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N e w s
a b o u t
S e n i o r s
i n
t h e
C e n t ra l
C i t y
Senior
Independence
Newsletter No. 3 | Fall 2014
333 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 | curryseniorcenter.org | 415-292-1040
There’s No Room for Him at the Inn: Seniors Must Wait 2 Years or More!
Can you share a corner of your universe with this acclaimed artist? By Tod Thorpe
If you met Ira Watkins, aged 73, you
would never believe he could be
homeless. Now he gives an entirely
new meaning to the phrase “starving
artist”. He has been living in his van
for 3 years and needs a home but
the wait-list for low-income senior
housing is no less than 2 years even
with Curry case management!
Ira is a gentlemanly sort with a warm
smile and the air of distinguished
gentility from an age long gone and
has a silky voice with a nice southern
lilt. Born in Waco, Texas to a family
of 7 brothers and 5 sisters he recalls
a childhood filled with struggles
and poverty but also parents who
were loving and kind with a solid
framework of faith.
However, with so many siblings, if
he wanted toys growing up, his
father told him he’d have to build
them on his own. This gave birth to
his fervently industrious nature and
he hit the streets with a shoeshine
box to earn what he could. It also
gave momentum and inspiration
to his natural artistic talent to
depict lively images of his human
experience with scenes of rural
gatherings, farmer’s markets and
cityscapes. Ira says, “I can’t even
remember a time when I didn’t
draw and it’s something that just
comes out of me without trying.
But no one seemed to take much
interest until I was 50 years old”.
Ira’s art has been the focus of many
shows since then and he has sold
innumerable works. His most recent
show was at the John Natsoulas
Center for the Arts in Davis, CA from
September 24-November 1, 2014.
However, he is the most humble
artist and has never learned how to
manage or promote his art properly
and perhaps with an opportunity for
higher education or other fortunate
life circumstance, things would be
very different for him now. His Curry
Case Manager, Jeffrey Faircloth,
Acclaimed artist and homeless Curry senior, Ira Watkins,
poses with one of his San Francisco cityscapes. Ira is still
looking for a place to live and hopes you might help.
Ira Watkins’ art depicts and celebrates his community and
every day life experiences
has heard all the details of his
on-going struggles and says, “Ira
could be bitter for the many times
when he was not treated with
dignity and respect but he has the
most positive social conscience. He
knows the difference in good and
bad people no matter what.”
Ira now turns to you.
Ira wants to paint his way out of
poverty and into a permanent
home. He is fastidious, a great
cook and could afford to contribute
$350 per month from his social
security. He says, “I love creating
art and like for it to move people,
so whoever can help me with a
place to live, can pick what they
want from my work.”
Surely you or someone you know
has a spare room so Ira can finally
come home for the holidays!
Please contact Tod Thorpe at
415-292-1040 or via email at
[email protected].
From the Executive Director, David Knego
Let’s Infuse Innovation and Disrupt Our Perceptions
This holiday season we can apply new values and bring cheer to isolated seniors.
“Disruptive innovations” are seen
every day with the hi-tech industry
changing the way we go about our
lives. A partial definition is that
“innovation creates a new market
by applying a different set of
values, which ultimately overtakes
an existing market”. Airbnb, Uber,
Lyft and many other on-demand
services are the easy examples of
innovations that take established
industries off-guard.
So where is the disruption and
innovation with social issues? How
can we make the golden years truly
golden — for those seniors living
in San Francisco’s Civic Center
neighborhoods? A “traditional” view
of the golden years — rocking on
the porch, golfing, taking vacations
and tending to grandchildren is
starkly different from what many
Baby-Boomers are and will be
experiencing. It is certainly different
than what the seniors served by
Curry are experiencing– where they
live, what they look like, the lack of
income and the resources that they
don’t have.
So let’s disrupt some of our old and
tired stereotypes of old-age and old
people. Just ‘cause they are slower,
Curry Senior Center
Board of Directors
Jeffrey Alan Beane, MD,
President
Jonrie Dávila,
Vice-President
Zachary Schiller,
Treasurer
Dennis Kneeppel,
BA, MPA, RN,
Secretary
J. David Bickham
Beverly Brumfield
Cynthia K. Ceres
Walter DeVaughn
Dave Knego, back right poses next to Jim Illig of outstanding
corporate partner, Kaiser and (front left to right), megavolunteer Marilyn Chan, beloved District 6 Supervisor Jane
Kim and health instructor Jazmine Soubra.
and grayer and hard of hearing does
not diminish their benefit to all of
us. They know about longevity, have
learned much in their lives and much
to teach us. And they very much
appreciate your time and efforts.
So let’s innovate — socially — by
applying a different set of values…
to an existing market. You can do
something different this holiday
season for the seniors in your life and
the seniors at Curry Senior Center.
Happy Holidays!
There’s No Place Like Home The Importance Of Home Visits
Though both simple and small the single-room-occupancy hotel rooms where
many seniors live are familiar surroundings, include cherished possessions and
are called home.
However, many seniors with chronic illnesses and mobility issues, are physically
unable to get out — and need help with basic necessities. Even with an escort
travelling to Curry for an appointment can be daunting.
Diane Dwyer
Phil Marechal
Shirley Quitugua
Robert Razzo
Richard Sax
Lara Sallee, MPH
Richard Sullivan
Amy Whalen
Alice Zhang
Leadership Staff
David Knego,
Executive Director
Richard Zercher, MD,
Medical Director
Rachel Ainza,
Principal Clerk
Dawn Stevens,
Nurse Manager
Arlo Bushnell,
Associate Director
of Development
Home visits have been a hallmark of Curry Senior Center’s services since our
founding in 1972 — a cornerstone of being client-centered. Home visits are a
strategy to engage, assess functioning, and provide treatment. Home visits are also
useful to build trust and help seniors become motivated to participate in services.
Toby Shorts,
Community Programs Supervisor
This past year staff completed 957 home visits to the frail elderly including: 344 inhome visits by physicians and nurse practitioners; 200 in-home visits/counseling
sessions by the behavioral health team; and 413 visits by the case management team.
Claudia Pinto-Mora,
Medical Records
As one Nurse Practitioner said “…it is a great honor and privilege for people
to allow me into their home…home visits also show the value of the
individual-and let them know how important they are”.
Stay-tuned for the next issue of our newsletter, Senior Independence, where
we will highlight the work of our i-Pad in-the-home pilot, Project Senior Vitality.
Staff and volunteers work with “graduates” of our computer learning center,
with donated i-Pads so they can “stay-connected” at home!
2 — Curry Senior Center
Fall 2014
Michael McGinley,
Case Management Supervisor
Margot Ragosta,
Behavioral Health Clinician
Susmita Shah,
Behavioral Health Services
Director
Tod Thorpe,
Director of Development
415-292-1040
Donor & Volunteer
Curry Heroes at Twitter
This Tech Giant is a Very Tweet Neighbor
And Curry’s New Video is Debuted — Check It Out On Our Home Page
Have you ever wondered what it
would be like to tweet from inside
Twitter?! If you missed your chance on
October 9th at Curry’s Annual Donor
and Volunteer Heroes Celebration,
make sure to put it at the top of your
must-attend list next year.
generous hosting and presenting
of the entire event for nearly 200
Curry fans — an event that would
have cost at least $10,000 for Curry
to host on equivalent scale. Twitter
has proven itself to be a very
generous neighbor indeed.
The celebration was atop Twitter
headquarters in the “Aviary” providing
beautiful views around the city and
overlooking our City Hall bathed
in Giants’ orange light. The food
was fantastic and plenty of libations
complimented the upbeat atmosphere.
Long-time friends Caroline Barlerin, Head of Twitter
Corporate Outreach and Philanthropy and Jim Illig, Kaiser
Community Benefit Manager, both award recipients, celebrate
at the Heroes event.
Regardless, thank you for all you
do at Curry because this event was
definitely about the change you
make happen in Curry seniors’ lives.
And thank you Twitter for your very
Curry Board Vice-President and Senior Associate Director of
Planned Giving at Stanford, Jonrie Dávila, opens the Donor &
Volunteer Heroes Celebration with warm words and applause.
Perhaps the greatest highlight was
the crowd’s response to the debut
of Curry’s new video, “A Day in the
Life of a Curry Senior: Rick Siesky”,
created with more generosity
by our beloved partner, Kaiser
Permanente and their Northern
California Multimedia team. The
video can now be viewed on the
Curry Senior Center home page at
curryseniorcenter.org.
On 10-17-14 the Curry Board hosted an all-staff appreciation
event at the must-not-miss Chambers Restaurant, by the pool
at the Phoenix Hotel. Here E.D. Dave Knego (right) celebrates
with Medical Director, Richard Zercher, M.D., who was
recognized for his 25 years to the day (also the anniversary of
the Loma Prieta earthquake). Zercher’s first evening and days
were spent doing home visits to check up on seniors shaken by
the quake.
Thank you to each and every one of
you who touch Curry Senior Center in
some way throughout the year.
The honorees that night, listed below, stood to
represent all of you for your love and compassion.
Beverly Brumfield
John & Shirley Quitugua Family
Marilyn Chan
Hasi Raeyed
Gail Finne
Katie and Bob Sharp
Maggie Pickavance
curryseniorcenter.org
Curry Senior Center — 3
Curry Discovers the Secret to Advancing Your Career
and Changing the World Simultaneously
Now You Too Can Join this Magic Carpet Ride
By Tod Thorpe
Are you a professional that
understands the value of networking
with other professionals to volunteer
and help your community? Balancing
just those two priorities without
even including all the other
pressing matters in your life is
daunting in the least!
We’ve been promoting this new
group for Curry for the last several
months and we are confident that it
will provide leadership development
and resume-building opportunities
as well as a chance to build new
friendships. We have now identified
the leadership for the group who is
a powerhouse all on her own, who
is deeply connected and who has
committed her time to do the heavylifting to launch the effort forward.
Welcome Aisha Ahmad, the new
Founding President of Curry’s
Professionals and Executives
Leadership Circle!
Having been raised in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, and having attended
the American School there while
being a Pakistani national, Aisha
is no stranger to developing and
maintaining relationships with
people of different backgrounds and
nationalities- perfect for this effort
and our little United Nations of Curry.
Upon graduation, she started
working in medical research and
simultaneously enrolled in a
Former Wall Street investment banker, now entrepreneur and proud new Curry Professionals group leader Carrie Snyder (left) is
posing with Curry Professionals Founding President Aisha Ahmad at the Twitter-hosted Donor & Volunteer Heroes Celebration.
Master of Public Health program,
with a focus in epidemiology and
healthcare administration. Aisha was
then selected for a highly coveted
hospital administration fellowship
at Stanford Children’s Health. After
her fellowship, Aisha stayed on
at the Lucile Packard Children’s
Hospital in positions related to
performance improvement, business
development, strategy planning
and fundraising. Stanford then
sponsored Aisha for US citizenship
and she became a US citizen in
March, 2014!
In 2012, Aisha started her own
healthcare management consulting
practice that specializes in lean
leadership and performance
improvement at large hospitals and
insurance companies. She also serves
as lean operations advisor to small
healthcare startups.
Stay tuned for additional information
via Curry e-news for upcoming
meetings and save the date for
Saturday, December 13th for
Santa“Curry”Con (details to follow)!
On this day, thousands of Santas,
elves and reindeer in costume flash
mob in the city spreading joy for an
event called Santacon. We will soon
announce the locale for our own
gathering of Curry Santas on this day
with the goal of collecting as many
$10 Walgreens cards as we can for
Curry seniors’ holiday gift bags this
season- usually the only gift most of
them will receive.
A Personal Message to You from Founding President, Aisha Ahmad
The Curry professionals group is an amazing way to meet people both from within your professional industry and that
of others. Our members are from healthcare, finance, technology, hospitality, legal, and general entrepreneurialism,
just to name a few. Our goal is to get to know one another, expand our professional and personal networks, and
simultaneously contribute in a meaningful way to improving the lives of the 15,000 homeless seniors that live right
here in the heart of our city.
Through fundraisers that involve happy hours, SantaCon, a ski trip and a wine country party bus, we want to raise
money that feeds the hungry seniors and compensates for their medical care. We would love for people to come
volunteer with us, or just join us for an event and make a new friend or two!
4 — Curry Senior Center
Fall 2014
Program Assistant Humberto Piñón (right), says that the appreciation seniors share with him because of the help you enable at Curry is contagious. Here he is teaching ESL class with program participants.
Your Support is Ensuring Some of the
Most Marginalized Are Welcomed
The Latino and LGBT Seniors Add Spicy Color to the Curry Community
By Samantha Wilcox
Here at Curry Senior Center, we strive
to help our program participants
live an independent life while also
helping them to maintain their dignity
and self-esteem. The Community
Programs department is aiming to do
just that by creating new programs
to help further involve our Latino and
LGBT clients, helping them to stay
healthy, mentally active, and get the
full Curry Senior Center experience.
Until recently, Curry was lacking a
Spanish translator to help clients
feel understood and comfortable.
However, Program Assistant
Humberto Piñón recently joined
Community Programs and is not
missing a beat when it comes to
helping Spanish speaking clients
to feel welcome and part of the
Curry community. “Being unable
to adequately understand your
surroundings leads to anxiety, but
having someone who can help you
navigate the process brings our
clients a sigh of relief,” Piñón said.
Piñón has not only strengthened
the Latino community at Curry
by offering translation services,
he also brought both his cultural
pride and his Mexican cooking
skills to the table for Curry’s First
Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival
on October 14th. “We want all
of our clients to enjoy the full
Curry experience,” Community
Programs manager Toby Shorts
said. “Instead of clients only
using services such as our health
clinic, we want to help provide
them with social activities as
well. By catering activities to
Spanish-speaking clients, we hope
to help strengthen a sense of
community, help them get social,
and ultimately set them on the
track for a more fulfilling quality
of life.”
Community Programs is also
strengthening our programming
for our LGBT clients, with programs
like Creative Writing, ‘Decades of
Drag’, and Rainbow Brain Games
coming to the center in upcoming
weeks. “Clients who self-identify as
part of the LGBT community face a
different set of problems than our
other clients,” Shorts said. “Many
have lost family support, and tend
to isolate themselves. However,
we want to break those habits by
offering our clients a safe place
where they can be themselves
without shame.”
Thanks to the generosity of Curry
Senior Center donors, clients are
able to find a safe place where they
are accepted for who they are, and
find a community of like-minded
people. “Donors are truly helping
seniors create a better quality of
life for themselves,” Piñón said.
“They are extremely thankful for
the opportunities you offer them
at the center, and the sense of
appreciation is contagious. Seeing
them come alive is the best feeling
in the world.”
curryseniorcenter.org
Curry Senior Center — 5
The Loss of My 92-Year-Old Father in
August Leaves Me Proud, Thoughtful
and Even More Committed
To contemplate the heart-rending visual of someone like my own father being alone and
without resources on the streets like many of Curry’s seniors, makes me feel profoundly
grateful to you for responding to the need for health, hope and dignity for others.
By Diane Dwyer
It feels very strange and more than
just lonely to now have lost my father,
the last of my natural parents; to
know that I can’t just pick up the
phone and call, drop by for a visit and
a hug or know that he will be there
when my children graduate or get
married- it’s downright disorienting.
And yet I am so grateful and at
peace knowing that he had a very
full life, abundant resources and was
surrounded by my 6 siblings and
me the night before he passed in
celebration of his life. It does not
mean that adjusting to his aging
was easy for him or any of us, but
in a general sense, that was a very
blessed and peaceful departure.
I’m very proud of my dad, Richard
T. “Dick” Dwyer, who was born in San
Francisco on December 27, 1921. If
you had asked him what he was most
proud of, he likely would have said
that his greatest legacy was his seven
Diane’s daughter, Blake, poses recently with her grandfather.
6 — Curry Senior Center
Fall 2014
Diane interviews her father during the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. He walked across it the first day it opened on
May 27, 1937.
children and their families. But there
was so much more.
In World War II, he served as a medic
on a Liberty Ship, only two of which
exist today and the only one which
is historically accurate and unaltered
is the SS Jeremiah O’Brien moored
here in San Francisco at Pier 49 (I even
had the opportunity to take him on
a cruise on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien
for a WWII anniversary and saw the
medic’s quarters that were identical
to the one he slept in so many years
before) . Not long after his return
from the war he met and married the
love of his life, my fabulously funny
and wonderful mother, Dorothy Blake
Dwyer, who passed in 2000 just shy of
their 51st anniversary.
Mom helped support Dad while he
finished college and he then founded
and worked in his own accounting
firm for 50 years, and it still bears his
name: Richard T. Dwyer & Company.
That business provided them with the
financial resources to provide fulltime care when it became necessary,
and I was fortunate enough to have
six brothers and sisters to help.
He was adored, respected and loved
by not only his family but also their
friends and his colleagues for his
guidance, his fundamental fairness,
his enormous generosity and his
deep and abiding faith. He and
Mom helped start Our Lady of Mercy
Parish in Daly City, helping to build
a community that remained close to
Growing up, Diane Dwyer recalls the huge Magnolia tree in her parent’s yard watching over the family gatherings. Curry staff, volunteers and seniors gifted to her a memorial magnolia honoring her father
to again watch over her family.
his heart his entire life. To his final day,
family grace ended with the prayer:
“Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us.”
part of all that Curry Senior Center
provides to seniors in the Tenderloin.
Curry fills the gap for thousands of
seniors in San Francisco every year,
from finding housing and meals to
health care. More than medicine or
a dining room, Curry is a refuge and
a welcoming community. It’s a place
where isolated seniors can find family
and home.
Dad remained physically active,
diving for tennis balls on the courts
and playing golf well into his 80s. It
was also incredibly fortunate that he
remained very sharp mentally as he
aged. He was the traditional male
head of the family, making all the
decisions, not relying on anyone else
but himself, so it was heartbreaking
to watch as his body began to give
out and he struggled to realize the
emotional and physical support he
would need.
What we learned, though, is that
it’s incredibly challenging trying to
navigate the health care system
as well as long-term care needs. I
think about how many people don’t
have the financial resources, not to
mention family support as they age,
and that is why I’m so proud to be a
Diane Dwyer celebrates with her father on his 70th birthday.
It was a gift for my siblings and me
to be able to provide the emotional
support my dad needed in his last
days. And I feel honored that in my
humble way, as a board member,
I can continue to help Curry
seniors. I feel honored to be in the
company of people like you whose
gift in honor of their own parents
and grandparents, is to change
that indignity experienced by so
many of our elders. Thank you for
making a difference and for making
it possible for so many seniors to
age with dignity and respect.
curryseniorcenter.org
Curry Senior Center — 7
Be the Difference:
How You Can Help Now
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls. — David Thomas
SPECIAL HOLIDAY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT CURRY
Winter Holiday Parties
Get in touch with the true spirit and
make your season bright! Volunteers
will serve food, decorate, give out
gifts and hear stories of holidays
gone by from around the world. We
have heard from many volunteers that
this was the one thing that stood out
the most for them the entire season.
There are two different parties and
dates to fit your schedule.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
11:30AM - 12:30PM
(a group of 5 needed)
Monday, December 22, 2014
10AM – 1PM
(a group of 10 needed)
Curry’s Own Adopt-a-Senior
for the Holidays Program
Approximately one hundred fifty of
the very neediest program participants
at Curry are chosen by the case
managers to fill out a special, personal
gift request with an approximate $50
value each. Many of these seniors are
homeless or have almost nothing.
This is the perfect opportunity for
individuals or a business group to rally
their colleagues to fulfill the requests
and deliver them to Curry. Most items
can even be bought online!
Hasi Raeyed (right) celebrates every holiday at Curry Senior Center and volunteers daily as a Curry Ambassador in the dining room.
Senior Care and Walgreens, many
San Francisco Walgreens stores will
participate in promoting “trees”
filled with wish-list holiday gift
requests for Curry seniors, many of
which are homeless. You can help by
working with our Queen Elf, Michelle
Noble to put up the displays at the
Walgreens and by picking up gifts
once a week and delivering them to
Curry Senior Center.
This program will begin in December
and last until December 23, 2014.
This program begins just before
Thanksgiving and ends just before
Christmas Day.
Contact Arlo Bushnell at
415-292-1064 or email
[email protected]
Contact Michelle Noble at
415-292-1095 or email
[email protected]
Be a Santa to a Senior (BASTAS) —
Walgreens Elves
This is one of the most highly
sought and definitely greatest
needs! Thanks to a generous
partnership with Home Instead
8 — Curry Senior Center
Fall 2014
Walgreens employee, Andrea, poses with Home Instead Senior
Care’s BASTAS (be a Santa to a senior) program display at
the Castro Street Walgreens. Please shop at SF Walgreens in
late November and December and thank them for hosting this
wonderful effort!
For questions about these additional on-going ways to participate:
Call Arlo Bushnell at 415-292-1064 or email to [email protected]
Dining Room and Bingo
Serve lunch and visit with the
greatest characters you’ve ever
met- Curry seniors! We always hear
this is guaranteed to bring you more
happiness. On Wednesdays and
weekends, become the most popular
person in the City and host Weekly
Bingo too!
Individuals or groups up to 15 for
outstanding team building
Daily 10:15AM to 1PM
Cultural Celebrations
Bring joy and festivity to Curry
Seniors during various cultural
parties throughout the year. Help
decorate, serve and socialize.
The events include but are not
limited to: the Hispanic Heritage
Festival, Halloween, Veteran’s Day,
Autumn Lantern Festival, Moon
Festival, Russian Festival, and
Holiday Celebrations.
Individuals are welcome but this is
a favorite for groups of up to 10.
Various week days throughout the
year, 9:30AM-12:30PM
Project Senior Vitality —
One on one technology
mentoring with iPads
Unlock a window onto the world
for a senior by tutoring individually
how to use email, apps & tracking
devices that monitor physical activity,
body weight, heart rate, and sleep
or search for YouTube videos and
explore social media.
Individuals are matched with seniors
for at least a 6-month commitment.
Highly flexible schedule: meet with
your senior for at least 4 hours per
month and additional hours via
Skype as you like.
Social Media Development
Sub-Committee
Volunteer in any capacity, attend
Curry events and share, like and
tweet everything about Curry. This
is an extension of the Development
Committee and participants work
directly with our social media
specialist, Maggie Pickavance.
Very flexible schedule and a
bi-monthly meeting.
Community Thrift Store
(623 Valencia St., San Francisco)
Accepts donations on behalf
of Curry Senior Center. Bring
your old clothes, jewelry, books,
sports equipment, furniture, CD’s,
electronics and luggage and tell
them you want the proceeds to go
to Curry Senior Center.
Photographers please!
A picture is worth 1,000 words and
it’s so much better when not just
taken from a smartphone! Our
designer will love you and you’ll get
credit for your work too- as well as
attend fun events for free. We also
have occasional portrait sessions
with our seniors.
Shop at Cole Hardware and mention
Curry Senior Center at checkout!
A portion of your purchase will go to
supporting seniors’ programs.
Various dates based on
event calendar.
Curry Senior Center’s
Legacy Circle
Development Team Support
and Special Events
Join Curry’s Development Team
supporting data management,
mailings, event preparation and
support, expository writing for
publications, grant writing, research
and more. We’re a very entertaining
team and this is a great beginning for
the person considering crossing over
from corporate work to nonprofit.
We are also building a core team of
highly experienced volunteers for our
annual gala and other special events.
Ensuring that aging with health,
hope and dignity continues long
into the future
Curry Senior Center’s Legacy
Society is composed of people
who include Curry Senior Center
in their will or another type of
planned gift. These donors gain
the satisfaction of knowing Curry’s
important services – health
care, nutrition, socialization, and
celebrations – will continue for
years to come.
Very flexible timing based on
project calendar.
Join the Curry Professionals and
Executives Leadership Circle!
This group provides a team
approach to developing leadership
and professional networking
opportunities while having
heightened impact on Curry’s
services. They help plan Curry
events, hold collections and happy
hour fundraisers, rally teams of
volunteers and interface with board
leadership to devise new ways to
respond to the crisis and indignity
suffered by so many of the elderly.
We ask you to consider joining
this group of generous donors,
either by indicating your interest
with a note on the enclosed
return envelope or by contacting
Curry Board of Directors VicePresident, Jonrie Dávila at
[email protected] or by calling
her at 650-823-3280. You may
also contact Development
Director, Tod Thorpe at
[email protected]
or by calling 415-292-1040.
Does your company
match donations?
If so, make a donation through your
company’s workplace campaign and
double the impact of your donation. Ask
your HR representative at work how.
Donate cereal, peanut butter, new
clothes or hygiene items!
You’ll guarantee that our seniors will
have breakfast, warm clothes and the
basics we take for granted.
Want to stay up-to-date with what’s
happening at Curry Senior Center?
Like us on Facebook and follow us
on Twitter!
CurrySrCenter
@CurrySrCenter
curryseniorcenter.org
Curry Senior Center — 9
Because of You, Bocce Breaks
Another Record for Breakfast!
Have you ever been to an event that you loved? Not so much?
Katie and Bob Sharp (also award recipients at Curry’s Donor & Volunteer Heroes Celebration for being the most loyal and generous donors over the years) are pictured here with friend, Mary, at the Bocce
Competition and Social Event. They also happen to be board member Diane Dwyer’s beloved in-laws.
By Tod Thorpe
I’ve been to hundreds of events and
most of the time I can appreciate the
effort but rarely do they rival at least a
dozen other things that I’d rather be
doing, even if it were with the same
group of people!
Curry’s annual September “Bocce
— A Friendly Competition and
Social,” is one you should never
miss again. In fact, it is what drew
my wife, Mary Dunbar (also a
10 — Curry Senior Center
Fall 2014
development professional) and
me into Curry as donors and then
charmed me into volunteering
on the Curry Board Development
Committee. And then that lead
to the happiest I’ve ever been
professionally, now that I’m on staff!
You should know that you really
have created an oasis of inspiration
and change in the heart of the City
and you should experience it when
you have the chance. Other than
volunteering, this is a wonderful
way to do it!
The Marin Bocce Federation is a
fast trip across the Golden Gate
Bridge and beautiful with voluptuous
rose gardens surrounding all the
courts. The mood is relaxed, casual
and friendly and most of the terrific
people attending have never even
played before.
Three-time Bocce champions from Team Vasco pose and
celebrate. The breakfast OJ and bagels changed soon after to
Ada Knego’s best-ever BBQ and mimosas.
Curry Professionals Founding President Aisha Ahmad in sunny yellow invited her dear friends for their first foray into Curry Bocce
and they loved it! - left to right, Colm O’Riain, Justin Bandy and Emi Suzuki.
Left to right, Edwin Carmona-Cruz, John McKinnon, Rory Volk, Community Programs Supervisor Toby Shorts, and David Bradshaw show off their bocce pride. This team is also joining the Curry
Professionals and Executives Leadership Circle.
Other stand-out qualities are the
donated Noah’s bagels and Peet’s
coffee in the morning, quickly
transitioning to plenty of delicious
mimosas under the gazebo and the
best BBQ you ever had, followed by
great raffle prizes and awards.
And thanks to many of you;
although on Tuesday before the
Saturday event we had only raised
$6,000 towards our $25,000 goal
to support breakfast for Curry
seniors, we cleared $20,000
that morning.
Ultimately, thanks to a very
generous “topping off” donation
from Michelle Rogers of Home
Instead Senior Care in Mountain
View and some straggling
donations following, we surpassed
the goal and raised over $27,000!
Save the date now! The next Curry
Bocce is already scheduled for:
Saturday, September 12, 2015.
curryseniorcenter.org
Curry Senior Center — 11
SF-DPH Community Health Network
333 Turk Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
VERY IMPORTANT DATES!
Zendesk makes a special
announcement benefiting Curry
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Helping Hands Healing Hearts Gala
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Bocce Ball Competition & Social
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Our Mission is to provide services to seniors that
promote independent living while maintaining
their dignity and self-esteem.
STAY TUNED FOR A BIG
SURPRISE NEXT WEEK FROM
CORPORATE PARTNER
We really want to know what you think!
Please respond to the short survey on the
envelope within.
While shopping for the holidays on Amazon.com,
please sign up for Amazon Smile and choose
Tiffany Apczynski, Zendesk Director of Public Affairs, receives the
corporate award for most volunteer hours at the Twitter-hosted Donor
& Volunteer Heroes Celebration on Oct. 9th.
Curry as your benefiting charity of choice.