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Members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society conference of St. Peter and Paul Parish in San Francisco handed out 55 bags of food to the homeless in the North Beach neighborhood March 30. (Courtesy photo)
March 30, 2020
Christina Gray
Staff and volunteers of St. Vincent de Paul Society conferences in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin County are busy helping feed and even house the homeless and needy during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sts. Peter and Paul parishioner Marc Bruno sent Catholic San Francisco images showing members of the parish SVdP conference distributing food to homeless and hungry men and women in North Beach March 30.
Bagged meals were stationed on an ironing board set up in front of the church, he said, while recipients stood at six-foot social distancing markers on the sidewalk.
“I’ve never seen such an orderly and thankful crowd,” Bruno said.
Three volunteers walked up Columbus Avenue and Green and Vallejo streets delivering baskets of food to people sitting on the sidewalks.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Mateo County assisted more than 90 families with food in rural Pescadero thanks to the St. Matthew Parish conference, spokeswoman Krissy Lagomarino said.
“We set up our own drive-through food pantry and observed social distancing guidelines,” she said.
Also, in the past two weeks, members of the St. Matthew conference made 55 home visits to drop food bags and Safeway gift cards.
In Marin County, SVdP staff are back to work at the nonprofit’s free dining hall in downtown San Rafael.
Wearing full protective gear, the staff serve bagged breakfasts and lunches prepared by volunteers sheltering in place at home, including the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael.
“We have county disaster workers on-site with us every day, encouraging our diners to maintain social distance and wash their hands while waiting to get up to the door,” deputy director Suzanne Walker said.
Walker said SVdP of Marin joined the county’s effort to place people experiencing homelessness in local motel rooms to facilitate broad-based sheltering-in-place.
“There were 15 homeless families and 30 individuals brought into motel rooms in March,” she said. SVdP staff made food runs to those hotels.