Thanksgiving 2009

As always on this day, I'm not quite sure who to be thankful to, but I am certain about the what to be thankful for.*

I'm thankful to have a wonderful family and wonderful friends; for my almost ridiculously good health (knock on broadband); for a comfortable (though needs a bit of work) home, in an ab-fab, needs no work location; for more material possessions than I can shake a stick at (whatever that expression means); and for interesting work.

I am fortunate enough not to have a real clue about what it might be like to be without any, let alone all, of the above.

Which is not the case for the hundreds of poor and homeless men and women who, day in and day out, come through the doors of St. Francis House, just off the Boston Common a few minutes walk from where I live.

They come for a warm meal, to get in out of the cold, for a change of underwear, to work in the art room, to see a doctor (or a lawyer), to talk with someone about their troubles, or just to be treated with kindness and respect.

For 25 years, St. Francis House has been helping Boston's poor and homeless. We - I'm on the Board - celebrated our silver anniversary in October.

SFH started life giving soup and sandwiches, and has been growing and adding services (and guests) since.

Its aim is to help people rebuild their lives. This doesn't happen for everyone who comes in through SFH's doors, but it does happen for a surprisingly high number - especially for those who go through the Moving Ahead Program (MAP). MAP works with folks to help them identify their skills and abilities, and to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Most MAP graduates succeed: they stay sober, find jobs, reconnect with family, secure housing. It's truly a remarkable program. No wonder there are typically a couple of hundred people on its waiting list.

But sometimes the guests who come into SFH are just looking for that warm meal or change of underwear, and they get helped, too.

St. Francis House receives some money from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but the funding from the state has been pared back over the last few years. Thanks to a big additional whack out of funding for homeless services in the current state budget, SFH is facing another cutback.

In addition to the direct financial impact that state cuts will have on SFH, smaller shelters and programs for the homeless and poor may well be closing or drastically curtailing their services. Thus, we're looking for heightened demand on our basic services - and this is on top of the overall increased demand we've been seeing for the last year-plus. (Here's some information on the state cuts. If you live in Massachusetts, it would be great if you could call the offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor, as well as your state rep and senator, and ask them to restore the cuts in funding for the homeless.)

More folks coming through our doors, less money coming from the state.

The math ain't pretty.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day, before I head off to my cousin's for what will be the 64th - if I've got this right - time that the Rogers-Wheeler clans have celebrated the holiday together, I will be making a donation to St. Francis House that's a bit more than I had intended to make.

But, what the heck.

To me, it's only money. Which I would no doubt blow on something I don't actually need.

To someone on the streets, it's breakfast, a new pair of boots, or the chance to rebuild a life.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, to the men and women who will be dining at St. Francis House today, and to the remarkable SFH staff.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------*Including the awareness that that who should be a whom, but the good sense not to use it.