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.

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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)
 
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Good Neighbors Gather To Celebrate and To Honor

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The Annual Good Neighborhood Event brought together an even bigger group of leaders on Saturday, June 8 as we gather at the ARC. Each year, staff and participants in each of the CLC programs picks a community member who has gone above and beyond to help their neighbors and provide leadership to the community. We are pleased to present this year’s list of honorees. They include:

  • Mary Crenshaw, Bayview
  • Deb Padilla, Cayuga Community Connectors
  • Esselene Stancil, Computers & Access
    Marlene Olivencia , Inner Sunset Community Connectors
  • Reiko Hatakayama, Merced Extension Triangle Community Connectors
  • Evernease Cook, Midtown Terrace Community Connectors
  • Guido Van Rijn, Miraloma Community Connectors
  • Leroy Lindo, OMI Food Network
  • Judy Goddess, Community Catalyst
  • Rose Sharkey, St. Francis Square Network
  • Alice Guidry, Sunnyside Community Connectors
  • Michael S. Silver, Vision & Hearing Program 
  • Robin Evans, SF ReServe / Senior Beat 

See these and other “good neighbors” in the photo album below. 

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2018 Annual Award Event A Wonderful Community Gathering

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Our annual award event was filled with warmth and friendship with so many helping us mark our 10-year anniversary and honor this year’s Awardee, Ashley McCumber, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels San Francisco.  Enjoy the pictures and plan to join us again next year.  Thanks to all event and raffle sponsors and attendees for support. If you missed the party, but would still like to help us move with strength into our next decade, make a donation today.
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Celebrating the ‘Good Neighbors’ Who Build Community Across San Francisco

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prize baskets on a table

Gifts from the Neighborhoods: Baskets created by each program and neighborhood were among the prizes for this year’s Good Neighbors.

Neighbors throughout San Francisco are at the heart of creating community. In every CLC program, there are many people who share their time and talents to improve lives of fellow  seniors and people with disabilities. These dedicated neighbors who share their lifetime of experience and talents demonstrate just how much better we can make our communities when we create opportunities for everyone to contribute. 

Each year, CLC hosts a citywide “Good Neighbor” party to  thank these neighborhood volunteers for their countless contributions and to honor those in their midst who inspire others in CLC’s neighborhoods and programs.  

The afternoon included great food from Mission Language and Vocational School, appetizers from our own Lizette Martinez, and homemade strawberry shortcake from our own Kate Kuckro. Folks also enjoyed a CLC Trivia game, a free prize drawing of themed basics from the different neighborhoods and projects, and fun photos. As one neighbor said, “we come from the north and the south, the east and the west and we join together to learn from one another.”

Honoring Outstanding Neighborhood Volunteers

This year’s Good Neighbor honorees – all seniors or people with disabilities themselves – have contributed in a wide range of ways. But across the board, all are quick to offer help in whatever ways they can.  The Honorees help with computers, offer rides, share garden cuttings, host gatherings around the piano, organize neighbors, pack groceries, offer hearing screenings, and reach out to local businesses.

This year’s Good Neighbor Awards go to…

Some of the "good neighbors"

A Reservoir of Talent: Good Neighbor Honorees share their time and skills to improve their communities.

  • Carmelita Lozano, Cayuga Connectors
  • Nan Park, St. Francis Square Network
  • Ruth Dark, Bayview Food Network/Connectors
  • Carolyn Taylor , OMI Food Network
  • Victor Lam, Computers & Access
  • Steven Lopez & N. California Hearing & Speech Center, Vision & Hearing
  • Brenda Billings, Events
  • Marc Christensen, Merced Extension Triangle Community Connectors

These special neighbors will be honored again at CLC’s 10 year anniversary event on September 20th.

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St. Francis Square Shows the Way

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Article by Betty Traynor, Convenor

Since 2010, the Community Living Campaign has been active at St. Francis Square (SFQ), a 50 year plus residential cooperative founded by the ILWU with close to 300 units in the Western Addition, across from Japantown. Our CLC group founded by Marcia Peterzell and Linda Silver was a very welcome addition to the Square as there are many seniors living here, who moved in when they were “kids” in the ‘60s and ‘70s and are now aging in place. Many seniors welcomed the chance to join the CLC committee to learn about issues important to them, to exercise together, and to just have fun.

The CLC sponsors birthday parties through the year where everyone is invited to celebrate those with birthdays in the past four months, with party favors, music and gifts. We have Coffee and Conversation three Friday mornings a year with breakfast snacks and relevant speakers on hearing, the vial of life, health issues, and aging empowerment to name a few. One of our members, Jimmy Bynum, started up a weekly Walking Group on Wednesday mornings to get around our delightful neighborhood from the Fillmore to Japantown and in between. To specifically help those in need at SFQ, the CLC group formed “Neighbor to Neighbor” soliciting volunteers from all our residents who could be called on to give a hand: give a drive to the grocery store or medical appointment, move a couch, walk a dog. The volunteers are on-call and not far away. Our monthly meetings on second Tuesday mornings in our Social Hall are when we plan all that is coming up and look back on what we’ve done to improve for next time.

We decided recently that we needed to add some enjoyable “outside the Square” activities, so we’ve met for happy hour at a local club, Sheba Lounge on Fillmore, and one of our Square members who owns Picnic on Third restaurant in SOMA invited us to check it out for lunch a few months ago. We not only had a great meal but were treated as honored elders by the owner and her staff. So for now that is the Community Living Campaign at St. Francis Square Cooperative—ready, willing and able to be there for each other and to have fun along the way.   For more information, contact Betty Traynor at btraynor@att.net.

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Good Neighbors Celebration Honors CLC Volunteers

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On Saturday, CLC hosted our first even Good Neighbor Block Party to thank the many neighbors and community-members who are creating the connections seniors and people with disabilities need to age and thrive in their own neighborhoods.

The event thanked neighbors connected to CLC programs across San Francisco, and also honored seven neighborhood volunteers whose efforts who go way beyond what is expected and are role models for what it means to be a good neighbor. The honorees included:
Vernice Ross, Bayview Food Network –

Mel Noguerra, Cayuga Community Connectors –
Jim Stevens, Computer Training & Access – 
Donna Wilmott, Connections for Healthy Aging – 
Paul Hendrickson, Laguna Honda Computer Club – 
Ned Reese, OMI/Parkmerced Food Network – 
Jimmye Bynum, St. Francis Square – 

We are so grateful for all of their contributions to cultivating connections their communities Stay tuned for more stories about some of the amazing contributions these volunteers have made in their neighborhoods.

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So Many Ways for People to Connect and Have Fun in the Cayuga Neighborhood

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You may not have heard about the Cayuga neighborhood before, but that is changing!   This neighborhood and its leaders, including Rev. Glenda Hope and  CLC Community Connector Patti Spaniak, are being honored by the Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) as the “Come Back Neighborhood of the Year.”   The event is being held on January 27th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.  at City Hall.  NEN awards is a partnership between the Neighborhood Empowerment Network and the Community Challenge Grant Program of the City and County of San Francisco to produce an annual celebration in honor of the individuals and organizations that take an active role in improving SF neighborhoods.  For more info and to register, go to at http://empowersf.org/nenawards/.

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While it promises to be a wonderful event, it can’t match the neighborhood’s local  Holiday Potluck and Sing-A-Long held in early December, as you can see by the pictures below.

And here are the highlights of coming events:

Saturday, January 9 at 11:00am ** Wear Blue**
National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day

Join your neighbors at Ingelside Police Station located at Balboa Park at 11:00am. It’s National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day! Volunteers from Cayuga are signed-up to show support with an afternoon meal! The officers will have ‘round the clock attention from all the neighborhoods they serve. Do you have a special cake? dish? or beverage? we can share? We need cooks, servers and general support to make the event extra special.  Together we can show our support for the Officers that work in our community.

Friday, January 15 at 11:00am **Type 2 Diabetes**
A lecture on Diabetes by our very own Jane Merschan a licensed Medical Technician with years of experience working the medical profession. Jane will share helpful information regarding the Type 2 diabetes. (at Bethel).  Type 2 diabetes is a common and increasingly prevalent illness that is largely preventable. Did you know that 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes, 8.1 million of whom may be undiagnosed and unaware of their condition.

Wednesday, January 27 at 11:00am **Congratulate the Captain**
Captain McFadden is back to share news regarding the safety and welfare of our community! The Captain was voted the SF Most Empowering City Employee of the Year! We are so fortunate to have the Captain in our neighborhood. Come out, show your support, ask questions—-share concerns! (at Bethel)

FEBRUARY COMING SOON ***Lecture by a Pharmacists from Daniels!
Get your questions ready!

MARCH COMING SOON ***Cayuga Stairs Mural project AND Resiliency Kits coming!

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