2006 Annual Report

This year, the Welcome Ministry has had many exciting successes that have strengthened our ministry and enabled us to help our homeless and hungry friends to become self sustaining members of the community. 

Welcome Ministry Achieves Goals:
In 2006, we doubled the number of community dinners that we served, allowing us to have 6 dinners set aside to educate youth and young adults about: homelessness, the value of volunteering, the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, economic justice and the dangers of running away.  Dinners began with an educational program tailored to the needs of the youth and concluded with a reflection and debriefing after the meal and resulted in an additional: 1320 meals served; an additional 360 volunteers learning about the homeless and hungry; more than 1600 blankets, toiletry bags and warm clothing distributed; and many new opportunities for the homeless and hungry to learn about and gain access to our services. 

The dinners were fiscally sponsored by the Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rocke Foundation, the St. Francis Foundation and individual donations.  Meals were hosted by: Christ Church Lutheran, St. Luke’s Episcopal, First Congregational, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Welcome Ministry Board of Directors, the Old First Presbyterian Church deacons, the Faithful Fools, First Unitarian, and the Swedenborgian Church Sunday schools.

The Welcome Ministry plans to continue the success of this new program and as well as the programming that has been providing a ministry of presence to the homeless and hungry in this area for the past ten years.  The Welcome Ministry currently operates the Welcome Center, where volunteers and one full-time staff member provide a sanctuary and offer lunch, hospitality and assistance to homeless neighbors for two hours each Tuesday afternoon. The ministry also offers a twice monthly Wednesday Evening Outreach Program, a twice monthly Saturday community dinner and individual counseling.

This year four Lutheran Churches felt so strongly that they needed to support the vital work of the Welcome Ministry that they issued a joint call to our Director, Megan Rohrer, to work on behalf of all four churches to minister to the poor in San Francisco.  On November 18th, Megan was ordained as a minister of Word and Sacramento and appointed to work at the Welcome Ministry - as she has done since June of 2002.  The four churches also committed to supporting the work of the Welcome Ministry through regular financial, volunteer and donation stewardship and to create regular educational opportunities for people to learn about homelessness, poverty and justice issues in worship and at educational events.
In 2007 we will be working on a new project Welcome Ministry.  Named after Aristarchus, a companion to Paul on his journey, the Welcome Ministry’s Aristarchus Project will enable volunteer chaplains to help the chronically homeless to gain the services they need to improve their quality of life. This project will enable the homeless to gain social security and birth certificate, State issued identification, a mailing address and residency letters that are required to apply for services from health organizations and governmental programs in San Francisco.

Pastoral Care Provided:
For Our Homeless and Hungry Guests and Volunteers:

• 60 Bible studies and devotions
• 768 Individual prayer sessions in person and through prayer requests (two prayer requests displayed to the right)
• 576 Pastoral counseling sessions
• 36 Hospital visits
• 4 Memorial services

Services and Educational Events at Local Churches and Organizations about Issues of Homelessness were Held at the Following:

• Christ Church Lutheran
• Beth Shalom
• Ebenezer Lutheran
• Or Shalom
• Old First Presbyterian Church (services, Jazz Vespers, high school classes, ushers trainings)
• Northern California and Nevada Conference Justice Committee
• St. Francis Lutheran
• The Tenderloin Health and Safety Fair

The Welcome Ministry Helps Our Homeless and Hungry Friends Create Self Sustaining Lives:

• 84 individuals moved indoors
• 72 individuals assisted in entering substance abuse rehabilitation programs
• 348 individual counseling sessions
• 96 medical visits with guests
• 72 visits to see prisoners or letters to prisoners
• 48 individuals reconnected with family members
• 144 pastoral care meetings and one religious service performed
• 3792 Welcome Center meals served
• 1560 Saturday evening community dinner guests
• 4200 bags of toiletries, socks and non-perishable food given out per month

2006 Corporation, Organizational and Foundation Sponsors
The Welcome Ministry was able to exceed its financial goals in 2006 and was able to establish an endowment fund of over $12,000 because of the generous support of the Anna Selegean Fund, The Eldorado Foundationby and individual donors.  Below is a list of organizations whose substantial in-kind or fiscal sponsorship to the endowment fund, general operating expenses or programs enabled the Welcome Ministry to thrive in 2006.

Three Examples of How the Welcome Ministry Improves Lives

Herman works two full time jobs in order to try to pay his rent and take care of his disabled partner. With medical bills mounting and no hope of being able to pay his rent for the upcoming month, Herman came to the Welcome Ministry for help.  Our director counseled Herman about the steps that he can take to avoid eviction and hooked him up with a group that will help Herman not only pay his rent on time, but be able to get ahead enough to not have to worry about eviction every month.
Freddy has decided that he wants to turn his life around. A long time drug user, Freddy has decided that he is ready to confront his addiction issues and lessen the symptoms of his schizophrenia. Freddy receives regular counseling from the Welcome Ministry director to work on healing from childhood abuse and has decided to fi­ll his time with activities to try to beat his addiction.  Freddy has been able to stay sober and make marked progress towards turning his life around, including getting general assistance, food stamps, a job and identification. 
Volunteering at the Welcome Ministry more than 4 times a week has helped Freddy to stay sober for more than a month. Sara’s New Year’s resolution for the year was to stop being a prostitute. The Welcome Ministry has helped Sara to keep this resolution by: giving her an address to have important mail sent to; regular counseling sessions; giving her a place to volunteer and get to‑ the streets; helping her ­find job opportunities and work on her resume and by encouraging her to improve her life. Sara currently has a full time job and was able to move indoors.
* Names have been changed to protect confi­dentiality.