A Place For Miracles Everyday: St. Francis Center
by Sheryl Young, PVF’s San Mateo County Program Director
St. Francis Center is a nonprofit located in Redwood City, CA that has provided affordable housing, education, immigration counseling, food and other essential services to under-resourced families in the community since 1986. They are committed to providing services with compassion, not judgment for working families. Sheryl Young, San Mateo County Program Director of PVF; Dawn Hawk, Chief Operating Officer of PVF; Bill Somerville, founder and first president of PVF; and Ragni and Marc Pasturel, long-time supporters of the center made a visit last month.
Hear about our visit with St. Francis Center below!
It was a great Friday as we visited the 1st grade classroom at the St. Francis Center. The lowest income children in the community attend this school. The children greeted us with big smiles, and quietly and enthusiastically lined up to shake hands with each of us and to tell us their names. Reluctantly we let them go back to their schoolwork as we left the classroom. This program serves children through the eighth grade and then finds funding for scholarships for them to attend private high schools.
Kate Young, the new Executive Director of St. Francis Center, introduced us to several parents in another classroom working on various certificate programs.
Volunteers greeted us as they lined up food bags to be picked up by families and resupplied the store where families can choose clothing for themselves and their children. Outside we could see many of the nearly 300 low-income housing units, as well as the nearby Sienna Youth Center which provides afterschool and summer programs. St. Francis Center is helping families in need become self-supporting members of the community – a place for miracles everyday!
We can’t wait to go back to be with the children in the classrooms!
Volunteers working in the Clothing Closet, which provides barely used clothing and household items for families in need.
L to R: Marc Pasturel, Kate Young and Ragni Pasturel. Not pictured but attending: Bill Somerville, Dawn Hawk and Sheryl Young.
