St. Anthony's Foundation

On October 4, 1950, Franciscan Friar Alfred Boeddeker gave hope to his hungry and homeless neighbors in San Francisco, opening the doors of St. Anthony Dining Room and serving 400 free meals. Now, more than 56 years and 32 million meals later, the St. Anthony Foundation (SAF) continues Father Alfred’s example of honoring the dignity of each person. People now come to the Foundation not only to share in a meal, but also for clothing, housing, and healing of both body and spirit.

SAF continues to work to meet not only today’s needs, but also to change the deeper structural causes of poverty. Their services include 11 programs that help to feed, clothe and heal.  With everyone working together, the staff hopes to celebrate SAF’s 100th anniversary by putting themselves out of business.

In 2005, PIA Cares volunteers helped St. Anthony's Foundation celebrate the serving of its 30 millionth meal with plant installations in the organization's San Francisco and Redwood City dining rooms.

"PIA Cares was established because of our passion to bring plants to people who would never had had access to them financially before.  As we all know, people are greatly impacted by the green plants when they arrive.  In one conversation with a woman client of St. Anthony's in San Francisco, she told me, with tears running down her cheeks, that the plants reminded her of her native country and her family that she missed so much.  She was living on the streets of San Francisco, and said she had not seen these plants in a very long time.  Since then, I never take pothos for granted. The impact for her and others served by this program was that profound."   Lorie Townsend