Sisters Serve Other Seniors

Sisters of the Presentation living at Peninsula del Rey in Daly City have become involved with service projects at the OMI (Oceanview, Merced Heights, and Ingleside) Senior Center, a program of Catholic Charities, in San Francisco.

Sisters Anita Torres, Denise Bourdet, and Katherine Jones helped serve lunch at the Lunar New Year celebration to one hundred and fifty guests on February 5, 2025. Their role was to serve lunch guests but also importantly to talk with the seniors who had come for lunch.

The Sisters commented on the beautiful New Year entertainment provided for the seniors, especially the Lion Dancers.  Women dancers also performed Ribbon Dances.  “They had beautiful costumes and headpieces.” said Sister Anita.

Sister Denise said she volunteered for the day because “I was asked to help.  When I have a chance to help, I say yes.”  Sister Katherine Jones echoed the desire to help others and added that “Catholic Charities give services to the poor and elderly making sure they are cared for.  So, I wanted to help especially with one of their events.”

When asked what she enjoyed most about the event, Sister Anita said, “It was a very happy occasion.  As we served, everyone was very gracious and we got lots of thank yous.”  The other Sisters agreed, adding that the opportunity with the guests to mingle was a wonderful experience.

In December, Sisters Gemma Wilson, Bernice Gotelli, and Joanne O’Shea assembled two hundred gift bags with toiletries and other personal items to give out to Center guests at a future event. The volunteer manager noted that they thought two crews would be needed for this bag assembling but the Sisters managed to do all two hundred gifts in one session!

Sister Joanne O’Shea explained that the items for the gift bags were supplied by the San Francisco Police Department.  The items were evidence from robberies of retail stores. Rather than throw these useable items away after the evidence was no longer needed, the Police Department gave them to Catholic Charities to help those in need. "My father was a San Francisco Police officer,” Sister Joanne said, “and I am so proud that the police helped in this way.”

Sister Bernice Gotelli said she volunteered to help because “I am interested in hands on ministry.  I have the strength and the time to help so I was glad to do this.”  Sister Gemma Wilson said, “I am interested in how much I can help other people and this was something I could do.  I want to be a productive retired Sister.”

All six Sisters agreed that they would look forward to more volunteer activities with the Catholic Charities OMI Center in the future.

The OMI Senior Center currently provides service to older adults (60 years and older) and adults with disabilities (18 years and older). The Center is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 3:00 p.m. Lunches are provided to the OMI Center by the 30th Street Senior Center (ON LOK) daily between 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact Darlene Wilson, Manager of Volunteer Services, at [email protected].

Sister Joanne O’Shea (left) and Sister Bernice Gotelli helped assemble 200 gift bags for seniors.

Sisters serving lunch at the Lunar New Year celebration were outfitted for serving duty in health regulation hair nets, aprons, and gloves. In forefront is Sister Katherine Jones, (rear to left) Sister Denise Bourdet, and (rear to right) Sister Anita Torres.

Sisters happy to be of service include (standing left to right) Sister Katherine Jones, Sister Denise Bourdet, (sitting left to right) Sister Anita Torres and Sister Gemma Wilson.

Sisters pictured for this story are wearing red because the day of their interviews was Support Heart Health Day at Peninsula del Rey, the residence where they live.  Residents were asked to wear red to support heart health.