November 23, 2005

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Publication Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Holiday Fund 2005: Haven in North Fair Oaks

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Two pit bulls bark at a visitor to the St. Francis Center, where women, and their small children, gather for the afternoon distribution of food to families in the impoverished neighborhood.

The tranquility of the tree-lined streets may be deceptive. At night gangs of Nortenos and Surenos roam the streets. Sometimes they spray messages on the tree in front of the center, or on its white picket fence.

Just months ago, up the street, someone shot a 16-year-old in the face and killed him, says Sister Christina Heltsley, who has directed the St. Francis Center for the last six years. The boy's sister and nephew live in the St. Clare apartments, owned and operated by the center. "It just breaks my heart," she says.

Welcome to the neighborhood where the St. Francis Center has helped poor families -- mostly immigrant, mostly Latino -- since 1987.

In the mornings, Sister Christina paints over any new graffiti -- gray for the oak tree; white for the fence. "I refuse to be a chalkboard for gang members," she says. Then she adds: "During the day, I'm not scared. During the night I'm not around."

For 20 years, the St. Francis Center has been an oasis for families struggling to stay afloat and hoping to grab a piece of the American dream.

Located at the corner of Buckingham and Marlborough avenues in unincorporated Redwood City, St. Francis Center has grown to occupy a major portion of its block, east of El Camino Real, and south of the Target shopping center.

Besides the tiny corner house where it opened almost 20 years ago and the 24-unit St. Clare apartments it manages next door, St. Francis Center operates a small school for 12 fourth-graders and their mothers; and a community garden across the street.

Sister Christina and her volunteers serve some 500 families -- about 2,600 people -- each month. They provide food, clothing, showers and laundry, training and counseling. "We re-house 19,000 bags of clothing a year," she says.

All this work is done by two slightly paid nuns, helped by 86 volunteers, who bag the food, interview and help clients, and keep the place immaculate.

"I'm a bag lady," says volunteer Mary Lou Putnam of Woodside, who stuffs 80 bags with groceries every Monday morning. "This is a great organization. They do so much and help so many people."

St. Francis Center relies totally on grants, foundations and private donations; it gets no government money. "The paid staff is so small," Ms. Putnam comments. "A government agency would need 20 people to do what she (Sister Christina) does."
Unsung hero

St. Francis Center is beginning to gain wider recognition. Last May the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors nominated Sister Christina for a national Jefferson Award, which recognizes civic engagement by unsung heroes.

A dozen bright-eyed kids from the center's Holy Family School attended the supervisors' meeting and clapped eagerly. (Sister Christina started the free school five years ago.)

The nomination reads, "Sister Christina's passion and commitment to public service have transformed a neighborhood and the lives of many immigrant families in San Mateo County."

Sister Christina brings impressive credentials to her position running St. Francis Center. With a doctorate in educational leadershipo and administration from the University of San Francisco, she became a teacher, a principal, and then superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Monterey.

When she decided to move on, Sister Christina wanted to work directly with families in need.

"I wanted to find a way to break the cycle of poverty," she says. "Just giving food and clothing is important, but it doesn't break the cycle. Education does."

Sister Christina was interviewing for a prestigious post elsewhere when she encountered St. Francis Center. She saw the little office and stepped over the bags of groceries.

"It stole my heart," she says. "I just felt I could make a bigger difference here."
Tour

By 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, Sister Christina was ready to lead a tour of St. Francis Center. She had already been to the Second Harvest Food Bank (another beneficiary of the Almanac Holiday Fund), where she loaded 3,000 pounds of food, which was then trucked to St. Francis Center to be sorted for clients.

In contrast to some of its neighbors, the tiny house and adjacent apartments are clean, neat and sparkling. After a total rehabilitation, the center recently won the Mayor's Beautification Award from Redwood City, Sister Christina says proudly.

Next door on Marlborough Avenue, 24 very low-income families live in the St. Clare apartments. "We have a five-year waiting list," she says.

They are the lucky ones. Quite a few families in the neighborhood can live with seven people squeezed in a one-car garage, Sister Christina says. "They shift-sleep, depending on who's working the night shift and who's on day."

Across Buckingham Avenue, a 3,000-square-foot lot on the Hetch Hetchy right-of-way used to be a drug hangout and dump, stacked with stripped cars, refrigerators, old sofas and beer bottles, Sister Christina says.

Now, thanks to St. Francis Center, it's a community garden, called "Holy Ground of Guadalupe," where 23 families grow fresh organic food in raised beds.

The garden provides an outlet for people living cramped and stressful lives. "People take real pride; they have so little space in their homes," says Sister Christina. "They make community here. It gives them a place to breathe."
Holy Family School

It's recess at Holy Family School, just next door. Half a dozen 9-year-old girls are playing chase games outside the trailer that houses the classroom, while the boys swirl around a mini-sports court with a basketball hoop.

As Sister Christina appears, the girls swoop and encircle her with big hugs.

This is the free school that Sister Christina started for the 12 kids in 2001, when they were kindergartners who didn't speak any English. Now they are poised and fluent fourth-graders. After fifth grade, they will go to Sacred Heart in San Jose. "If they do well, they will go to Catholic high school," says Sister Christina.

The key to the program is the mothers. They must come one full day a week to learn English, and study computers. "It's non-negotiable," she says.

Sister Christina says it's really important that mothers not be dependent on their children to translate for them, and to fill out forms. "That role reversal is not healthy," she insists.

One of the mothers is a grandmother. Carolina Maza is learning English and computers as Melissa, her granddaughter, progresses through the school. "I'm so happy. I'm very, very blessed," she says in careful English.

Speaking slowly and clearly, Ms. Maza tells her story. In 1995, she left Veracruz in Mexico, where she worked for the telephone company, and came to Redwood City to help her son and his girlfriend with their two daughters.

After the young couple broke up, Ms. Maza stayed, and took custody of the two little girls. Now she has married, lives in East Palo Alto, and works as a house cleaner.

Ms. Maza lived near St. Francis Center, and learned about it when her brother from San Jose began to volunteer there. When Sister Christina opened the Holy Family School, Ms. Maza and Melissa joined enthusiastically.

"The only way we can succeed in this country is if we learn English," Ms. Maza says. Her goal is to get her GED and study to be a social worker.

In the classroom Melissa and her classmates raise their hands and wriggle at a question from Sister Christina. Called on, Melissa replies, "I like to help people get clothing and food."
Needs: present and future

This year, Sister Christina faces a double challenge: finding the money to keep the center going; and raising capital funds for an overdue expansion.

"Local charities are really feeling the pinch; our donations are way down," she says in her tiny office.

Besides donations of money, the center needs practical things like sheets, towels and blankets; good clothes; or even vegetable oil and ketchup. Volunteers are always welcome.

Good toys are also needed. The center will be giving away 5,000 Christmas toys to needy families on December 15 and 16 at Foresters Hall in Redwood City.

The still bigger challenge will be to raise $3 million for a new building to accommodate expanding programs. "We're maxed out in terms of space," says Sister Christina.

The center has bought the house next door on Buckingham Avenue. The 15 men who lived there are out, and the shabby house is ready to be torn down.

Sister Christina is ready to embark on a campaign to raise $3 million to build the new center. She envisions a three-story building with social services on the ground floor, administration and education on the second floor, and two more low-income apartments on the third.

"The need is just huge," she says.
INFORMATION

For information or donations, contact Sister Christina Heltsley at St. Francis Center, 101 Buckingham Ave. (PO Box 9134), Redwood City, CA 94063. Phone: 365-7829. www.stfrancisrwc.org.
HOLIDAY FUND

Your donations to the Almanac's Holiday Fund will support St. Francis Center and nine other local nonprofits this holiday season.

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