The St Antony Foundation:

It was October 4, 1950 on the feast of St Francis, the patron Saint of San Francisco.  On that day Father Alfred Boeddeker, O.F.M. a Franciscan Priest opened the doors of the St Anthony Dining Room for the first time.  He hosted 400 guests, who enjoyed a free meal.

 

Father Alfred was the pastor of St Boniface Church on Golden Gate Avenue, located in the “Tenderloin”.  That neighborhood was populated by many hungry people.  This people would come to the door of the Church looking for food. The people were given vouchers to get food at local restaurants.  Seeking to provide a more personal setting, Fr Alfred found a vacated building on nearby Jones Street and had it remodeled. In the beginning this Dining Room was called “Miracle on Jones Street” 



Later the name became “The St Anthony Dining Room” Father Alfred was inspired by the Statue of St. Anthony in St Boniface Church.  The Statue is holding a loaf of bread.  The Miracle of St Anthony Foundation is still being provided for today by the spirit of St Anthony and now feeding approx 3,000 people.



Today the Foundation provides the dining room, clothing program (which the Stitchers help provide for), medical clinic, social work services, Fr Alfred center drug and alcohol recovery program and tenderloin technology lab.

 

Stitchers for St Anthony

Weaving Love into every stitch for children…The motto of the Stitchers for St Anthony aka St Anthony’s Stitchers.  The Stitchers have been doing this since 1985

We were founded by Alice Alexander (1908-2003) and friends who wanted to sew and make new items for the needy children that were guests at the St Anthony Foundation in San Francisco.  They started with a $1.00 donation, some knitting needles and a box of fabric.



The love and uniqueness of each piece is in harmony with the dignity and special love the Foundation shows for their guests.



Since 1985 we have made tens of thousands of clothes, quilts, bags etc., for the guests that go to St Anthony’s Foundation.

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The Stitchers, Pray to St Anthony to Provide for their needs.  Sometimes when supplies are getting low we ask St Anthony to send us the channel to supply our need.  Quickly generous people who donate their time, fabric, yarn, sewing supplies and money for supplies and sewing machine repairs etc, will appear and provide.  That is our miracle continuing on today.