Mary Hunt

Judy Goddess, Good Neighbor and Community Catalyst

June 3, 2019 by Mary Hunt

Each year, our Good Neighbor Awards honor some of the dedicated neighbors who volunteer their time to help seniors and people with disabilities get the resources and support they need to age and thrive in their own homes and neighborhoods. We are delighted to honor Judy as our 2019 Community Catalyst Good Neighbor Honoree.

“Community catalyst” describes Judy Goddess perfectly. She received her Good Neighbor Award for spearheading not one, but three projects.

Senior Beat
First, she developed the reporting project, providing articles and a column on seniors in neighborhood newspapers. She recruited two other reporters through the CLC ReServe program, and the venture grew into an online magazine for older adults called Senior Beat.

Always Active
Next, Judy organized an Always Active class in her own neighborhood which has become the Inner Sunset Community Connector Program. As she walks to class, she sees people lined up early to ensure a place.

Third Project
Then, the San Francisco Friends School called CLC looking for seniors who their 5^th grade students could interview. Judy is particularly fond of mixed generation projects so she set up a program with this Quaker school.

When asked where she gets her energy, Judy says, “I love meeting people, especially the seniors. They’re making such interesting lives for themselves and are so resilient. I’m really inspired by them.”

Rae Doyle Has Covered Local News for 20 Years

April 14, 2018 by Mary Hunt

Rae Doyle has been sharing neighborhood stories in the West Portal Monthly for two decades. (Photo by Mary Hunt)

SENIOR BEAT – Rae Doyle has introduced her neighborhood to a variety of local people they might never have noticed.

As associate editor of the West Portal Monthly over the past 20 years, she has treated readers to a panoply of profiles of interesting neighbors and small business owners, from the Vietnam War dog handler Dr. Alan Walden to David Neumann of Orthodox Chews, the not-especially-kosher salt water taffy.

Doyle came to journalism after raising five children, retiring from AT&T, and earning a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from San Francisco State University. What to do next?

The answer lay right across the street from her. A builder began developing Edgehill Mountain, and Doyle’ss first news articles for the West Portal Monthly chronicled the neighborhood’s desire to keep it an urban forest. The Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association eventually had Edgehill zoned as a park to stop further building.

Blockbuster a kind of booster

Then, an attempt by Blockbuster Video to establish a store on West Portal Avenue pointed the way toward her series of neighborhood profiles. “City neighborhoods at this time were trying to preserve the ‘village feel’ of the neighborhood shopping streets by keeping chain stores at bay,” she said.

Chains generally had very little window appeal, tended to attract other chains and forced out smaller shops. Starbucks, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Noah’s Bagels had already made inroads. And, it would have put more stress on parking, always at a premium.

Besides, the neighborhood already had two such stores, Diamond Video and Home Video, that were locally owned.

Blockbuster’s market research had failed to register the neighborhood’s irritation with chains. “Instead of approaching the neighborhood as one would a skittish horse, they forged ahead without informing the community of their plans,” Rae wrote in April, 1999.

Neighborhood association members obtained 4,000 signatures on a petition to stop Blockbuster, mustered a sizable crowd of demonstrators and marched up and down West Portal Avenue in protest.

After several trips to city hall and petitions on both sides, Blockbuster eventually pulled out of negotiations.

It was a victory for the community – and her. “I won a lot of points with my kids for getting involved with GWPNA and demonstrating,” she said.

The story behind the story

It wasn’t the first time her work earned points. In 1942, Rae interviewed a Hawaiian girl, who had been sent to live with relatives because her parents feared another attack on Hawaii, for her high school newspaper. The girl pointed out that Hawaii was not interning Japanese people even though it was far more susceptible to espionage and attack than California. The reason was that the Hawaiian economy would collapse if the Japanese were interned because they held so many jobs and owned so many businesses. Columbus (Ohio) University included the article in its quarterly compilation of best high school newspaper articles.

After blocking Blockbuster, Doyle became interested in local business providers, and thought residents might like to know more about them, too. The shop that would have been most affected by a Blockbuster move-in was Home Video, a small video rental store on West Portal Avenue.

But she found a much bigger story than she’d expected when she interviewed owners Jesse and Gus Peña.

Born in Cuba, the brothers had been part of a massive resettlement of Cuban children to the United States between 1960 and 1962. Cuban parents were afraid their children would be recruited into Castro’s militias, or forced into government indoctrination camps.

Kept secret in both Cuba and the United States, the Catholic Church and the U.S. government organized “Operation Pedro Pan,” in which 14,000 children were issued visa waivers and flown to Miami.

The idea was that their parents would join them within months. But when the Cuban missile crisis ended all flights between Havana and the U.S., the children were stranded, stuck in orphanages, foster homes, and even homes for delinquents, in 35 states across the country.

“Jesse and Gus were lucky,” said Doyle. “Their parents got out of Cuba nine months before the flights ended. But some children never saw their parents again until they were grown.”

Locals who opened businesses

Doyle then embarked on a series of profiles of West Portal merchants who grew up in the neighborhood and opened businesses here. Maryo Mogannum of Postal Chase, Paul Barbagelata of the realty company, and Matt Rogers of Papenhausen Hardware were some of her subjects.

She has also written two profiles of Ursula Marsten, who just closed her White Rose boutique in February after 27 years on West Portal Avenue. The first story began: “When a chic black dress was stolen from a mannequin in front of the White Rose, proprietor Ursula Marsten speculated that the thief was young. Why? ‘Well, the thief didn’t take the hat that went with it,’ she said.”

Doyle loved doing those merchant profiles, she said. “I’d go in expecting a straightforward tale and suddenly it would just blossom into a fascinating, much bigger story.”

Now 92, Doyle said she knows she will run out of steam eventually. In the meantime, she has archived source material on local issues and neighborhood history to sort through. She plans to donate it to the library.

And she feels lucky. “I have choices and options. I own my own home, my children live near me. I’ve been able to stay busy with GWPNA and writing for West Portal Monthly.”

Praise for intergenerational programs

She’s currently working on a story about how Papenhausen Hardware employees are faring during repairs after a fire in January damaged the store, a next-door newsstand and hair salon.

As to the future, she’s not sure. “I don’t know that I want to live in a home surrounded by other elderly people in various stages of decline. But do I want someone to live in and take care of me? I don’t know about that, either.”

What would she like to see on a policy level that would help her and others as they grow older?

“Intergenerational programs,” she said without hesitation. “The Dutch have built housing for 20 somethings and older people to live in together. Both generations benefit: The elders have younger people to carry packages and program their phones; the younger people have the benefit of the elders’ wisdom and experience.

“When governments and people improve conditions for the elderly, they are really investing in their own future–for themselves when they age—which, trust me, WILL happen to you, too!”

Contact Mary at mhunt-seniorbeat@sfcommunityliving.org

Miraloma Park Focuses on Building Neighborhood Resilience

November 15, 2017 by Mary Hunt

SENIOR BEAT – In late October, the Miraloma Park Improvement Club threw a Neighbor Fest. Some 450 neighbors came.

Miraloma Park Community Connector Darlene Ramlose describes emergency supplies. (Photo by Gene Cohn)

Like other Neighborfests around the city, the purpose was to gather people together and turn “strangers into neighbors and neighbors into friends.” This Fest, however, also included extensive disaster preparedness information along with the hotdogs, coloring books, and camaraderie.

The Neighborhood Empowerment Network, one of the co-sponsors, promotes the idea that neighborhoods can become more resilient in the face of disaster if the residents are prepared to handle emergency situations, especially if they’re already looking out for each other on an everyday basis.

To that end, Miraloma Park Improvement Club members and the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team manned booths, along with city agencies and the firefighters from Station 39 on Portola, to help people learn specific ways to maintain safety during and after a disaster.

NERT members demonstrated how to pack a “go bag” for adults and kids to keep under family members’ beds – at the ready if you have to leave in a hurry in the middle of the night, as Santa Rosans did recently in the North Bay wildfires.

Darlene Ramlose, NERT team leader, showed how the tightly packed plastic bags fit into the capacious red go bag. You must have clothes, shoes, flashlight, prescriptions, photo ID, copies of insurance policies, leases. Pack cash in small bills (ATMs won’t work in a disaster and no one will have change, so make it $5s and $1s).

They also handed out lists of emergency supplies and how to prepare your home for a disaster. Other necessities include battery or hand-crank radio and a first aid kit.

In the next booth, Firefighter Hashim Anderson demonstrated how to turn off your home’s gas at the meter, or at the valve under the small manhole cover on the sidewalk in front of your house: Pry the cover off with a long—very long—screwdriver and turn the valve from 12 noon to 9 p.m. with a wrench. He also went over how to change old-fashioned fuses—make sure you replace each one with the same color new one.

Miraloma Park neighbors learn how to use a fire extinguisher. (Photo by Gene Cohn)

One of the most popular stops was Fire Investigator Barbara Brooks’ booth in which she showed everyone, including kids, how to operate a fire extinguisher. “PAS” is the key word—Pull the pin at the top of the extinguisher, Aim the nozzle at the bottom of the fire close to the ground, and Squeeze the trigger, directing the stream of retardant higher as the flames nearing the ground are put out.

“The scoop on poop” booth presented a no-nonsense solution to disposal of human waste if the water is turned off during an emergency. Line the inside of the toilet with two heavy duty layers of tall kitchen trash bags. When ready, seal top bag tightly, remove it and put it inside another heavy duty trash bag. Seal the second bag tightly and place in a garbage bin–et voila! Oh, and add another trash bag to replace the old one.

The event also showcased emergency equipment secured by the MPIC in the participatory budgeting process last year. The neighborhood now has a solar generator to provide power, pop-up tents to provide shelter, radios for the disaster team to remain in contact, and emergency sanitation equipment.

City agencies also contributed their expertise. The Department of Emergency Management mapped the neighborhood’s emergency resources. PGE demonstrated the city’s power grid, the Community Living Campaign signed up older adults for an exercise class—the first step for some 40 seniors to leave their homes and begin engaging in exercise and companionship.

All in all, it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood Emergency Response Team training is offered by professional San Francisco firefighters. Contact 415-970-2022 or visit www.sfgov.org/sfnert for a schedule of free training in your neighborhood. A training session is scheduled to start in January at Station 39 on Portola.

Art With Elders Program Harnesses Creativity and Yields Greater Health

November 1, 2017 by Mary Hunt

Art with Elders celebrated its 25th anniversary in October with a lively reception and art exhibit at Laguna Honda Hospital’s Gerald Simon Theater.

SENIOR BEAT – Many of the students in the Art with Elders program have overcome significant physical and cognitive obstacles to produce their art, including the loss of the use of their dominant hand.

“One of our objectives is to promote how our students use their wisdom and experience to overcome these obstacles. It’s tough!” said Mark Campbell, executive director of the program. “And we want to let people know how they do it.”

An annual exhibition –most recently in October celebrating the program’s 25th anniversary – offer the artists a public display of their work, as well as the experience of having their art go through a jury process. What does the jury look for in the submitted artwork? First, Campbell said, they evaluate the level of risk that a student takes, either by using materials in a different way or by choosing a political or socially conscious subject. Next, the jury considers the level of virtuosity demonstrating the students can learn skills and progress as an artist. Finally, the jury considers the overall aesthetics of the piece, how it works as a whole.

AWE now provides 2,000 art classes per year for more than 400 seniors in long-term care facilities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Students gather in small classes for two hours a week to learn skills and to create their own art. The program’s focus is on building solid abilities in the elements of visual art, color and composition to perspective and background. “It’s also the first opportunity many of our students have had in decades to explore their creativity, and just have fun with it and with each other,” said Campbell.

Besides providing social contact with like-minded residents, the program helps challenge the stereotype that aging inevitably means isolation and decline. A 2006 controlled research study, Aging and the Creative Arts, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, measured the results of taking part in a professionally conducted art program on the health and well-being of older adults.

Fewer doctor visits reported

The outcome? Seniors who participated in the arts had fewer doctor visits, took less medication, suffered fewer falls, and reported better morale. Those in control groups experienced an overall decline in health.

The AWE program confirms these findings in every class, said Campbell. “Art With Elders uses the power of art, creativity and community to enrich the journey of aging.”

Artist and Laguna Honda resident Ida Marksman says she feels happiest in the art studio.

The anniversary exhibit showcased 90 pieces of the most outstanding student artwork, juried by a panel of professional artists. Each piece of professionally framed art includes a photograph and a brief biography of the artist, to give an idea of the person behind the artwork.

Sitting in the light-drenched Laguna Honda hospital art studio, resident artist Ida Marksman said, “I feel “happiest in this place, here with a brush in my hand. I feel more alive.”

Check the AWE website for more exhibit locations in 2018. For more of the work done by artists at Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, click here.

West Portal Seniors Happy to Be Back at Their Favorite Hangout

October 1, 2017 by Mary Hunt

The West Portal Clubhouse is home to youth programs in the summer and senior activities in the winter. (Photo courtesy of S.F. Recreation & Parks Dept.)

SENIOR BEAT – It’s that time of year again: Kids are back in school. And seniors are back at their beloved West Portal Clubhouse.

The Self Help for the Elderly program has just returned from the Ingleside Presbyterian church on Ocean Avenue. In the summer months, an all-day youth program takes over the clubhouse. While the church has more space than the clubhouse – enough to play badminton indoors —the seniors prefer their clubhouse atop the West Portal tunnel at 131 Lenox Way.

“It’s cozier,” said Agnes and John, program members who come nearly every day for the hot lunch and activities provided. The walls are decorated with murals by the kids in the after-school program with whom they share the clubhouse during the school year.

Birthday parties monthly

Lance Ma, the center’s director, said the program serves up to 85 hot lunches every day but Thursday. They also have a party every month for birthdays. On those days. when there’s a large sheet cake after lunch, he said, “we frequently serve up to 125.”

As volunteers prepare to serve lunch, the tables fill up with groups who call back and forth to each other. Jeremy, a volunteer for four months, serves lunch with the instincts of a good waiter—he just glances at a table and immediately sees who didn’t get an orange or who’s ready for a top-up of tea.

In addition to the hot lunch, which includes plenty of time for socializing with old and new friends, the center offers table tennis, karaoke, line dancing, exercise classes, Qigong, health and field trips. They also put on safety workshops, on topics such as, how to recognize and prevent scams targeting the elderly), and field trips.

The center works because West Portal seniors are so friendly and so generous, said Ma. “They feel at home at the center. This is their time together, they have each other.”

In honor of a supervisors’ parents

The West Portal program opened two years ago when Supervisor Norman Yee invited Self Help for the Elderly to start a lunch program in the clubhouse. From his experience with his own parents, he knew local seniors would benefit from a healthy lunch and an opportunity to socialize. He just didn’t know how many seniors might attend.

The program launched with a neighborhood open house, and word of mouth did the rest. Within two months, 75 seniors were regularly attending.

Yee wishes his parents had been able to take advantage of program like this when they were still alive, and he’s working to identify new locations and resources to expand senior programming.

“I know there are still many isolated seniors across my district and throughout our city who could benefit from nutritional meals, exercise and other social activities which connect them to one another,” he said.

The West Portal Clubhouse is a club where everyone takes care of each other, said Ma.

“We’re a safety net. When someone is missing, their friends call, and if there’s a problem they let me know,” he said. Ma then calls or schedules a home visit to see what the community can do to help. Often, some of the seniors will accompany her on these visits, bringing food and friendship.

The interior of the West Portal Clubhouse. (Photo courtesy of the S.F. Recreation & Parks Dept.)

But it’s not just good food and good care. Back at the clubhouse, Agnes and John agree that they keep coming back to the program because it’s fun.

Call the clubhouse at (415) 753-7038 to reserve a space on one of the special party days. Otherwise, just show up and test your ping pong prowess — but only if you’re a senior.

Call Supervisor Yee at (415) 554-6516 if you have a proposal for senior programming in your neighborhood.

Judy Goddess, Good Neighbor and Community Catalyst