my job was to serve people in the coffee house, which was for handicapped people. My favorite times were when I got to bring them food. My least favorite part of the day was when we had to clean the tables and get on the bus.

~ Eloise

I chose to volunteer today at Glide because I want to help people and give people food who can’t buy themselves food. My job today was to serve food and drinks to the people at Glide. My favorite part of the day was when people thanked me for giving them food. My least favorite part of the day was when we had to leave (:

~ Jonah

I served at Glide with a remarkable group of individuals. Together we prepared food for people of the TL community, treating them as if they were guests in our homes. I believe we all have preconceptions about people grappling with hunger and homelessness. Many of us are fearful of circumstances like these and are uncomfortable confronting these issues. Working to meet peoples' needs challenges me to be less judgmental and to live with compassion. I feel blessed and grateful for getting to share experiences like these with PHS students and staff.

~ Todd

I chose Glide because I thought about people that are hungry and have no food. I always wanted to be a volunteer for a program that helps people. My jobs were to serve the people, to give them their tray, and to give them things that they need. My favorite thing was to serve food to the people, I felt really excited. My least favorite thing was going to get more food from the other room because there were so many people in the hallways.

~ Jillian

I wanted to serve at Glide for a few reasons. I had heard about how
positive the work the organization does for a long time and was
curious to see it for myself and help out. I was also looking forward
to continuing the great tradition PHS has of serving there, and
hopefully bringing some food and happiness to the folks there.
Today at Glide I was on the meat station. I started off working with
Joe wrapping turkeys in saran wrap. After we prepared 16 turkeys we
got to walk through the whole back part of the kitchen to store them
in the big freezer. It was amazing to see how much food they have
there and how organized they need to be to serve as many people as
they do. I also sliced chorizo and ham for jambalaya.

My favorite event came right after I got dropped off. I was really
grouchy and grumpy when I woke up in the morning and was not in a
great mood. But as soon as I got to Glide, saw the students, met some
people and engaged in the work it changed my day around. It was a
fantastic experience.

I wouldn't say I had a least favorite experience, although I'm looking
forward to going back to Glide and working in a different area. I
loved seeing how the organization works behind the scenes, and look
forward to having more interactions with the folks who eat at Glide
next time.

It was a wonderful experience and I was so proud of how hard the
students worked and how they rose to the occasion! I heard a few
adults comment on how great the kids at PHS are!

~ Matt

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

PHS Middle School serves Breakfast 03/30/11

Going to glide was an amazing experience. I have never done anything like it before. I made me feel so grateful for what I have.
I knew I was helping so many people, and that made me feel great! I could tell how much everyone appreciated it. After i got into the swing of things.
I found my rhythm and had fun with it. I began to feel more conformable with my surroundings, and focused on the task at hand. When we were done. I felt so
great about what we had done, and knew that we had helped so many people. It was hard to get comfortable at first but with time i had fun and knew i was doing something very important!

~Averie

Glide was not surprising, it was just as fun as last time. It was interesting going for the second time because, there were a lot of people that i saw the time before and they were there again! Glide was very fun and I am glad that I was able to take a part in going there.

~ Gena

Thank you for taking us to glide. It was my first time there and I had a lot
of fun. It was a great experience to serve people. I kind of felt like
a waitress going from table to table. It was nice to help people. It was
very fun. I'm hoping to go another time.
Thanks Again!

~ Yennae

When I went to the Glide foundation I passed trays along an assembly line. I saw how grateful the people were and i felt good knowing I was helping people get a necessity of life. it is remarkable and sad that we served 750 meals.

~Chiara

Friday, January 28, 2011

Friday 01/28/11 PHS Serves Breakfast at Glide

Reflections on Our Time at Glide Friday 01/28/11

I really enjoyed my time at Glide. It was very different from all the other times that I’ve visited Glide because usually I serve in the coffeehouse. This time I was part of the food prep line and I had the opportunity to see the people we were serving when they got their food. Everyone was very gracious and polite and it was great to see how much we were helping them. Volunteering at Glide is a really great experience to have. I hope that everyone gets a chance to do it because you learn a lot while you’re there. You learn that you shouldn’t judge the homeless people that you see and that instead of avoiding them, you should find a way to help them. Volunteering anywhere is really important, but at Glide you can see the difference you are making.

~ Sofia

I noticed a lot of people were very polite, and thanked Camille when she gave them their food. People sometimes thanked me, also, for wiping the tables and refilling the pitchers of coffee, milk and water. But one thing that made me sad was how many people came, wanting food. It made me think of how many others there could be out there in the world, without the help from a soup kitchen. However I still felt happy that our school was doing something to help the poor.

One part that made me scared was there was a fight in the back part of the restaurant. Also some of the people in general made me feel unsafe. It is kind of hard not to judge them… though I am mostly good at not judging them, there are some people that I get uncomfortable with there.

I enjoy volunteering at glide. I like being with my friends and doing something good for other people. I would have liked to work in the food line instead of on the floor “waiting on tables.” But I still had fun. I hope that I can go again soon to volunteer with my class.

~Katrien

I had fun seeing how grateful the people were that we were serving. It's really sad how many people need those meals. My arm got really tired from putting utensils on trays, but it was worth it to see those happy people.

~Chiara

My experience at glide was fantastic. I had fun working with my friends and dancing to the music! I would so go back!

~Camille

Nothing feels more human and important than serving others and sharing a meal with people, no matter if this is around the dinner table in my home or at the welcoming tables of Mo's Kitchen at Glide.

Getting to support the Tenderloin community and share this experience with PHS students, parents and staff is profoundly meaningful to me. I'm grateful for and impressed with how generously everybody gave of themselves and how hard they worked! This world is definitely a better place for having each of them in it!

~Todd

My day at glide was and amazing experience. It is horrible seeing how many people can’t feed themselves. I was working at the sugar distributor place and every time i gave them sugar they would say thank you so much and have a nice day. The same time I was helping people and having a blast it was very sad because over 700 people came in that morning. I was wondering were do they all stay? The streets all over San Francisco. I am glad that I could help someone out and make him or her have a better day.

~Genevieve

I just wanted to express my appreciation of your help in organizing the volunteering at Glide, and for the experience Camille had yesterday. She said it was "life changing" to volunteer there, and talked a lot about it last night. I think it was all the more powerful for her to have this experience with her classmates and you and Tony.

Thank you for including Camille in this valuable opportunity!

~Kara

When I went to glide I'm not going to lie it smelled sweaty and that's awful. I felt bad for the homeless and didn't think about how I was helping them, but all I was doing was putting oranges on trays. It got boring after looking at all of the oranges so I fell asleep with my eyes opened and my hands were still moving. It was weird but there is this girl called Isabel and she started to talk to me which woke me up. It felt good taking a nap. But then I looked at all of the homeless and saw hundreds of homeless. I didn't even think there was that many homeless in San Francisco. But then I felt good feeding them.

~Johnny Kelly

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PHS Students, Families and Friends Make the World A better Place

Quality Foods at Glide

Making a Difference One Sandwich at a Time

Today at Glide I learned many things, I learned that not all of the people that eat there are homeless. Many of them are homeless, and live on the streets. The majority of the people that do come to Glide live in a house but they are food insecure, meaning they can not afford to buy food. Glide is a great place to go if you’re food insecure. At Glide, my favorite part was working in the Coffee House. I wasn’t in the kitchen chopping up food or just putting some food on the tray. In the coffee house, I had to give people trays of food. What really surprised me was that most of them were actually polite. I would have thought they were going to be rude. Today I made a difference because I helped prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Charly. We were skilled and used two loafs of bread in less than a minute that is about 40 sandwiches. Since we were working so fast we were able to make more sandwiches than we were supposed to, which was pretty amazing if you ask me. I am looking forward to volunteer at Glide more often so I could help make a difference in the world.

~ Aracely

Glide Day Two February 5, 2015

PHS students showed up for and work three shifts at Glide's meals programs today. They arrived at 6:45 am and served breakfast to more than 450 Tenderloin residents. Students sat with staff and clients and enjoyed the foods they had previously served for breakfast. Students went on to report for their second shift doing food preparations. They had a blast collaborating as they prepared bagged lunches, whipped peanut butter and jelly, made salads, wrapped fried chicken, and cleaned up the kitchen. They rushed off to their third shift serving an amazing fried chicken lunch to grateful guests. Students closed the day by meeting with Reverend Dr Karen Oliveto and Kristen Growney Yamamoto, Co-Executive Director at Glide. Together they reflected on their day of service and set intentions.

Street Retreat 2014 - Making a Difference for People Struggling with Hunger and Homelessness

Our project day was spent taking on the complex issues of hunger and homelessness. We served at San Francisco’s world famous Glide and participated in a street retreat with the renowned Faithful Fools. We became one of the 4,000 plus people from all over the world that have made street retreats since July of 1998! We started our day at 6:45 am serving people living in San Francisco’s infamous Tenderloin in Glide’s Daily Free Meals program. Giving was a transformative experience. The Glide meals program needed us and each day requires 60 volunteers each day in order to fill the breakfast, lunch and dinner shifts, 364 days a year. Our food service shift at Glide was 7:00 am through 9:00 am. Once we finished serving breakfast we participated in a daylong street retreat, where we worked at knowing more about the people we served and the remarkable neighborhood that these people call home. The retreat began at 9:30 am as we gathered with song and reflective readings. After introducing ourselves, sharing what had brought each of us to the retreat and the hopes and expectations that each one brought, an orientation to the layout of the day was given and then we set out onto the streets for a number of hours. We were shadowed by experienced adults who had previously participated in and facilitated retreats. There was nothing that anyone of us was supposed to do except trust that we would be led to that which is ours to encounter in the day. In the afternoon, we regrouped to share our experiences and close with a tea. The daylong street retreat offered an opportunity for all of us to bear witness to our own experiences and life story as it relates to what we encountered as we spent a day walking and exploring the streets of the Tenderloin. We entered into the street retreat not knowing what we would encounter and with a lot of apprehension about what it would be. From that place of not knowing, students discover what there is for each of us to know. This made it possible for each of us to begin to “discover our common humanity.” Myths about this neighborhood and the people we support were shattered. Our own stories were revealed to us. We began to see the light, courage, strength and creativity in the people we encounter. While moving through the day, students and adults were asked to be conscious of what came up from within - attitudes, judgments, fears, assumptions - about who is in the streets and why some people are homeless, especially at a time when we are being told that the freedom and privileges of the United States are envied around the world. What was it we saw and heard and felt as we had conversations with individuals, walked through the streets, sat on a bench in the U.N. Plaza, or in a drop-in center, stood in a food line waiting for a meal, became tired or had to go to the bathroom and confronted signs that say, “rest-rooms for customers only”, or “no loitering”? We shared the richness of the experience as it was reflected through the voices of those who had gone into the streets with us. We treasured sharing this experience.

PHS Pledges Support to Glide Meals Program

By Isabel Schroedel

I first started volunteering at Glide Memorial Church on a field trip in sixth grade. I had a great experience there, and it felt really good to be helping people in need. I decided to volunteer with Glide’s Free Meals program for my Bat Mitzvah community service project, and have continued to volunteer regularly since then, as well as helping out in the volunteer coordination office. Once I became aware of how essential volunteer assistance is to the organization (every meal requires 20 volunteers – that’s 21,900 volunteers a year!), I realized that having more student participation would be extremely beneficial for Glide, as well as provide students with an invaluable learning experience. I approached Todd near the end of last year about starting a Glide Committee at PHS to help arrange more volunteer trips.

Since then, with Todd’s help, I have gotten together a group of students and approached Scott about our plans to organize more frequent volunteer trips. The PHS faculty has been very supportive in our efforts, and, after working very hard organizing during the first semester, we had our first trip to Glide in January. Our first trip was a big success; everything went smoothly, and everybody seemed to have a great time. It was very exciting to see all of our hard work pay off, and we are in the process of organizing more trips for the rest of the year.