St Vincent de Paul Society – MSC-Shelter

My friend Jaime H. asked me if I wanted to help out with the Dinner Service at the St. Vincent De Paul Society and without hesitation I said yes. The opportunity to help others, actually helps me in a way. Positive brings positive in our lives.
We can all give back, whether it’s money or time. I was laid off at the time and had the free time. I was looking forward to all week long and honestly can’t wait until they call me again for my assistance.
I arrived early, they lead me to the kitchen where I met some of the nicest people. All there to help, cook and get a nice healthy meal to those who need it. The meals were very healthy and well balanced.
The people were very happy to get a warm meal, I got many thank you’s and smiles. Brightened my day.

I tried donating a couch and chair. Unfortunately, they never told me I had to have it «sterilized»!! WTF? Like I’m going to pay someone to sterilize my couch to DONATE it? Shouldn’t that be their responsibility? They never mention this on their website or over the phone when I made the appointment. I took time off from work to be here to donate this couch, and then they won’t take it. Jeesh! It’s FREE people!!! Take it as is, and sell it!

I’m sure they do good work. But be apprised when donating furniture: they will NOT pickup a sofa unless you have it curbside (or access to a freight elevator), and they will NOT tell you until, after you’ve waited all day, the haulers come and confirm that you are on the 3^rd floor and don’t have an elevator (just like you carefully told them when you arranged the pickup).

Since I wasn’t going home for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to volunteer, although most places were full on volunteer openings by the time I was reaching out, SVDP San Francisco still had space for me! They do an amazing job here. Listening to the director and volunteer coordinator tell their stories, I was definitely happy to be a part of it. They can use volunteers all the time though, not just on Thanksgiving, so if you’re up for lending a hand, this is a great place to spend your time. They have classes of all kinds to help people and are always looking for ways to add to their program. I think helping out in their library/​computer lab would be a lot of fun too, go check it out sometime =)

The people here are really wonderful. The woman that runs it, Katherine, is just as sweet as can be and really has a heart for helping the community. They’ve got nice, clean offices, a friendly staff, and the opportunity for so many people to get involved.
My fiancé and I recently spent 6 hours last Saturday at the orientation for new SVDP members and it was held at this location. It was long, but we had a great time and got to know some really wonderful people.
If you’re looking to become part of or support a really worthy organization that’s main goal is bettering the community and making the lives of the less fortunate better, you should totally consider joining or giving to St. Vincent de Paul