Roscoe Westbrook Interview

David Cowen interviews Roscoe Westbrook about the food pantry at Bayview Mission.

How did you learn about Bayview Mission


I was walking down the street one day, taking my morning walk, I should say. I was just going through the neighborhood and I saw these lines of people. As I walked down the hill, I saw Nina and all these other people putting stuff in bags. I like to do that kind of work, and I asked them, how can I do it? She said they didn’t need anymore help that day but come back early the next Monday morning. I got here around 7:30 that day and the truck was just getting here. I flowed, and I’ve been here since.


How long ago did you start?

It was the summer of last year. I was working out in front of the garage, bagging stuff up for the people.


What do you find most fulfilling about Bayview Mission?


Hearing the people say “thank you,” they didn’t know anyone in the neighborhood did this for the community. I hear them come up and thank us, and I see them out in the neighborhood at the grocery store: “Oh you’re the guy that works at the food bank!”

I’m 57 years old. My kids are grown. I’m getting a pension from the Navy. I started asking myself what my purpose is now. The Mission has helped me find that purpose, seeing all these people working together as one.


Have you lived in this neighborhood your whole life?


No, I’m from Alabama. The Navy brought me out here. After I got out of the Navy, I met my kids’ mother, and I’ve been out here 35 years. Went to Vietnam, came back, lived in Sacramento, Vallejo, Richmond. San Francisco just kept drawing me in, and I’ve been here ever since. My daughter’s 34, my son is 32.


Where do you see Bayview Mission in five years?


Movin’ on up!


You’ve seen some positive changes since you first started?


Yep, definitely have! I’m just looking for it to keep growing and growing, and more people coming to help and more people come move into the community. Every week, it seems like there’s more people coming than what we had the week before.

Dinosaur Day at Bayview Mission

On June 26, 2010, Bayview Mission held its first annual Dinosaur Day. Monday, July 26, while she was volunteering at the food pantry, I interviewed Victoria Holt to tell us more about the event:


So what exactly IS Dinosaur Day at Bayview Mission?

Dinosaur Day is a fun day that we had on a Saturday earlier this summer and want to start having every year. The kids can come and hang out, and basically everything at Bayview Mission is Dinosaur themed. So we have dinosaur games all over the tables and dinosaur coloring books and dinosaur reading books, and dinosaur everything! There were bones buried in the garden for them to find. All sorts of fun stuff!

What was the age range of kids who attended Dinosaur Day?

For these kinds of events, it’s usually 5 to about as old as 12 to 13. We had a couple kids who were a bit older, but they were still getting involved and having fun.


What was your role in the event?

I was in a young adult counselor role. I read dinosaur books to the children as they sat around in the Zen garden. Just for fun, with the bones, I went out in Reverend Nina’s bee suit that she uses for tending her beehives in her yard, and dug up a bone wrapped in burlap. I came up to the children and acted like I’d found this great discovery. We unwrapped it, and when they saw it was a “dinosaur bone”, they all went wild! So, I mainly helped to get them excited about what we were doing.

Talk about some of the experiences you saw in terms of kids, and even adults, being engaged during the event.

I saw them getting excited and having fun and creating various kinds of art, such as painting. We had a picture going that Christine had started. She’d painted trees and plants onto a frame, sort of a jungle-type theme, and each of the kids painted their version of a dinosaur. They were all different sizes; it’s kind of funny to see how each of them have different drawing styles and perceptions of dinosaurs.

How do you feel this fits in with the overall purpose of the Mission?

I think part of the purpose of Bayview Mission is to raise awareness and foster compassion in the children. So we work to get the kids together and get to know each other, so that they can know that there are other children in the neighborhood that are in similar situations to their own, and who like to have fun at Nina’s just like they do! And, it’s really an opportunity for them to take part in the safe haven that Nina and all the volunteers have created here at Bayview Mission.

Is there anything else you want to add about Dinosaur Day?

I just hope that we do it a lot more often. I’m amazed at how Bayview Mission is coming along and that we have all these new and beautiful spaces that we can use now to create space for the children. I know just yesterday they had Shark Day, where the children played on a seven-foot tall shark shaped water slide! I hope we can keep thinking of these fun themes for Saturdays, and continue to provide a safe place to play for the young kids of Bayview Hunters Point.

Bayview Mission Christmas Party 2009

On Monday, December 21, 2009, Bayview Mission held its annual Christmas party for local residents.

About 300 of our neighborhood families attended this event, totaling approximately 1200 people! This is a record number for a Bayview event! To help us accomplish this, we were assisted by 48 volunteers.


We give special thanks to all of our many friends who also made this event possible:

Diocese of California

Grace Cathedral

Cathedral School for Boys

Soroptimist International of San Francisco

Katherine Delmar Burke School

Fran Johnson of Tucker, Ellis & West, LLP

St. Francis St. Mary the Virgin

and all individual donors

We are truly blessed to have such a generous, wide-ranging community to help us in this endeavor. Because of this, we were able to make Christmas special for so many in the Bayview/Hunter's Point community this year!

Interview of Susan Napoliello

David Cowen interviewed Susan Napoliello about her work with Bayview Mission in San Francisco:

How did you initially get connected with Nina and Bayview Mission?

My husband and I were living in Malaysia where I was an elementary principal at an international school in Kuala Lumpur. Instead of renewing my contract, we decided we needed to be closer to family. We agreed to take a ‘pause’ from our professional careers and devote ourselves during the first six months of re-entry reconnecting with family and engaging in community service. We chose San Francisco as our home base, as I was born here and we had spent four years in San Francisco prior to seven years overseas. During our last year in KL, I came to San Francisco on business, and one morning I decided to walk up the hill from the Hyatt to attend a service at Grace Cathedral. As I sat in the choir stall and listened to Nina give a homiletic about Bayview Mission, I knew we’d found a place to hang out during the ‘pause!'


I was told you used to work in a part of the Mission called "Produce Land." Please tell us more about this.

On our first day, we were given a choice of assignments: inside the garage packing groceries or outside in ‘Veggie Land’ sorting and bagging produce. It wasn’t a tough choice, as we both enjoyed exercise and fresh air. Soon we were lifting produce bags and boxes, counting the contents and estimating distribution quantities all under the loving supervision of Hal, the ‘Boss of Veggie Land’, as we affectionately called him. After making a ‘test bag’ of produce ranging from melons to cucumbers (It was a different assortment of produce every week depending on the donations we received from the Food Bank), we set-up assembly lines that could accommodate the arrival of volunteers throughout the morning. By noon, we had 5 bins of plastic bags filled with produce ready for distribution.

You started the homeless ministry with the Mission. Please tell us how this came into being and the kinds of work you do with the homeless.

Before I began volunteering at Bayview Mission, Nina had collected supplies for homeless which included hygiene products (mostly toiletries from hotels), backpacks and blankets. Items were distributed as requested by clients. As the number of volunteers working in ‘veggie land’ grew, I looked for other ways to support the Mission. I approached Nina about developing a formal outreach to the homeless who were living in the area. By that time, my husband and I had been volunteering at Bayview for about a year. We’d given up the ‘pause’ for a new way of life focused on service. In addition to Bayview we were involved in several community projects geared toward the homeless, including SF Project Homeless Connect. As ‘client escorts’ during Connect events, we learned the value of getting to know our clients and calling them by name.

At Bayview, we began the formal ministry by learning each person’s name and by asking specifically what they needed, rather than simply handing them a pre-packed bag of toiletries. As several clients requested soups with pull-tops, we began adding extra food to the ‘hygiene bag.' Nina started putting aside donations like underwear and socks that were being requested. Beginning as a small ministry in terms of clients and donations we now regularly see 20-30 ‘friends’ every week and distribute hygiene and food bags, underwear, shoes, clothing, coats, towels and blankets. Knowing our clients by name and giving them what they need creates an atmosphere of dignity and friendship. Every Monday, I go home having shared and received a ‘million smiles!'


I understand you are at the School for Deacons. What in particular are you studying and how far along are you?

I have just finished the first semester of a three year program that includes academic study (courses like Old Testament and Church History), liturgical study (knowing and practicing the Episcopal liturgy, including homiletics), Social Ministry (practicum in service like Bayview Mission) and Spiritual Formation (clarifying and responding to our Baptismal Covenant).

Once you are finished, do you envision carrying on with the kind of work you have done with Bayview Mission.

At this point, I am certain of one thing, service has become a way of life. The School for Deacons compliments what has already been carved in my heart.

WE'RE ON YOUTUBE!!!

San Francisco Bayview Mission presents to you this magical experience in cinematic history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqqHiaME_6s

"Velvet Box in My Heart"

The following reflections were written by Susan Napoliello in response to the death of Bayview Mission client Margurite:

The ‘velvet box in my heart’ was filled this week with memories of a client who had been killed.

Yesterday, a fellow volunteer called to tell me about the death of a client we served. A little over a year ago, I took over a ministry at Bayview Mission working with people who live on the streets or in temporary shelters in the Bayview area. I’ve had many poignant moments with clients, but none as profound as those I shared with Margurite.

Not the easiest of clients to work with, she would send volunteers scattering in her wake. She often announced her presence with shouting and would confound the most patient volunteer with her peculiar lists of dos and don’ts. Noticing her coming from a block away, volunteers would shout my name, hoping I would be able to contain her rantings and prevent a conflict with other clients. As a group, we learned to read her moods and amateurishly diagnose her symptoms in an effort to rationalize her actions and respond appropriately. We shared stories to help us humanize Margurite’s daily life and bring compassion to our hearts. We celebrated moments when she seemed happy and made an effort to bring joy to her life by little kindnesses that paid attention to her compulsions and phobias.

Hearing her story about being robbed outside the check cashing business where she was pushed and shoved to the ground breaking her arm, brought tears of sympathy. Six weeks later, after she tore off her cast too impatient to let it heal properly, we feared that the swelling would lead to a permanent disability. We came to see her belligerence as a way of coping with life, and she came to trust us, knowing on some level that we cared, that she mattered to us. We knew she didn’t want to be touched, she would pick a fight verbally if she thought you were disrespecting her and she didn’t want people to know she was getting food from the pantry.

Nina tells all volunteers not to judge, to take each client as they come. Margurite challenged us and taught us to embrace Nina’s ethos. She was just as much a God-given gift to us as we were to her. I remember the first time I asked for her name and she told me that I wouldn’t be able to pronounce her real name, so she gave me a name I could master, Margurite.

I think of the last time Margurite came to our ‘new church’. She arrived late, after we had closed the door. Shouting through the garage she announced her name, “It’s Margurite.” As I rose to speak with her, I noticed loving looks from the volunteer, some who had 12 months ago rolled or averted their eyes when Margurite walked up the hill. When I came out, she was sitting on the steps to Nina’s house, just like she owned it, I commented that her arm seemed to have healed and in response she waved it around to demonstrate her new-found flexibility. When I returned with her bag, she lit up when I told her it contained two cans of clam chowder (a passion we all knew about). After I said good-bye and closed the door, she shouted again indicating she had one more request, “Do you have any jeans in my size?” I told her I would try to find some for next week and she seemed pleased. On Monday, one of my fellow volunteers brought a pair of jeans for Margurite and a belt in case they were too large. Margurite never came, and on Monday, I found out why. Over the weekend, she had been walking on a freeway, struck by three cars and killed.

Though I am saddened by Margurite’s death, I am heartened that Bayview Mission, a new church of volunteers and clients, is a mature group, one that has grown over time to transcend appearances and transform judgment into love. I am not worried about how we will all respond on Monday when we meet together. Through the grace of God, Margurite came into and touched our lives. We are stronger as a group and more able individually to see the face of God in our clients. She brought us that! Though I mourn her loss, I am blessed with many treasures in my velvet box that are marked Margurite, the name I can pronounce.

Police Report on Margurite

The Bayview Mission was terribly saddened by the news of the death of a long-time client of the Mission's food pantry by the name of Margurite. Margurite was killed by a hit-and-run driver on I-280 in San Francisco.

The following police report was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 10 of this year:

   (10-09) 11:53 PDT SAN FRANCISCO --
The California Highway Patrol is looking for a hit-and-run driver who
struck and killed a pedestrian on Interstate 280 in San Francisco.
The victim was hit just after 10 p.m. on southbound I-280 north of
Ocean Avenue, said CHP Officer Shawn Chase. The motorist didn't stop,
but two other drivers who subsequently hit the person did, Chase said.
The victim has not been identified. The damage to the body was so severe
that it was not immediately clear whether the person was a man or woman,
Chase said.  The victim was struck just moments after the CHP received
reports of someone wandering on the shoulder and walking in and out of
traffic, Chasesaid.  Anyone with information is asked to call the CHP at
(415) 557-1094.