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WWTD: What Would Tina Do?
In honor of her recent promotion to "Program Manager," we'd like to highlight the work of our beloved, Tina Esquer! Tina has been working with The Gubbio Project since the Fall of 2011 as a hospitality monitor and her impact on our project is hard to sum up. Tina is a person who leads with her heart first. She is willing to go the extra mile for guests, gives the best hugs, and requires that everyone respect the space without talking down to folks. She is running a tight and compassionate ship.
The "Program Manager" position will provide guidance to staff and volunteers working within our program of "sacred sleep" in the sanctuary of St. Boniface Church. In many ways, Tina has been doing this already. Creating the position will enable Tina to do even more including: accompanying guests to other programs/services and being a liaison with other community organizations.
In recent months, those who've substituted for Tina when she's gone, have received some specific criticism from guests. This usually comes in the form of something like,"Tina doesn't do it this way, or "I wish Tina was here," or "Tina would have taken care of this by now." This has led us to jokingly refer to our new catchphrase: WWTD: What Would Tina Do?
Thank you Tina, for your amazing work and for inspiring so many of us!
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Gubbio Included in
"Home: My San Francisco"
Art Exhibition
Curator, Julie Blankenship created the show "Home: My San Francisco" as a series of photographs showing people and their homes. Photos of The Gubbio Project were used in this show- see them here on her blog.
This series is now on display the American Institute for Architects Gallery. For More information visit the AIA website.
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Reflecting with Ed, One Last Time - from the director
A couple of weeks ago a long-term Gubbio guest passed away. His name was Edward Light. He always sat up front by the Vietnamese Martyrs alcove on the right side of the altar when he wasn't out front smoking. Coming after he ate breakfast at Glide, he went to "his pew" and stayed several hours reading a novel, taking in the beauty, and resting. He said he'd been coming to Gubbio and his pew for at least 7 years.
At his best, Ed was provocative, insightful, and loving, and several of the reflections that I've posted in this e-newsletter were my continued ruminations on conversations that I had had with him ("No Offense, But You're Not One of Us" [Mar 2013] and "That's What I'd Call Holy" [Apr 2013]). He battled daily with the enormous amount of trauma he'd experienced in his life, and like some of our guests, with the shame and pain he felt from the devastation he had wrought, particularly as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
He opened up to Bella, our chaplain, letting her in. And Bella stayed, day in and day out, through hospital visits, detox centers, relapses, even when he got suspended for a month from Gubbio for something he had done. She accompanied him in the fullest sense of the word - calling him, listening, visiting, challenging. She encouraged him to consider a spot at the hospice in Half Moon Bay with the sisters of Mercy, walked with him as he explored and then decided to become Catholic, smiled as he shared his success with sobriety, and spoke with him a couple of days before he died - sober and off the streets.
We don't always get to see such dramatic results from our tireless efforts to sit outside of judgment and walk with our brothers and sisters who come in off the streets for some sleep or rest in the church. But when we do, it is a great joy. Rest in peace, Ed, and thank you for your wisdom, your love, and for letting us share in your journey.
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