On a recent Sunday afternoon, volunteers from Congregation Emanu-El chopped and sautéed bell peppers and mushrooms in a sunny blue kitchen two miles away from their own synagogue.
A group of formerly homeless youth sauntered in an hour later. They sat around the long banquet table and ate fajitas with those who prepared the meal.
Welcome to Sunday Nigh Dinner at G-House, a 20-bed transitional housing facility run by Larkin Street Youth Services.
G-House opened its doors on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco’s Richmond District in October 2007. Then, the place was in disrepair, its walls painted a flat shade of beige.
But since Emanu-El “adopted” G-House one year ago, its 20 residents now live in a colorful home with freshly painted yellow, green and blue walls, a library, an arts center, an herb and vegetable garden, and a gym with donated elliptical machines, treadmills and free weights.
“All of it helps [residents] to be fuller people,” said Christy O’Brien, a residential counselor at G-House. “Now, they’re not just surviving or figuring out how to pay rent, but thinking: ‘How can I be well and happy?’ “
Residents can live at G-House for up to two years. It’s one of three residential facilities Larkin Street operates that cater to ages 18 to 24. The young adults in this demographic need special support, social workers say, since they’re no longer eligible for services given to minors but are often too young to feel safe or comfortable in San Francisco’s adult shelters.
Emanu-El congregants have prepared dinner at G-House every Sunday for about a year. Laura Saunders of San Francisco volunteers about once a month; when they sit down together to share a meal, she said, it’s like having a “family dinner.”
The Sunday meals cultivate a real sense of community among residents, Saunders said.
On top of dinners, volunteers have donated their time as nutritionists, yoga instructors and personal trainers. They’ve purchased more than 100 books for a library (based upon the wish lists of G-House residents) and have helped transform a corner of the parking lot into a garden.
“This might be the first ‘shalom bayit’ [G-House residents have] ever had,” said Emanu-El’s Rabbi Sydney Mintz.
Faith-based groups often work with Larkin Street Youth Services, but never has a group worked long-term on multiple elements of an initiative, said Sherilyn Adams, executive director of Larkin Street.
“This is definitely a pioneer project,” Adams said.
Residents are grateful for Emanu-El volunteers’ time and energy.
Amy, who preferred her last name not be used, moved into G-House in November. She had slept in Golden Gate Park just about every night for a year. The 22-year-old fled an abusive fiancé and her hometown in Minnesota in 2008, arriving in San Francisco with no support network.
Since moving into G-House, she’s enrolled in community college to learn diagnostic imaging and hopes to soon begin an internship with the San Francisco AIDS Project.
“To know you have some place to go back to at night really is huge,” she said.