EL CAJON — Anna Marie Piconi Snyder is convinced it was an angel.
About nine years ago, when she was still working in the office at Our Lady of Grace Parish in El Cajon, a man came to the door. He was in need, but she didn’t have any food to give him. And, because she was the only one in the office at the time, she wasn’t even able to fulfill his request to speak to the pastor.
The disappointed man’s parting words stung: “What are you people going to do at the Judgment?”
It was a reference to the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus reveals that all people will be judged according to whether they fed the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and the imprisoned. Jesus explains that, when we do (or don’t do) these things for the “least brothers” of his, we do (or fail to do) them for him.
“I literally believe that was an angel who came (to the parish door),” said Piconi Snyder, who never saw the man again.
She describes that experience as “the final call” she received to leave her parish job and to get involved with the issue of homelessness.
Today, she is founder, board chair and CEO of You Did It For Me, Inc., a nonprofit that serves homeless “neighbors” in East County — and those at risk of falling into homelessness — by distributing donated clothing and connecting them with community resources for housing, food, healthcare, employment and more.
The organization’s name, taken from Matthew 25, was directly inspired by Piconi Snyder’s encounter with the “angel.”
Established in November 2018, You Did It For Me has a small corporate office in La Mesa. It founded and operates two Community Connections Centers — one at The Salvation Army East County Red Shield Corps Community Center in El Cajon and the other at Carlton Hills Lutheran Church in Santee.
The El Cajon site, which began offering limited resources in early 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, is open on Tuesday mornings. Each week, it might serve more than 130 people, who can receive an article of clothing, such as a T-shirt, pair of jeans or pair of shoes; a hygiene kit with assorted toiletries; and a bag of non-perishable food.
The homeless also can meet on-site with representatives of various programs, including housing services providers; detox and drug rehabilitation programs; the University of San Diego School of Law’s Housing Rights Project; and the County of San Diego, with specialists ready to sign them up for CalFresh, Medi-Cal, CalWORKs and General Relief, and a public health nurse available to provide vaccinations and to treat wounds.
The second Community Connections Center, which opened in 2022 in Santee, is open on Friday afternoons. The centerpiece there is a communal meal served to between 10 and 25 people.
Piconi Snyder said that, typically, service providers are not present at the Santee location.
The Salvation Army and Carlton Hills Lutheran Church both provide space to You Did It For Me at no cost.
According to the organization’s most recent Annual Mission Impact Report, published in September, the El Cajon center had 4,829 “neighbor” visits and the Santee center had 248 during the fiscal year that ended in June.
During that time, the organization also distributed 3,542 T-shirts; 3,649 pairs of pants and shorts; 2,547 jackets and hoodies; 1,911 pairs of shoes; 3,284 pairs of socks; 3,645 undergarments; 5,101 hygiene supplies; and $11,589 in San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) passes, $475 in fuel cards and $3,313 in special assistance.
“We are creating a community of care that loves like Jesus here in the East County to serve people in need,” said Piconi Snyder. “Our actual mission is companionship.”
Deacon John Sawaya, a permanent deacon at Our Lady of Grace Parish and a You Did It For Me board member, explained that it’s this relational aspect that sets the organization apart.
“If they are looking for help, then we’re going to find what help they need, connect them to those organizations, and then we’re going to stay with them,” he said. “That really is the heart of what we do.”
“We are walking with people,” he said. “Anyone that’s willing, we will walk with them for as long as it takes. It could be years.”
Piconi Snyder said that there are some whom the organization has been assisting since 2020 and that accompaniment can continue even after a person is housed.
She recalled how the organization had accompanied and befriended one homeless man not only until he found a home, where he lived for more than two years until his death from a brain tumor, but “stayed with him” as he underwent treatment and even assisted with funeral arrangements.
The organization is privately funded and has only one paid staff member, who only became full-time in July. It also has more than 60 active volunteers, including Piconi Snyder herself.
“We’re getting the biggest impact for the resources we have,” Deacon Sawaya said.
The organization has held “resource drives” for donations of gently used, freshly laundered adult clothing and shoes at Our Lady of Grace, St. Luke and St. Kieran parishes in El Cajon; Guardian Angels Parish in Santee; and Santa Sophia Parish in Spring Valley.
The organization also counts as community partners Foothills Christian Church, La Mesa First United Methodist Church, the Good Shepherd Ministry Center, First Presbyterian Church of El Cajon and other churches that are part of the East County Housing First Faith Coalition.
Deacon Sawaya said that the organization is rooted in prayer.
“We don’t pretend to do this on our own,” he said.
Elizabeth Pecsi-Guerrero, an Our Lady of Grace parishioner, has been affiliated with You Did It For Me “just about from the beginning.”
“It has truly brought me closer to living my life as a disciple,” she said, adding that volunteering with the organization has inspired her also to become more involved at her parish.
Deacon Jerry Stenovec, of St. Luke Parish, got involved with You Did It For Me a little over a year ago. He recalled his first time serving as a hospitality volunteer, welcoming homeless men and women to the El Cajon center. When Piconi Snyder said it was time to open the gate and welcome the neighbors, his eyes were opened.
“I never thought of them as our neighbors before,” said Deacon Stenovec, who earlier this year preached on the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told that parable to answer the question: “Who is my neighbor?”
“I thought I knew who my neighbor was until about a year ago,” he said.
Hector Resendiz, a 36-year-old from Jamul, is among the neighbors who have received assistance.
He became homeless after a series of challenging events, starting when his wife asked him for a divorce. This led him down the path to drug abuse. About three years ago, he lost his job after a failed drug test and, following two evictions, he ended up living with his girlfriend in her car.
His girlfriend learned about You Did It for Me about a year ago, while getting food from the Salvation Army next-door.
It was through You Did It For Me that Resendiz was able to register for General Relief and for the San Diego Rescue Mission’s South County Lighthouse, a homeless shelter in National City, and The Mission Academy, its year-long residential recovery program in downtown San Diego, where he is now enrolled.
“This is the first time I’ve been in this situation in my life,” he said. “I’ve been down, but I’ve never been this far down, like losing a house.”
“This place,” he said, “has helped me improve the way I think, the way I feel about myself.”
Resendiz said, “It’s a blessing to be part of this. … It changed my life.”
For more information, visit youdidit4me.org.
