Purchase Tickets Now! Community Recognition Awards Dinner honoring Alessandro Baccari, Jr. and Carolyn Zecca Ferris.
Community Recognition Award Dinner
North Beach Citizens’ 8th Annual Community Recognition Award Dinner is scheduled for Sunday, November 13, 2011, at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, located at 1630 Stockton Avenue in San Francisco. This year we will honor two individuals who have made unique and significant contributions to our community.
Carolyn (Cal) Zecca Ferris was selected as an honoree because of her extensive philanthropic work, her commitment to local non-profit organizations, and her dedication to ensuring the sustainability of North Beach Citizens’ programs and services. Alessandro (Al) Baccari, Jr., was selected because of his significant accomplishments that reflect both his Italian traditional values and his devotion to San Francisco and especially North Beach. We hope that you will consider sponsoring a table or purchasing a ticket in honor of these two individuals who have had such a profound impact on our community.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. – Cocktails
7:00 p.m. – Dinner.
For more information, please contact Amy Wickstrom at (415) 772-0982 or awickstrom@northbeachcitizens.org.
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Save the Date! North Beach Citizens’ 11th Annual Spring Dinner will take place in the basement of the historic Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Sunday, April 15, 2012.
If you are interested in sponsoring or donating time and/or services, please contact Amy Wickstrom at (415) 772-0982 or awickstrom@northbeachcitizens.org.
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North Beach Citizens’ 10th annual spring dinner, An Italian Dinner on the Piazza
Thanks to our generous supporters North Beach Citizens raised over $320,000 to fund our programs and services.
Posted: May 26th, 2011 under events.
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Press for North Beach Citizens’ “An Italian Night on the Piazza”
Press for North Beach Citizens’ An Italian Dinner on the Piazza
David Wagner’s Feature Article on North Beach Citizens
Leah Garchik’s Column on North Beach Citizens
North Beach Citzens Boardmember Gussie Stewart’s Letter to the Editor
Catherine Bigelow’s Social City: First Column
Catherine Bigelow’s Social City: Second Column
Posted: May 24th, 2011 under events.
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North Beach Citizens featured in the SF Chronicle!
North Beach Citizens
gives S.F. homeless a hand
David Wagner, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, April 29, 2011
Kristie Fairchild, executive director of North Beach Citizens, works with people who’ve lost their identities, both figuratively and literally.
When Deforrest Wiggins first came to Fairchild seeking help with getting off the streets, he was deep in the throes of addiction and hadn’t spoken with any family members for 23 years.
“He just felt completely anonymous,” Fairchild says.
Eventually, North Beach Citizens helped get Wiggins off the streets, restoring his long-lost sense of identity. With his newfound sense of self, he even mustered enough courage to cold-call his parents for the first time in years. Now, he communicates with them on a daily basis.
North Beach Citizens – celebrating its 10-year anniversary Sunday with a fundraising Italian dinner – has always chosen to tackle homelessness as an individualized problem.
Filmmaker and winery-owner Francis Ford Coppola founded the nonprofit in early 2000. After Coppola brainstormed with other prominent North Beach residents about ways to address homelessness, the organization became a reality, opening its Columbus Avenue headquarters in January 2001.
Calling from his Napa Valley residence, Coppola traces the original impetus behind North Beach Citizens to his strong opinions on panhandling. “Panhandling,” Coppola argues, “is an unacceptable act for both parties.”
Coppola nonetheless felt compassion for beggars he walked past every day on his way to work. He felt an obligation to help them better their station in the community. “The first thought that I had that changed the way I was thinking was, ‘How would you deal with the citizens of North Beach who happen right now to be homeless?’ ”
Mental transformation
In this simple mental transformation – starting to think of homeless people not as pests, but as fellow citizens – the basic ideology behind North Beach Citizens was born.
Wiggins has been housed in North Beach for five years. Sitting in Fairchild’s colorful office, one spindly leg crossed over the other, Wiggins tells the story of his road to homelessness, as well as how North Beach Citizens helped him get off the streets.
Wiggins, a musician who moved to San Francisco in 1985, was dealt a crippling blow when his musical equipment was stolen from his Sixth Street apartment in 2002. “That led to depression, and then depression led to me just being irresponsible, and then I was on the street,” he says wearily.
A cocaine addiction rapidly worsened as he became homeless. “I would buy powdered coke and I would cook it,” Wiggins says. “There were years when I was into snorting it, there were years when I was into shooting it.”
Despite his destitution, Wiggins made a point of not slipping into the isolation and lawlessness he observed other homeless people succumbing to all around him. He hosted open mike nights at Melt Cafe and maintained a good rapport with Chinatown business owners.
Seeing that he was serious about breaking free from his homelessness, North Beach Citizens took Wiggins on as a client. He recalls being housed “almost immediately” five years ago. A psychiatrist the organization had connected Wiggins with determined that he was suffering from severe depression. These days, when Wiggins isn’t giving guitar lessons to locals, he volunteers for the organization that gave him a leg up, appearing at fundraisers and mentoring newer clients.
Commitments
Along with some of North Beach Citizens’ other veteran clients, Wiggins polices the newer clients to make sure they’re keeping up their end of the commitment to reintegrate into mainstream society. “Just because you’re homeless, we’re not going to enable you to get drunk and act like a fool in the neighborhood,” Wiggins says sternly.
In the organization’s early days, many North Beach residents and business owners worried that North Beach Citizens would draw more homeless people to the neighborhood without being able to manage them properly. Though sympathetic to their aims from the get-go, long-time North Beach resident Robert Hinish recalls the organization’s early days as “sort of like the lunatics running the asylum.”
“It was a very well-intended effort on the part of Francis Ford Coppola,” Hinish concedes. “But the folks they hired to supervise it just didn’t provide any structure.” Citing drug use, loitering and fighting as common sights in the vicinity of North Beach Citizens, Hinish says, “It became a very messy situation.”
Fairchild lauded
Hinish says that once Kristie Fairchild took the helm of North Beach Citizens, the more unseemly aspects of having a homelessness nonprofit in the neighborhood vanished and its benefits for the community emerged.
“This organization has turned itself around in ways that few organizations have” Hinish says. “It’s become a very positive influence on the homeless people it serves, and they’ve taken the measures they needed to take to make sure that the homeless problems we have are not a result of North Beach Citizens any longer.”
Over its 10 year history, North Beach Citizens has found permanent homes for 147 people. The city of San Francisco spends $61,000 in public services on each homeless individual using city services per year, Fairchild says. Comparatively, it costs just $18,000 for a formerly homeless person to live in independent housing. Wiggins says what makes North Beach Citizens successful is its recognition of one crucial fact: “Everybody’s got different problems.”
Dinner on the Piazza benefit, 6 p.m. Sun. Saints Peter and Pual Church, 666 Filbert St. Tickets start at $150. (415) 772-0982. www.northbeachcitizens.org/spring.
E-mail David Wagner at dwagner@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page F – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Posted: April 29th, 2011 under events.
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Thank You to Our “An Italian Dinner on the Piazza” Sponsors!
North Beach Citizens
thanks all of our event sponsors .
ProducerPamela and George Hamel Elise Wen ValueAct Capital |
SponsorJudith Avery Kelly and Carrie Barlow Ron Boring Carolyn and Timothy Ferris Dick Grosboll Chris and Michael Harrison John and Tina Keker Joyce Linker Charles and Silbey Siu Andrew Tudhope Jeff Ubben Briana and Miguel Zelaya DCO International, Inc. Lucasfilm, Ltd. Neyhart Anderson Flynn & Grosboll San Francisco Waterfront Partners
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BenefactorJohn W. Buoymaster Julie Harkins Tina Kwok Thomas Lockard and Alix Marduel Janet McKinley Lisa and John Pritzker Lynda Spence and Robert Mittelstadt Gussie and John Stewart Robert L. Thornton, Jr. BSC Management Cahill Contractors, Inc. Equity Office Properties PG&E Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP Wells Fargo
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ContributorBoris Dramov and Bonnie Fisher Curt Cassels and Daniel Bayless Claudine Cheng Anne Halsted and Wells Whitney Irene Lindbeck Tibbits Jeanne Milligan and Peter Dewees Michael and Judy O’Shea Gail and Paul Switzer Joseph and Edill Tobin Ruth Yankoupe Bovis Lend Lease, Inc. Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. Farella Braun + Martel LLP Holmes Culley The CAC Group, Inc. Urban West Associates WSP Flack + Kurtz
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Posted: April 29th, 2011 under events, fundraising.
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Like North Beach Citizens on Facebook.
Posted: March 22nd, 2011 under events.
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North Beach Citizens Presents An Italian Dinner on the Piazza.
An Italian Dinner on the Piazza
Featuring a Family Style Dinner by Rose Pistola
CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF SERVICE IN THE COMMUNITY!
Honorary Chair Francis Ford Coppola & Honorary Co-Hosts Jeannette Etheredge and Lawrence Ferlinghetti invite you to the Tenth Annual Benefit for North Beach Citizens.
Join us for an evening of Food, Wine, Music, and Community.
Sunday, May 1, 2011, 6:00 p.m.
Basement of Saints Peter and Paul Church, 666 Filbert Street, San Francisco (free parking in lot next to Church)
Send checks and reservations to: North Beach Citizens, 720 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133
Or call (415) 772-0982 to make reservations. RSVP by April 8, 2011.
Reserved Tables (8 People)
Presenting $25,000
Producer $15,000
Patron $10,000
Sponsor $5,000
Pacesetter Tickets
Benefactor (4 tickets) $2,500
Contributor (2 tickets) $1,500
Individual Tickets
Individual (1 ticket) $150
Child (under 13) $100
Posted: March 15th, 2011 under events.
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CALL TO ARTISTS: “Vinyl Transformations”
CALL TO ARTISTS!
Vinyl Transformations: An Art Exhibition Benefiting North Beach Citizens
North Beach Citizens’ Creative Events Committee is pleased to announce Vinyl Transformations, an art exhibition taking place from March 2 through April 2 at Gallery 28, located in the in heart North Beach. This exhibition benefits North Beach Citizens, a non-profit organization that utilizes the talents of the North Beach community to innovatively address the needs of its homeless and low-income citizens in an atmosphere of trust, integrity, and respect.
Artists are asked to utilize 12” vinyl records as their medium for artist expression. During the exhibition your pieces will be auctioned off to the highest bidder…and lucky admirer of your creative work.
Featured artists include: Genea Barnes, Jack Hirschman, Amanda Lynn, George Mead, ART RANCHERO, Winston Smith, Momo – and YOU!
February 5: Need inspiration?? The Creative Events Committee will be hosting an optional record design workshop at A. Aversano Galleria, 850 Greenwich Street, San Francisco.
February 23, 24 & 25: Record(s) must be delivered to North Beach Citizens, 720 Columbus Avenue on February 23, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., February 245, between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m., or February 256, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
February 26: Hang all records in Gallery 28, 1228 Grant @ Columbus & Broadway
March 3, 2011: Opening Reception (auction and DJ)
March 26, 2011: Closing Reception (auction, poetry reading, video)
April 4, 5 & 6: Artists pick up albums from North Beach Citizens, 720 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco
ARTIST SUBMISSION FORM
For more info please contact (415) 501-0704 or email creativeevents@northbeachcitizens.org.
Used records are available for free at 720 Columbus Avenue from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday through Friday or at Gallery 28, 1228 Grant Avenue from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Posted: January 12th, 2011 under events.
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Vinyl Transformations: ARTIST SUBMISSION FORM
Vinyl Transformations: ARTIST SUBMISSION FORM
Name of Artist:
(If using a stage name, please provide legal name for payment purposes)
Email:
Telephone:
Street, City, Zip:
Title of Work Submitted (#1):
Title of Work Submitted (#2):
Percentage of sale to be donated (circle one): 50% or 100%
Submission Fee (ONLY required if you choose to donate 50% of sales): $
Paid by (circle one): Check or Cash
Questions? Contact Mark Shervey by phone at (415) 501-0704 or Mandy Boatright by email at creativeevents@northbeachcitizens.org
The artist agrees to the following by signing this form:
- The artist will donate a minimum of 50% of the sale price of each piece sold to North Beach Citizens. The artist may donate 100% of the sale if he/she chooses. All artwork must be for sale. All artists will be notified of sale directly after March 31, 2011. Artists will be paid within 30 days after the end of the exhibition.
- Eligible artwork must be on a 12” record and may include painting, mixed media, drawing, collage, stenciling, carving, printmaking, 3D and photography – Please, NO sculpture.
- The artist states that he/she created the work submitted and owns the copyright. If the work was created by a team, please provide the names of all team members.
- The artist allows NORTH BEACH CITIZENS and Gallery 28 to use images of the work for marketing, publicity and other similar purposes.
- The artist is responsible for insuring his/her work and holds harmless NORTH BEACH CITIZENS, Gallery 28 and their directors and representatives for any loss or damage to the work.
- Record(s) must be delivered to North Beach Citizens, 720 Columbus Avenue on February 23, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., February 24, between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m., or February 26, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
- Artists agree to pick-up unsold work at North Beach Citizens, 720 Columbus Avenue on between April 4 and 6, 2011. Work that is not picked up within 10 days after the end of the exhibition becomes the property of NORTH BEACH CITIZENS.
Submission Guidelines:
- Artists may not submit more than two records.
- The Submission fee is $20 for the first record and $10 for each additional submission (ONLY required if you choose to donate 50% of the proceeds of your record(s)).
- The Artist Submission Form must be completed and payment received to reserve a spot in Vinyl Transformations.
- Attach a label to the back of each record with: artist name, contact info, art title, medium, and price.
- If submitting application without a completed record, state “in progress” as title.
- Records (limited to first 140 submitted) will be on display from March 2 – April 2, 2011 at Gallery 28.
- The Opening Reception will take place on Thursday, March 3, 2011 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
- The Closing Reception will take place on Saturday, March 26, 2011 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Artist Signature (legal name):
Please send completed form, along with payment, to 720 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133
Posted: January 12th, 2011 under events.
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The North Beach Citizens Community Food Pantry is launched!
The North Beach Citizens Community Food Pantry
On October 6, 2010, North Beach Citizens launched the North Beach Citizens Community Food Pantry. The Community Food Pantry is a partnership between North Beach Citizens and the San Francisco Food Bank, both of which were interested in opening a food pantry in North Beach to address the needs of our low-income, senior, and disabled residents living in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residential hotels. To date, North Beach Citizens has signed up more than 160 participants.
The Community Food Pantry has been in the works for the last several years, but for two reasons came to fruition this Fall. First, North Beach Citizens has been searching for a larger space within North Beach to accommodate our organizational evolution and recently agreed to rent the adjoining storefront to our current 900 square foot space at 720 Columbus Avenue. It is a short-term solution while, in accordance with North Beach Citizens’s strategic plan, we continue to look for a long-term home, but this development provided us the space required to open the Community Food Pantry.
Second, and most importantly, an increasing number of North Beachers surviving on modest incomes, Social Security benefits, or unemployment insurance have sought assistance from North Beach Citizens. In response, North Beach Citizens adapted our program to address these low-income residents whose needs simultaneously differ and overlap with those of our usual homeless clients by mobilizing the Community Food Pantry. “A lot of people need the help,” explained participant Elisabeth Frantes. “Having a food pantry means I don’t run out of food at the end of the month. I think the Community Food Pantry is a wonderful thing.”
North Beach Citizens plans to keep the Community Food Pantry open as long as we have sufficient funds to purchase discounted canned food and fresh fruits and vegetables from the SF Food Bank. We are off to a great start and hope the North Beach community will embrace this new initiative, which was made possible by the efforts of North Beach Citizens’s San Francisco State University intern, Jennifer Furlong, and our dedicated volunteer base.
Date and Time:
Wednesday afternoons from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location:
722 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Eligbility Requirements:
Low-income, senior, and disabled residents living in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residential hotels in the 94133 zipcode. CA I.D., rental receipts, and/or proof of address required.
Volunteers and Donations:
If you would like to become involved with the Community Food Pantry, please contact North Beach Citizens at 415-772-0918.
Posted: December 9th, 2010 under events.
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Community Recognition Award Dinner 2010: A Huge Success!
Community Recognition Award Dinner 2010: A Huge Success!
On November 7, 2010, North Beach Citizens hosted its seventh annual Community Recognition Award Dinner at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club. Emceed by former San Francisco Mayor, Willie Brown, Jr., the event honored affordable and low-income housing developer John K. Stewart of the John Stewart Company. The dinner raised $100,000 for North Beach Citizens’ homeless programs and services.
Posted: November 30th, 2010 under events.
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