Dinner with Grace builds community, engenders empathy, and combats loneliness through volunteer-prepared healthy meals shared with individuals moving out of homelessness into supportive housing.
We alternate serving dinner at two locations: the Mentone Hotel at 387 Ellis St and the Crosby Hotel at 516 O’Farrell St, both located in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, within a mile of the cathedral.
Though in-person volunteering opportunities have been impacted during the last two years, our connections to our community and our world remain vibrant. With dedicated coordination and creative problem-solving, Dinner with Grace has continued in service to our friends at The Crosby and The Mentone, and we are looking toward a hopeful in-person relaunch in 2023. Stay tuned!
While Covid restrictions prevented us from gathering to cook, serve, and visit with our friends, the residents of the Mentone and Crosby hotels, we have been able to provide them with tangible reminders of our concern and support. We have coordinated with local companies and small businesses, when possible, to prepare and deliver individually plated warm meals to each SRO on a modified schedule.
This included providing tasty meals through the local business La Cocina whose mission includes empowering women and low-income entrepreneurs by providing resources and mentorship to help grow their businesses. We were honored to support their mission of business equity in place of volunteer-prepared meals.
This holiday season, Dinner with Grace will once again be providing holiday-themed meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas catered by Boston Market. Volunteers will have an opportunity to hand-sign holiday cards to accompany the meals.
Meanwhile, a small group of volunteers has gotten together on Zoom for catch-up chats a few times. We can’t wait to get back to the kitchen again! We welcome you to join us when we resume!
Please contact Nicole Stahl at [email protected] or call Tracee Zyla, Program Coordinator, at 415-749-6351 to learn how to get involved.
Check out our blog posts from the archives which detail sample menus and the process of putting together the dinners to learn more about our ministry.