Uncategorized

“Groceries for Seniors” Helps Out All Year Long

Published

10 years ago

December 27, 2015

By Ed Carpenter, USF News

If you’re looking for good tidings this season, look no further than San Francisco’s Groceries for Seniors (GFS). For 16 years, a handful of USF staff have led the nonprofit’s efforts to feed the city’s low-income senior citizens.

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Each week, GFS distributes free bags of groceries to more than 1,000 seniors. The bags are filled with wholesome food: chicken, rice, bananas, eggs, and more, and delivered to apartments and homes.

“Most, if not all, seniors we deliver to live on a fixed income,” says David Philpott ’93, MPA ’97, GFS president and USF director of employee and labor relations. “We help them stretch their dollars a little farther, which can be a big help — especially during this time of ballooning costs in San Francisco.”

Philpott is one of six USFers on GFS’s executive board, which includes Shawn Calhoun ’97, EdD ’12, associate dean at Gleeson Library; Kevin Leong ’70, MHROD ’93, associate director of alumni relations; Todd Sayres, a business professor; Diane Nelson, human resources director; and alumnus Carl Gayden ’98, MBA ’10. USF students too often volunteer.

Charles Young has been a GFS recipient for more than five years. A retired senior who lives at Western Park Apartments in the Western Addition neighborhood, Young says he and others look forward to the nonprofit’s Tuesday deliveries.

“It’s a very popular service. There’s always a long line, about 100 of us,” Young says.

A similar number of seniors receive groceries at the International Hotel, a low-income residential hotel at the corner of Kearny and Jackson streets, where the average age of residents is 80, says Diana Pang, a resident services coordinator for Chinatown Community Development Center at I-Hotel.

“Groceries for Seniors really helps offset the residents’ costs so that they can pay for medication, transportation, and housing,” Pang says. “It also brings everyone together and helps to build community, because they all come downstairs to the lobby at the same time on Thursdays to pick up their groceries.”

GFS fosters leadership as well, since rotating teams of seniors manage the intake of groceries, monitor and record who picks up a bag, and follows up with those who were expected but missed — checking on them, Pang says.

With just two part-time employees, a program director, and a delivery driver, GFS runs on a shoestring budget and relies on donations from places like the San Francisco and Marin Food Bank as well as volunteers.

About 5 percent of GFS’ food is donated by Whole Foods Market on Haight Street, Haight Street Market, and Falletti Foods on Broderick Street.

“These are overstock, perishable items that our grocery donors place in bins, and that we pick up four times a week,” says Tom Beaver, program director. “It’s a win-win: Our clients get quality items from these upscale shops and, at the same time, the items don’t end up going bad and getting dumped in the trash.”

The groceries are sorted and bagged daily at Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral, before being loaded and heading off to where there’s bound to be a line of folks waiting for them.

For more information go to www.usfca.edu/news/love-and-groceries

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Uncategorized

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

12 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.