El D,
I saw that you mentioned Glide Church in your OP. I have looked at the webpage and was very impressed with all they do. Do you have any personal experiences about the place you would share?
A few people from my church are going there to observe some of the programs they have in place, to see what we could apply in our own community outreach. I have been invited and will be going if it works out schedule wise.
My family has always gone to
Highlands UMC I'm not particulary religious, but enjoy going to church in the dowtown, historic building. After much prodding from my mother, I started going to help feed the homeless in the morning.
Highlands has a very active community ministry, feeding 60-100 homeless or otherwise disposessed people every morning. While the people are there for the food, they are given clothes and any hygene products they need.
The church has a program where once a week the indigent could sign up for a trip to the DMV, and the the church would pay for them to get a state issued ID. This is a big step to help getting these people back on their feet.
I have never really volunteered for anything on any kind of consistent basis before. I am a fairly narcissistic person, but doing this has truly changed the way I feel about myself, as well as the way I look at others. "Getting my hands dirty" so to speak, has been much more fulfilling that writing a check.
Another upside to this is that almost all the other volunteers are retired older ladies or serious Milfs, they all think its great that a young (32) guy like myself would help out. I have met several women as a direct result.