Steve Krank is retiring after 18 years with St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County.
After more than two decades of helping people in need through various positions within St. Vincent de Paul, (SVdP), Stephen, “Steve” Krank is retiring from his role as Vincentian Services Manager at SVdP. But even though he’s retiring from his staff position, Steve isn’t going far.
Steve said, “I’m going to keep volunteering with my home Conference, (branch) at Christ the King-St. Stephen in Pleasant Hill. I’m going to keep training new Vincentians. And I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done, helping people with compassion, dignity, and care.”
Steve’s official SVdP job was to support local Conferences. That means helping recruit volunteers, offering training, and making sure everything stays on mission. But ask anyone who’s worked with Steve, and they’ll tell you his job was really about love.
“As everybody knows, Steve has put his whole life into helping our neighbors,” said Rick Richardson, a former president of the SVdP District Council and the Hope Conference. “I love Steve Krank, but I almost love the knowledge that he has to share, so we can help our neighbors, more than I love him.”
Steve began his journey with St. Vincent de Paul back in 2001. He had just moved back to the Bay Area from Texas, where he had been running a 170-bed detox clinic. Even though he had experience in advertising and was getting offers for marketing jobs, his heart told him something different.
“I have a background in advertising, and I was receiving a lot of job offers to do the marketing side of things at nonprofits I applied to,” Steve said. “But when I came back from Texas, what really motivated me out there was working directly with people to help people. Helping people is what I wanted to do with my life.”
He started volunteering at the SVdP free dining room in Oakland, picking up and delivering donated food. While he was there, a nun asked him if he’d help open a center for men experiencing homelessness. Steve said yes.
Steve said he loved that work. “We had poetry slams, a computer center, even a café that the men using the center ran. It was something I could really be proud of.”
During the pandemic, Steve Krank helped organize and run large food distributions to feed people in need.
He saw the men who came for help begin to take care of the space and treat it like a home. That kind of respect, trust, and healing stuck with him.
In 2008, Steve joined St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County full-time. At the time, things weren’t going well. The organization was nearly out of money and unsure if it could keep going. But Steve and a core group of dedicated Vincentian volunteers stepped up to help turn things around.
“At the time, we didn’t even have any fundraising or development staff,” Steve said. “We were lucky when Joleen Lafayette of Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa recommended Barbara Hunt to be our development director, which she still is.”
With hard work and faith, they turned it around. Within three years, they had built the free dining room and opened the RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic to serve people without insurance.
“It was hard work, but it was a real miracle,” Steve said. “The volunteers I was working with were a group of amazing people that really lived the mission of SVdP. I’m really blessed to have been able to work so closely with them.”
Since then, St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa has grown from 22 branches to 28, with more than 700 volunteers across the county and opened the Dentists on Wheels Free Dental Clinic at St. Vincent de Paul – a program Steve had a major role in making happen.
“I feel like the thing I’m most proud of is being able to dedicate my life to working with such amazing, caring volunteers,” Steve said. “Every day, I get to come to work and work with people living our mission and really walking the walk, not just talking the talk. I’ve been blessed to help grow and foster a community of such wonderful, caring people. Working with Vincentians is working with people at their absolute best, it’s a blessing.”
Steve Krank breaks down during construction of Loaves and Fishes Free Dining Room at St. Vincent de Paul.
Many of those Vincentians feel the same way about Steve. Joyce Ohanesian, a longtime SVdP volunteer and board member, said, “Stephen will be sorely missed. Any questions I had on where something was, how something was supposed to be…on and on, it was always, ASK STEVE. He was a great supporter when I started doing presentations on my way to becoming a formator. I know he will always be a Vincentian, so even if he is ‘not in the office’ he will be at many functions, so he’s not really gone.”
Danny Vu, president of the SVdP Our Lady Queen of the World Conference in Bay Point, shared his unique perspective: “Some teammates push you to work harder. He pushes your buttons just for fun, and somehow makes the day better with that playful smile. Working with him is like solving a joke I didn’t know I was in and every time I turn around, there he is, smiling like he just won.”
SVdP Board president Bob Liles reflected on what really makes Steve special. “We all know and love Steve, but have you asked yourself why? Sure, he is a fountain of Vincentian knowledge. Sure, he will drop what he is doing and help anyone who needs it. And he has a wide range of life experiences which allows him to give very good advice. But what really defines him is that he is the epitome of what it is to be a Vincentian. He doesn’t need to teach us how to be a Vincentian. Every day, he shows us what it means.”
Bob shared a special memory from a trip they took together. “I remember one time when I flew with him back from a National Assembly. It didn’t matter if it was the cab driver taking us to the airport or the waitress serving us a meal at the airport. He talked to everyone he met and he talked to them in a way that showed that he cared about them and wanted them to have a good day. It wasn’t just a cursory forced conversation because we had to deal with them. He wanted to make their interaction with him special and show Christ’s love for them.”
SVdP’s Executive Director, Claudia Ramirez, remembers when, as a Vincentian at the conference at St. John Vianney, she met Stephen on her first home visit. “Although there was another seasoned Vincentian with us, Steve taught me some skills on how to best approach a home visit that I use to this day. His genuine care and compassion, and ability to ‘walk with our neighbors in their journey, are exemplified every time he visits a neighbor”.
“Working with Stephen these past 7 ½ years has been a joy and a constant learning experience,” said Claudia. “He always knows where to turn to get a neighbor help if SVdP isn’t the best fit, and he is always willing to share his knowledge with all of us. I will miss the day-to-day conversations with Stephen and his “punny” way of looking at things. I know that he will continue to live his Vincentian vocation, so I’ll still see him around!”
Steve’s life has been shaped by a deep calling to serve. He grew up in San Francisco and spent part of his childhood in Germany. His father served as Chief of Preventative Medicine for the European Theater during the Vietnam War. Steve attended Catholic school and got sober at just 15 years old. At 16, he started helping other young people recover from addiction, something he’s stayed passionate about his whole life.
His personal and professional life have always been connected to care. Steve even met his wife, Angevic, through his work at SVdP.
“One night a woman suffering from domestic violence came to them, and Steve asked if anyone in the dining room would be willing to accompany him as the woman needed to go to the hospital,” the story goes. “And a woman named Angevic volunteered.” They’ve been together ever since.
As he steps into his next journey, Steve says he’s looking forward to biking, visiting art museums with his wife, and continuing to serve wherever he’s needed.
St. Vincent de Paul may be saying goodbye to a staff member, but they’re not losing Steve Krank. His work, his wisdom, and his heart will always be part of the mission.
And like Joyce said: he’s not really gone.
