Community Living Campaign

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.

friends

Cooking with Chef Lorraine: Appetizers 2.0 (Virtual)

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Chef Lorraine brings more stellar appetizer recipes to share and offers tips for giving yourself time to attend your own event.

Menu:
– Cheese balls
– Stuffed Brie (cold or hot)
– Mini quiches

 

Next Chef Lorraine event: Cooking with Chef Lorraine: Holiday Dishes, 12/21 @ 2:30pm

 

 

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Holiday Traditions, Latino Style (Virtual)

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Take a cultural excursion with Olivia and Nicky and welcome Latino flavor and traditions to your holiday celebration, such as the story of the Virgen de Guadalupe and her influence on generations of Mexicanos and Latinos. We’ll explore traditional food and drink, LA Posada and La Pastorela, La Piñata, and authentic arts and crafts to make or buy for the holiday.

 

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Kitchen Wisdom: Easy Herbal Holiday Gifts from your Garden & Kitchen (Virtual)

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Join Marina to learn about very easy gifts to share with loved ones for the holiday season that involve simple ingredients from your garden and kitchen shelves.

 

 

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Day of the Dead Celebration (Virtual)

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On this day Olivia and Nicky will fill you in on their experience of Dia de los Muertos as Mexican-Americans. This now “trendy” event has become a regular part of our Fall celebrations and we want to enlighten you of its significance, history, and the traditions that make it such a rich cultural celebration. We want you to fully enjoy this festive holiday celebrated throughout Latin America.

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Drama with Friends: The Plays of Maury Zeff (Virtual)

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Have fun, enjoy the thrill of the stage, learn and practice new skills, release your inner thespian. Join us for readings of several short plays by playwright and director Maury Zeff. Zeff’s plays and fiction have been performed and published around the country.

Rehearsal is Monday, 10/19 from 4:30-6:30pm; performance is 7-8:30pm that night. Everyone is invited to the performance. If you want to read and are not already on the mailing list, please contact Judy at judygoddess@gmail.com by October 12th.

 

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Let’s Make Stuff with d’Arci Bruno: Everyone’s a Critic! (Virtual)

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Join local artist d’Arci Bruno to learn how to look at art critically.

Art Criticism is a critical analysis of an artwork by taking a detailed look at its pros, cons and merits. What happens when you look at an artwork? What do you see? How did the artist do it? Why did the artist create it and what does it mean? Art criticism is responding to, interpreting meaning, and making critical judgments about specific works of art. Learning to analyze artwork in this way also helps you to be a better artist! In this class we will learn to be objective and how give positive and constructive feedback.

For this class you will need: A piece of your own artwork, or an artwork that you admire to practice analyzation and critique. Pen and paper to take notes with. Feel free to work on a project and just listen in…Doodle while you think and think about WHAT and WHY and HOW you are making that doodle!!

 

To join by phone, dial 888-475-4499 (toll free) or 669-900-6833 (local).
Enter Meeting ID: 865 6747 4200, then press # twice.

To join with video, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/86567474200 to register and join. Wait in the “waiting room” until the activity is ready to start.

To create a friendly environment and minimize interruptions, we will close the activity to new participants 15 minutes after the start time.

The above link will work on your tablet or your computer. You’ll be prompted to download a Zoom app the first time you use Zoom. If you’re using a PC or Mac, you can join from your web browser without using the Zoom software.

Making Pen Pals

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For the past three years, Spring has ushered in the pen pal project at the San Francisco Friends School. It’s the time when 5th graders write letters to seniors attending CLCs community connectors programs. The students share tales of their travels, hobbies, favorite books (some surprisingly sophisticated) and families (pesky younger siblings are common). Then, like all good letter writers they ask questions.

Barbara Fugate from the Cayuga Community Connectors eagerly anticipates the childrens’ letters. She’s so eager, she usually answers letters from three or four students. “I write them back immediately. You never know when you might influence someone, and it’s good to hear what the kids are thinking. Anything that gets kids to read makes me happy.”

Later, we visit the school to tell their stories. Then, sometime in May, we return to see the short skits the students developed from our stories. “I told them about the ghost that lived in a house I rented. That made a good skit – sound effects and all,” Barbara said.

This year, of course, the coronavirus disrupted those plans. The visiting part of the program never happened. Nonetheless, many of us still made new friends. A young woman turned me on to “The Giver” by Lois Lowery; another shared that she had been reading “Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl” and I remembered how I felt when I finished that book.

Jono Gay, who turns 11 in June, and I talked for this story. Jono is an experienced pen pal, having participated in a pen pal program at his other school and occasionally writing his grandfather in Orange County. Jono decided to challenge himself by using an online translation program to write his letter in Chinese and English. Barbara hasn’t received his letter yet, but she’s excited to reply.

This year, knowing that seniors would be home for a very long time and wanting to cheer them up, Caren Andrews, the art teacher for the younger students asked the students in grades kindergarten – 4th to send a drawing to a senior. They had been “studying maps at school before SIP…that is why so many maps arrived with your mailing,” she explained.

For us, said Guybe Slangen, the SFFS Director of Community Engagement, it’s all about “care, connection, and community. They are opportunities for connections where we can show care to learn more about and share with others.”

Those values also hold true for their senior pals.


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Inner Sunset Community Fosters Holiday Connections

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The Inner Sunset Community Connector Networks gathered on December 23rd to share food, conversation and a lively raffle.  Community Connector Marina Lazzara with her daughter and friends as a back-up crew, help make for a lovely party after the regular Always Active Exercise class.   Special thanks to Judy Goddess and other leaders in this community for make this past year such a success.  This includes local leaders who have offered to provide a 100% match to donations up to $10,000.  You can help by visiting this link and making a donation.  

And enjoy some of the pictures from the party!


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St. Francis Square Community Celebrates

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St. Francis Square Co-op was the first neighborhood network, inaugurated with the support of CLC and the Board of St. Francis Square Co-op.  The Community Living Campaign Committee of the Board and network members celebrated their first ten years with a special event on December 8th.   Early founders greeted many new neighbors and remembered those who have passed on who helped create the community ties.  Music, poetry and a visit from Supervisor Valli Brown highlighted the afternoon.  A photo collage brought back memories of activities over the past 10 years that helped weave community.    Take a look below…


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Inner Sunset Community Connectors Reflect on a Successful Year

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group photo of Inner Sunset participants

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Neighbors and Always Active Instructors celebrate one year of Inner Sunset Community Connectors

Before we opened the doors last October 22nd at St. Anne of the Sunset, we had hoped 15 people might attend our our Monday and Thursday afternoon exercise/community building program.  Instead 35 appeared, ready to enjoy the Always Active exercise program. Though most of us lived in the neighborhood, few of us knew one another. The number of participants, and our friendships have only grown from those early days. 

 
One day last summer, when 53 people tried to fit into our summer space at St. John of God, we were in the awkward position of turning away people at the same time we were committed to building community. After several weeks of this, the Community Living Campaign convinced the SF Department of Aging and Adult Services (the city agency that provides the primary funding for this program), to send a second Always Active instructor, allowing us to serve up to 60 people a session.   More recently, CLC convinced DAAS to earmark extra funding for a third day of classes.  On Tuesdays, beginning November 5, we will offer chair yoga and creative dance on alternative weeks.
 
Note from a participant

MAKING FRIENDS: “I feel healthier which is great but I feel most excited about meeting my neighbors. I don’t feel like a stranger out here anymore.” (Note from a participant)

But we don’t only exercise when we come together. About a month into the program, Marina Lazarra, the community connector from the Community Living Campaign, began offering after-exercises activities. The first classes were on gardening and healthy herbs – Marina’s interests – an ongoing memoir writing class, classes on “finding your style,” earthquake safety, how to get most out of your cell phone, a three-session series on Stroke Awareness, and an evening meeting on Loneliness and Social Isolation engaged participants and brought in new members. More than 10 of us participated in a letter exchange with the fifth graders at the SF Friends School, and were thrilled to attend the children’s dramatization of our life stories.

 
It’s all coming together, the way we had hoped. The Always Active exercise program and the after-class workshops have led to the development of new friendships. People arrive before class and stay after to exchange gossip. The more able-bodied members look out for those of us who move slower or are less steady on our feet. We are no longer strangers working out, we’re becoming friends. Thanks to this program, retirement and aging are taking on new meaning in the Inner Sunset.  
 
Want to help? Right now, we have a matching gift of up to $10,000. Please donate now to double your impact!
 
(Enjoy a few pictures from the November 4th Anniversary Celebration and Thank You Event)