GLIDE Security Monitors – Core Values in Action

If you have ever attended a Sunday Celebration, Volunteered, visited, or simply walked by GLIDE, you have likely been greeted by one of GLIDE’s Security Monitors. The yellow-jacket-clad Monitors can be seen on Ellis Street, immersed in the community, talking to folks as they enter the building or wait in line for a meal. Their presence sends a message: we are GLIDE and we welcome you.

GLIDE’s Security Monitors are undoubtedly the face of the organization, embodying GLIDE’s Core Values in all of their interactions. GLIDE Security Manager, Israel Canjura, shares, “Our guests are used to being told ‘no’ all the time. It’s easy to say, ‘you can’t come in.’ The challenge is to give our guests options and help them navigate those options.”

Often, our program participants come to GLIDE unsure of what their needs are. Our Monitors, highly trained in de-escalation and harm reduction techniques, and incredibly attuned to GLIDE’s Core Value of Radical Inclusivity, help our participants uncover and express their true needs.

Our Monitors are often able to connect so authentically and effectively with our program participants because they too, may have once stood in GLIDE’s meals line. Steve Virgin, Security Monitor, once a program participant, shares, “I was able to and I’m still able to come here as myself. I don’t have to act like I haven’t been in trouble before, I can just be me.” This acceptance that Steve felt as a participant is what he offers as a staff member, giving back to the community in the most meaningful way possible.

Joyce Hayes: Epitome of Motherhood

Joyce Hayes first came to GLIDE in 1971 as a church member and soon became instrumental in developing our early children’s programs, which later became the Janice Mirikitani Family, Youth, and Childcare Center (FYCC) in 1991.

While at GLIDE, Joyce has served many roles, from resident writer to Youth Program Director, to foster mother to more than 87 kids from the community. “Joyce is not only the epitome of what motherhood means, she has also demonstrated what unconditional love, patience and consistency can do to save the lives of children,” says Founding President, Janice Mirikitani.

In 2001, Joyce received the prestigious Congressional Angels in Adoption award for her commitment to making a difference in the lives of children and families. Today, she continues to provide youth a place to learn, grow, and be loved. “I do it because the need is there,” she says.

Joyce was honored for her decades of work and motherhood at DOIN’ GOOD, the 2012 GLIDE Annual Holiday Jam. Several of the children she had once fostered, now adults, presented Joyce with a special acknowledgement for her role in their life success.

On behalf of the entire GLIDE family, thank you Joyce, and all GLIDE moms, for exemplifying unconditional love every day! Happy Mother’s Day!

GLIDE Ops: Serving Behind the Scenes

It takes a lot of dedicated, passionate people committed to GLIDE’s mission to provide the vast array of programming to our community. From the Meals Program, to our Family Youth and Childcare Center, to GLIDE Health Services, our program staff meet community need on a daily basis. But what about the other side to serving the community? GLIDE’s operations and administrative teams add to the depth of GLIDE’s services by ensuring that all systems function well. This month, we’ll get to know a few members of GLIDE’s operations and administrative teams, folks whose work is mainly behind the scenes, and marked with the passion and drive for which GLIDE staff is known!

Today, we get to know Katherine Kimmons, IT Specialist. Our IT team supports all of GLIDE’s technological needs. They ensure that GLIDE’s computers, databases, software, and other systems are functioning properly to provide the greatest efficiency across the organization. They also make sure GLIDE stays up-to-date with latest technology and IT best practices.

Katherine Kimmons (third from left) at the 2012 GLIDE Annual Holiday Jam, IT Specialist

When did you come to GLIDE? I came to GLIDE February 13, 2012. I had been laid off for roughly 2years and was currently on a temp consultant assignment for eBay in San Jose.

What do you do at GLIDE and how does your work support our work in the community? I am an IT Specialist. My work supports the entire staff, volunteers, and interns that work for the community by ensuring their phones, computers, and other systems are up and running.

What do you love most about your work? I love the people I interact with, my co-workers who are also my clients and friends.

What Core Value resonates with you most? Radically Inclusive. GLIDE gave me employment, and more importantly, a sense of belonging at a time when I was feeling rejected. Here, you can be completely yourself and that is major, especially in a society where you are conditioned to believe the opposite about a workplace.

What inspires you? The founders, the employees, and the program participants inspire me. GLIDE, is a magical place and I feel privileged to be here.

MEN IN PROGRESS – Empowerment in Acknowledgement

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, men gather in GLIDE’s Freedom Hall to learn about the importance of intimacy. “Intimacy is the ability to listen and disclose. To be 100 percent attentive and respond authentically, rather than react,” says Ray White, GLIDE Security Supervisor and Men in Progress Facilitator.

Ray White (left) GLIDE Security Supervisor and Men in Progress Facilitator

Men in Progress is GLIDE’s violence cessation program for men and recently expanded from a once per week to a twice per week course, offering two phases of violence intervention education. This expansion is a testament to the success of the program, with several men completing the intensive 52-week Phase I course and moving on to Phase II.

The program is peer-facilitated, empowering men who have been in the program the longest – Senior Advocates – to impart personal knowledge and experience for the benefit of new participants.

Acknowledgement of one’s violence is at the base of Men in Progress. Hamish Sinclair, Men in Progress Facilitator shares, “We realize our violence separates us from our true selves and from those we love. So, the first step on the road to greater intimacy is to acknowledge the truth about our violence. Until we stop our violence, we can’t achieve the intimacy we seek.”

GLIDE Security Program Manager, Israel Canjura (several GLIDE Security Monitors have attended Men in Progress training)

Often, men are surprised to learn the many ways in which they express their violence when they take a look at the list of coercive behaviors. Check out this partial list:

-Monopolizing shared space (playing loud music when your partner is reading
-Last-wording (always having to have the last word in a discussion or argument)
-Usually being late for appointments with your partner
-Walking away (a reverse chase)
-Withholding work that was promised (delaying start-ups and completions)
-Defining the truth (You don’t know what you’re talking about)
-Blaming something else for what you do (I just lost my job/I just started a new job)
-Mimicking your partner (imitating your partner’s tone of voice when he/she is angry)
-Running on (repeating over and over again what you have already made clear)
-Ignoring your partner
-Thumping, pounding or slapping objects in front of your partner
-Making abrupt forceful body movements in your partner’s presence
-Slamming doors
-Restricting your partner’s physical movements (sitting him/her down)
-Pushing your partner

Full list of coercive behaviors.

GLIDE Volunteers: Sharing Passion and Talent

Every year, GLIDE is fortunate to host thousands of volunteers that engage with our work in a variety of ways. GLIDE could not accomplish the important work of serving the community without the commitment and dedication of our volunteers – from those who come to help serve meals to those who contribute their time as board members, the help of all of GLIDE’s supporters is vital to our success. In honor of National Volunteer Appreciation Week, get to know Paige Rossetti.

Paige grew up in a suburb of New York City, sheltered by the realities of urban life. During trips into Manhattan as a small girl, she was shocked by the sight of homeless people panhandling and sleeping on the streets. “As adults, many of us become accustomed to these sights and we learn to ignore them. We tune out the suffering of others in order to go through our daily lives.” As a child, Paige was deeply affected by the urban issues she witnessed and contributes those early feelings of compassion to her attraction to GLIDE. “I came to GLIDE to honor that feeling of empathy, by actually doing something to help.”

Paige helped create compelling infographics, such as this one illustrating GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals Program

As a part of the Strategy, Resource, and Evaluation (SRE) team at GLIDE, Paige used her background and passion for storytelling through data to contribute in the most meaningful way possible. At GLIDE, we collect and analyze program data to measure the impact of our services and to uncover community need in order to better serve all of our program participants. During her time at GLIDE, Paige analyzed data gathered by our annual client surveys, a task that has allowed programs to further develop their offerings based on community feedback. “I believe that data is powerful. It helps us to work effectively, allowing us to do the most good possible with the resources we have available.”

Paige used her personal interests and natural talent to inform her contribution to GLIDE by volunteering her time to the SRE team. It is through her meaningful service that GLIDE was able to draw informative conclusions from the very important client survey process and deepen the integrity of our services.

Of the lessons she has learned at GLIDE, Paige includes learning the hard work of radical inclusivity among the most important. “When you spend time at GLIDE, you start to realize how many barriers we put up between ourselves and others in our everyday lives. Working at GLIDE means challenging yourself to tear those barriers down.”

GLIDE’s Gardens: Earth Day, Everyday

The GLIDE community celebrates Earth Day everyday from our rooftop gardens at our Family Youth and Childcare Center (FYCC), Cecil Williams Community House (CW House), and Graze the Roof, our volunteer-run edible garden at 330 Ellis.

GLIDE’s gardens bring our urban community closer to nature and closer to their food sources. Each of the gardens is used as a tool for education, community building, and most importantly, our gardens invite our community into discussions about food justice and food equality. In a neighborhood without a single grocery store, Tenderloin residents rely on the food that is available to them at their corner stores or bodegas. Our gardens open up the possibility for nutritious and healthy eating to our communities.

Enjoy these photos from GLIDE’s gardens:

A Volunteer tends to Graze the Roof

FYCC kids check out a plant as it sprouts on Graze the Roof

CWH Resident Run garden boasts gorgeous leafy greens

James Sampaga: Finding a Common Bond

For the thousands of volunteers that serve in GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals Program every year, James Sampaga, Cook and Food Expeditor, is part of what makes their experience so memorable. His passion and love for his work shines through to all who have the pleasure to interact with him.

James, once a Daily Free Meals guest, has been a member of the meals program staff for almost six years. “I remember coming through the meals line years back, seeing the workers and thinking, wow, this would be a really cool place to work, never thinking I would be involved in it.”

Today, James is a huge part of the successful daily operations in a kitchen that serves nearly 2,500 meals every day.

After six years in the meals program, James continues to find inspiration in his work every day. “You can look at the news and think the world is terrible, then you can come here and see people giving their hearts out. I’m still amazed that people take their time to give every day.”

James describes his hope that all people who visit GLIDE feel the unconditional love and radical acceptance we practice on a daily basis, “I want people to know that there’s not much difference between meals guests and the rest of us. We’re all people with real needs – a meal, compassion, respect. When we serve a meal together, we have a common bond. We are all people helping people.”

GLIDE Speak Out: Community Voice

Founders Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani started Speak Out in the same manner they bring all of GLIDE’s programs to fruition – they saw a need, and they responded. Speak Out is GLIDE’s weekly community open-mic whose sole purpose is to give people a place to express themselves.

The most marginalized in our society are rarely invited to share their voices. Speak Out gives folks who are often ignored and overlooked a chance to express themselves through story, song, poetry, music, or whatever medium moves them.

For decades, Janice and Cecil have consistently hosted GLIDE’s weekly Speak Out, inviting addicts, the homeless, those re-entering society from prison or jail, staff, volunteers, supporters, neighbors, anyone interested, to come together to be heard.

Speak Out takes place every Wednesday evening, starting at 5pm in GLIDE’s Freedom Hall. The open mic is followed by a community dinner hosted by GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals Program.

Check out Angela, GLIDE Walk-In Center Client Advocate, and former program participant, sharing her story:

Syringe Access Program: Meeting People Where They’re At

GHS’s Syringe Access Program (SAP) strives to meet people where they’re at by using the harm reduction model to provide compassionate services to drug users who are not ready to quit. The program recognizes that there is still plenty of work that can be done with active users to reduce the harm of their drug use, both on an individual and community level.

Every Monday and Tuesday evening, GLIDE Health Services (GHS) staff and volunteers set up in GLIDE’s lobby to offer harm reduction supplies for injection and non-injection drug users, and provide health and wellness information.

HIV Services Manager, Paul Harkin, explains, “Our goal is to try to keep a person healthy, even though they are using drugs. We help with the spread of HIV and Hepatitis B and C, and we help reduce some of the most damaging aspects of injection drug use, like soft tissue disease and vein damage.” The SAP also conducts community outreach in the neighborhood to connect with users who might not be ready or able to come to GLIDE to access the program.

The SAP provides sterile needles, overdose prevention trainings, HIV counseling and testing, and referrals to other relevant programs and agencies. Research has shown that participants of syringe access programs reduce their risk of a variety of diseases, injuries, and infections. SAPs are often the first point of contact for drug treatment.

Paul shares the importance of maintaining a consistent presence in the community, “By continually showing up for our clients, the SAP gains the trust and respect of the community. They recognize that we care enough about them to show up, come rain or shine, and that is a crucial aspect to bridge building.”

Experiencing GLIDE’s mission of Compassion, Care, and Unconditional Love

Today’s blog comes to us from Rebecca Sanchez, a member of the GLIDE Legacy Committee,  a radically inclusive team comprised of social entrepreneurs who strive to engage, inspire and educate new audiences of young professionals within the San Francisco Bay Area through GLIDE’s mission of unconditional love, compassion and social justice to broaden and deepen community involvement with the organization.

A San Francisco transplant by way of Boston, Rebecca is thrilled to give back to her new city as a member of the GLIDE Legacy Committee. She is a strong believer in the power of technology for promoting the accessibility of knowledge, and brings over six years of experience designing educational software.

What was your first GLIDE experience? What is your “coming to GLIDE” story?

My first GLIDE experience was the Legacy Committee Pop-Up Dinner, an event put on to benefit the GLIDE Women’s Center. The commitment and energy of the group were palpable. It was also my first time meeting Janice and Cecil, and I was just incredibly moved by their work and by the love and ingenuity that they bring to it every day. I was hooked! Following the dinner, I made an effort to come in and serve meals on a regular basis. I eventually decided to take my commitment to the next level by joining the Legacy Committee.

Tell us about the GLIDE Legacy Committee’s commitment to social good + community engagement through the Young Professionals Service Day.

The mission of the GLIDE Legacy Committee is to broaden and deepen young professionals’ involvement with GLIDE. We put on a number of events throughout the year that help us develop relationships with the next generation of GLIDE supporters. An important factor in cultivating these relationships is sharing our knowledge and experience of what makes GLIDE such an incredible organization.

In that vein, the goal of the Young Professionals Day of Service was to give our young professionals a chance to experience firsthand GLIDE’s mission of compassion, care, and unconditional love. Event participants had the opportunity to serve a meal and attend the Sunday Celebration.

Everybody in the GLIDE community has a “coming to GLIDE” story, and it was incredible to see our participants’ stories evolve over the course of the day. Following the Sunday Celebration, one participant commented that he was overcome by the magnitude of love and spirit that radiated from the congregation. He said it was rare that he experienced such strong feelings of belonging and acceptance.

Serving a meal at GLIDE is an experience guaranteed to offer poignant insight into the lives and struggles of the program participants. I observed many of our participants having an “aha” moment when they suddenly gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for just how hard it is to break the cycles of poverty in San Francisco.

There are many ways to engage our network of young professionals in GLIDE’s mission. The Young Professionals Day of Service underscored the power of bringing new supporters to GLIDE so that they can take part in GLIDE’s work and truly experience what it means to be a part of the GLIDE community.

What is it that you see about GLIDE that is deserving of San Francisco Bay Area’s young professionals community’s time and commitment? What is it about the work of GLIDE that you believe in that causes you to be able to spend as much time and energy that you do for this organization?

The levels of poverty and marginalization in San Francisco are absolutely overwhelming. It is impossible to walk through a neighborhood like the Tenderloin without coming face-to-face with violence and suffering. Many of us also experience feelings of guilt; we want to do more to help these populations, but we’re not sure what to do. GLIDE is an organization that knows what to do and knows how to do it right. And I know that I can come to GLIDE and transform my best intentions into actions that will have a real impact on the community. I’m grateful to be able to contribute to an organization where any effort I put in will be directed immediately outwards towards helping others.

To learn more about upcoming events and activities, follow the GLIDE Legacy Committee on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GlideLegacy