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Nuns Who Feed the Homeless Face Eviction After Rent Hike
http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2016/02/08/nuns-who-feed-the-homeless-face-eviction-after-rent-hikeHere’s a depressing, infuriating tidbit for you: Two nuns, who’ve served meals to the homeless from their modest Turk Street kitchen since 2008, face eviction after their landlord raised their rent by more than 50 percent.
The Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen consists of two nuns, who sleep in the small room behind their soup kitchen at 54 Turk Street. As the Chronicle reports, the nuns got word on Jan. 15 that their rent was being hiked from $3,465 to $5,500 a month. On Jan. 29, they received an order to either pay up or get out.
The nuns scrape together a living by selling pastries at farmers markets — but hardly earn enough to meet the new rent. With no prospects for making more money, the nuns count on their pro bono attorney, Daniel Fitzpatrick, to fight the eviction. Fitzpatrick plans to argue that the kitchen is also the nuns’ residence since they sleep in the back room.
Nonprofits forced out of the city are nothing new. In 2014, Bloomberg reported that 2,000 nonprofits in San Francisco, or almost one-quarter of the total, had to leave town or shut down between 2011 and 2013. But there’s something especially poignant and appalling about nuns being pushed out of their soup kitchen. (Especially in light of the city's metastasizing tent encampments and homeless sweeps, the latter of which officials continue to deny.)
The Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen consists of two nuns, who sleep in the small room behind their soup kitchen at 54 Turk Street. As the Chronicle reports, the nuns got word on Jan. 15 that their rent was being hiked from $3,465 to $5,500 a month. On Jan. 29, they received an order to either pay up or get out.
The nuns scrape together a living by selling pastries at farmers markets — but hardly earn enough to meet the new rent. With no prospects for making more money, the nuns count on their pro bono attorney, Daniel Fitzpatrick, to fight the eviction. Fitzpatrick plans to argue that the kitchen is also the nuns’ residence since they sleep in the back room.
Nonprofits forced out of the city are nothing new. In 2014, Bloomberg reported that 2,000 nonprofits in San Francisco, or almost one-quarter of the total, had to leave town or shut down between 2011 and 2013. But there’s something especially poignant and appalling about nuns being pushed out of their soup kitchen. (Especially in light of the city's metastasizing tent encampments and homeless sweeps, the latter of which officials continue to deny.)
Jake and Elwood may have to get the band back together. "We're on a mission from God!"
2 replies
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http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Tony-Robbins-saves-homeless-helping-S-F-nuns-6827881.php
Live with passion! (Yep, Mom was a fan: when she took me to one of his events, I figured out how to break the board right away while she ended up being called into the center of the room with the last few who couldn't.
)
The French nuns who were in danger of being evicted from their dingy little Tenderloin soup kitchen have won a reprieve, thanks to an unlikely benefactor — business coach and media star Tony Robbins.
Under a deal struck Friday, the nuns of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen at 54 Turk St. can stay for a year at their current rent. And the landlord won’t try to evict them.
“This is wonderful — now we don’t have to be in the street,” Sister Mary Valerie said when informed of the deal.
The man who made it happen was Robbins, who flew in for a Bay Area engagement this week and headed for the soup kitchen after reading of the nuns’ plight in The Chronicle. His secret hourlong meeting with them quickly turned from sympathy visit to business seminar to, finally, mutual admiration fest — and at the end of it, Robbins handed them a check for $25,000 to cover their troubles.
Under a deal struck Friday, the nuns of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen at 54 Turk St. can stay for a year at their current rent. And the landlord won’t try to evict them.
“This is wonderful — now we don’t have to be in the street,” Sister Mary Valerie said when informed of the deal.
The man who made it happen was Robbins, who flew in for a Bay Area engagement this week and headed for the soup kitchen after reading of the nuns’ plight in The Chronicle. His secret hourlong meeting with them quickly turned from sympathy visit to business seminar to, finally, mutual admiration fest — and at the end of it, Robbins handed them a check for $25,000 to cover their troubles.
Live with passion! (Yep, Mom was a fan: when she took me to one of his events, I figured out how to break the board right away while she ended up being called into the center of the room with the last few who couldn't.
)
