<< Back

Helping Our Elders at St. Mary’s Center

Newsletters
Blogs
Volunteer updates
Sustainability
Events

PMISFBAC Sustainability Team volunteers posing at St Mary's Center
On Sunday, November 17, 2024, I volunteered at St. Mary’s Center with the PMI-SFBAC Sustainability Program. I wasn't sure what to expect since I did not know much about St. Mary’s Center or the services it offers to the West Oakland Community before my involvement with them. As part of our volunteering experience, Isolde Honoré, St. Mary’s Operations Supervisor, candidly explained to us the important role that St. Mary’s Center plays in the community.  

This organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit assisting seniors and preschool families in West Oakland with housing security, food, health, and social connections. Since seniors are one of the fastest-growing populations experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area, St. Mary’s Center offers housing assistance by providing transitional housing, counseling, case management, housing navigation, financial management, and advocacy to prepare them for housing or help them remain housed. In addition, St. Mary’s Center provides full preschool day services to low-income families to help prepare their kids for kindergarten.

During my time volunteering at St. Mary’s, I was tasked with painting the fence surrounding the facility building, which needed some love and care. About half a dozen volunteers from PMI SFBAC's Sustainability Team assisted for roughly two hours. Additional volunteers helped inside the kitchen. Every Sunday, St. Mary’s Center provides Sunday meal services starting at 11 am to Seniors, which is widely attended. 

This volunteering experience was eye-opening: I did not know that Seniors are one of the fastest-growing populations experiencing homelessness not only in the San Francisco Bay Area but in all of California. A May 2024 article published by the California Budget and Policy Center states that during fiscal year 2022-2023, out of 215,000 adults without children contacted by local California homeless service providers, nearly 40% were adults aged 50 and over. Even more striking but not surprising due to historical institutional racist policies, are the racial disparities observed within the population of homeless adults. As the California Budget and Policy Center article states, while Black Californians age 50 and older make up approximately 5.4% of the population in the state, they comprise 26% of homeless individuals in California. This is a tragedy and a crisis that needs prompt intervention from policymakers as well as deep soul introspection on our part. Being an immigrant from Mexico, where I was taught by my family that our elders are to be respected, revered, and taken care of, it makes me sad and disappointed to see how our society often forgets about our elders. We need to remember that, if we are lucky, we will all become an elder one day, and the way we treat our elders will be the way we will be treated as well. 

Going forward, one of my goals is to see how I can continue helping organizations such as St. Mary’s Center by either volunteering, donating, or participating in events to raise awareness of the need for the services provided to elder adults and low-income families.


Note from the Sustainability Team: This was the final Sustainability Event of 2024, and we thank you, our community, for supporting our program through another year of building awareness and problem-solving together. With the generosity of your time, we surpassed our UN Global Compact Pledge goal of 1000 hours this year and pledged 1143 hours. We are lining up next year's events and invite you to join us in January. Keep an eye out for upcoming events on our webpage. We wish you all a profound and joyful holiday season.

Search

Popular posts

View the archives

The PMI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with TalentCheetah® Inc.  TalentCheetah® is an AI-powered hiring platform that connects hiring decision makers directly with experienced U.S. project, product, and program managers available for contracting and full-time employee (FTE) roles. This partnership is designed to support our chapter members’ career growth, while simultaneously helping San Francisco and surrounding bay area companies quickly fill open project and product management positions with qualified Chapter job seekers. 🚀 FOR HIRING COMPANIES: Post a Job & Source Top PM Talent the Same Day Looking to hire a project or product manager? Now you can post your open roles directly to the TalentCheetah® platform—trusted by local companies and staffed with highly specialized PM professionals available for immediate hire, many of whom are PMI-SFBAC Chapter Members. Benefits for Hiring Companies: * Same-day access to a curated network of pre-screened U.S. project and product management candidates including PMI-SFBAC Chapter Members * Free and unlimited job postings (under 5 minutes) * Flexible hiring (contracting/consulting, permanent, full-time, part-time, remote, onsite) * Direct candidate messaging + white-glove support from TalentCheetah 🔗 Click here to create an account and post your role(s) 💼 FOR PROJECT MANAGERS: Access Local Job Opportunities Instantly PMI-SFBAC job seekers get access to a real-time job board designed exclusively for project and product management roles. TalentCheetah® makes it fast and easy for you to connect directly with local hiring managers seeking PM talent. Benefits for Job Seekers: * Free access to exclusive contract and full-time employee PM roles * Personalized onboarding, custom career assessment and video interview * Direct connection to hiring decision makers—no gatekeeping * Real-time notifications when new roles are posted * Free 1X1 career coaching sessions with PM Hiring experts 🔗 Apply to Join the TalentCheetah® Network 🤝 A Strategic Career-Advancing Partnership This partnership is fully funded and managed by TalentCheetah® at no cost to PMI-SFBAC or its members.  By combining PMI-SFBAC’s network of experienced professionals with TalentCheetah’s AI technology and built-for-speed platform, we’ve created a powerful project management career engine and hiring solution for our local San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding communities.   This innovative program supports our mission to empower project managers in their career development while helping local companies achieve project delivery success with top-tier project and product management job seekers from our Chapter.     Questions?  Visit www.talentcheetah.com to learn more.  Contact TalentCheetah® Support at help@talentcheetah.com or 408-505-1353 for immediate assistance.

Podcast