BIRTHDAY TURNS TO FLASH FUNDRAISER
Just days before the recent 50th birthday lunch for Gina Pell, the devastating Wine Country fires engulfed that region in flames. And her business-writing partner in the What newsletter, Amy Parker, was evacuated from her Napa home.
But rather than cancel her fete with her family and some 70 women at Benihana restaurant in San Francisco’s Japantown, the Internet entrepreneur jumped into action.
She first joined forces with her pals, artists Annie Galvin and Galvin’s husband, Eric
Rewitzer, who announced a two-day flash California Wildfire Relief online fundraiser from their 3 Fish Studios in the Outer Sunset.
The talented couple offered to donate 100 percent of sales from their famed “I Love You California” print — the state bear hugging a California map. Then Pell’s husband, tech entrepreneur and NextDraft founder-author
Dave Pell, pledged to match the total they raised, generating a final tally of $100K. In just 48 hours. With her co-party planner and dear friend
Zem Joaquin, Pell emailed her guests the day before her birthday, hoping they would still attend — as a respite from the week’s harrowing events and to formulate future relief efforts.
But before that email went out, Pell was back at it, coordinating food procurement and delivery to assist fire shelter volunteers.
Eventually guests engaged in some brief birthday frivolity, led by Dave Pell, who crafted a pitch devoted to teasing his wife about her Perennial concept — replete with hashtags, memes, bumper stickers and a hilarious branding campaign.
Yet his awe for his wife of 25 years was sincere and heartfelt.
“In ‘bro’ culture there’s a joke about women you describe as a 10-4: Far away they look like a ‘10’ but closer up, it’s more like a ‘4,’ ” he explained. “So it’s perfect that it’s Gina’s 50th, because Gina is a ‘10-50’ — the closer you get to her the more awesome she is. She grabs everyone in the world, especially women, and draws them in, inspiring them with her energy to realize their own power to get things done.”
Pool party: The 25th anniversary Pool Toss benefiting Tenderloin families and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation was a tender swan song for Bonhams chairman Laura King Pfaff and philanthropist Jim Losi.
After 18 devoted years, these skilled event co-chairs — perhaps the longest-running partnership on the EssEff charity scene — officially hung up their towels and stepped away from the Phoenix Hotel pool.
Theirs was an amazing run — considering neither Pfaff nor Losi had a clue what this wild, wacky and wet event was when they were first drafted to support it.
On the afternoon of the first Pool Toss, Losi’s boss at Charles Schwab informed him, that day, that he’d be participating in the inaugural event. “Robin Williams was the big star that year. And his mother asked me why I was so nervous about going onstage,” recalls Losi, with a laugh. “I explained I wasn’t a celebrity, I had no idea why I was there, and I didn’t understand what TNDC did.”
This year, a record $483K was raised for Tenderloin families and the TNDC housing and programs that support them on Oct. 11. Supporters including ABC7News producer
Cheryl Jennings, co-host Brian Copeland, famed foodie Tori Ritchie, Chronicle Style writer Tony Bravo and the inimitable bandleader Bud E. Luv (a.k.a. Robert Vickers) presided over a rollicking program that featured local celebs (including gallerist Jessica Silverman, Carpenters 46 executive director Bill Feyling, Milpitas Mayor Richard Tran, the filmmaking women of Pixar 2 and Mark Leno, decked out as Humpty Trumpty on his wall) taking the plunge for big bucks.
Over 25 years, the Pool Toss, founded by Phoenix Hotel co-owner Chip Conley (also global head of hospitality at Airbnb), has raised $5.42 million while developing 40 properties with more than 3,000 affordable residences. And 15 more affordable Tenderloin building projects are in the pipeline.
“A quarter of our residents are transitioning out of homelessness and the rest subsist on $1,000 or less a month,” explains TNDC CEO
Don Falk. “We’re just one group serving the lowest income people in San Francisco, trying to make a dent in our neighborhood in terms of preserving San Francisco as a city for everyone.”
But Falk strives to encompass more than just housing. The organization also serves more than 4,100 seniors, families and people with disabilities. Its afterschool program has enriched the lives of some 5,000 children by providing them with counseling, sandwiches, holiday gifts, educational assistance and college tours.
“Housing is essential but we’re determined to be holistic in our services,” Falk says. “We run community gardens and a food program gathering leftovers from Heart of the City Farmers’ Market that we distribute the next morning. We hope to open a grocery store for our Tenderloin residents. Our families are hungry for all kinds of change.”
Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicle’s society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow