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25 Years of Day Laborer Lunches
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Each Tuesday, all year long, three or four Presentation Sisters head for their car in the early, dark hours of the morning. The Sisters carry 140 bag lunches. After picking up one more person, they follow an established route to stops in San Francisco where day laborers are known to congregate in hopes of being hired for short-term work. The lunches will be distributed at those stops over the next two hours; often this is the worker’s breakfast, as well as lunch.
The Sisters have been feeding day laborers and others in need since 1999. It began with a woman named Marianna who brought donated pastries from grocery stores to sites where Sister Máire Sullivan and Sister Nancy McLaughlin worked and ministered. In time, the Motherhouse Sisters started making sandwiches, and those were added to the menu. Distribution was out of St. Andrew parish in Daly City and then St. Anthony parish in San Francisco until the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions made that impossible. Undaunted, they moved to a table outside the church for pick-ups, and eventually Sister Máire offered to drive to locations where the workers gather. That has continued to this day.
As the car pulls up to each stop, the Sisters’ passenger, Dudley, gets out and carries lunches to those who are waiting. Each bag contains two sandwiches, chips, bottled water, and sometimes even a new pair of socks. The sandwiches were made and bags assembled the day before at the Motherhouse by Sisters, Associates, and friends.
In the past, Dudley was one of the guests at the Tuesday morning breakfasts. He became friends with the Sisters and in time offered to make the rounds with them each week. Their route winds through the Mission District and Cesar Chavez Street, Dudley hopping out of the car to offer a bag to anyone who looks like they could use it. When the 140 bags have been distributed, Sr. Máire drops Dudley back at his home and hands him an additional bag of sandwiches, which he distributes in his own neighborhood. The Sisters return to the Motherhouse, where the remaining 20 sandwiches are given to a member of the kitchen staff. Ray will distribute them on the streets of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood when he finishes his shift.
Two days later, it’s shopping time. The bread, tuna, peanut butter, jam, chips, water, and mayo have to be purchased and brought to the Motherhouse kitchen. Sister Máire and Sr. Denise Bourdet take care of this on Thursdays, and a volunteer helps them twice a month. Funds come from the congregation’s ministry subsidy and other sources, such as the Giving Season fundraiser at Presentation High School in San Jose.
Making 320 sandwiches and assembling lunch bags on Monday, distribution on Tuesday, and shopping on Thursday is an unending cycle. This is a beloved ministry of the Sisters, for many reasons: it fills a critical need for people on the margins in San Francisco; there are tasks for Sisters of varying capabilities; and it is a way to respond to the Presentation charism that calls for “not words, but deeds.” It is unfortunate that this need has persisted for 25 years; however, all those years without this program would have been much harder for the day laborers. Something as simple as a sandwich and a smile can make a big difference.
A visiting Most Holy Eucharist Sister joints the Presentation Sisters making sandwiches in this undated archival photo.
~As related by Sister Máire Sullivan