Weekend began at City of Refuge UCC

Orinda Youth Service Trip – Serving the Homeless of San Francisco

February 12 & 13, 2011

Receiving assignments for the food pantry

Front entrance to City of

Refuge where 100+ people

enter to receive their food every

Saturday.

Once the food bank truck arrived we

helped other volunteers stack

the food.

We distributed potatoes, onions, turnips, sardines in hot sauce, rice, apples and oranges.

Dekkers handed out bread

A LOT of bread!

Next stop – cable car to Ghirardelli!

While we waited in line…

We took turns giving blankets to people on the street.

We also met people with a different view of God

Riding the cable car

Outside of Ghirardelli was a

man making balloon animals

A balloon sword-fight

soon followed

Dekkers’ balloon turned into a hat for

Anne

Enjoying the sunny weather

Making friends with a man and his parrot

The parrot made lots of friends!

We headed to our host church, St. John’s UCC

to make sandwiches to be distributed the next day

These guys had WAY too much fun making sandwiches

Former OCC Minister-in-Training Thom Longino showed us the ropes of the San

Francisco Night Ministry

We walked the streets, handed out blankets and talked to people until midnight

We ended the night with donuts -BIG donuts!

REALLY big donuts!

No one said being a chaperone would be easy

After a long first day, we slept at St. John’s – grateful for a warm place

We were really tired

Up early on Sunday.We ate breakfast at “Squat and Gobble”

Whipped cream + waffle

= good morning

Who knew breakfast could be this fun?

Arriving in style at Glide United Methodist Church.

(We actually rode inside the truck)

Waiting for church to start. Did I mention we had a late night and got up early?

Last stop - Open Cathedral with the San Francisco Night Ministry

The 34 hour weekend helped us see the invisible – the homeless of San Francisco. Really see them, as beloved children God.

But seeing them is only the first step.