NPC's Stewardship Luncheon/Friendraiser: Wednesday, May 14th

Our 4th Annual Stewardship Awards Luncheon and Friendraiser on Wednesday, May 14th was our most successful ever! Thank you so much to everyone who attended and donated.

Special thanks to the winning park groups for their tireless dedication throughout the year. Thanks also to Supervisor Chu, for joining us at our annual awards luncheon, and to Mike Farrah, Director of the Office of Neighborhood Services, for presenting the awards. We are also grateful to our distinguished panel of judges for their hard work to select the winners:

ERICK ARGUELLO, President, Lower 24th Street Merchants and Neighborhood Association
CATHY MERRILL, President of Merrill Morris Partners, Inc., Landscape Architects and Planners
MARK SCHEUER, Friends of Duboce Park
KELLY QUIRKE, Executive Director, Friends of the Urban Forest
DEE DEE WORKMAN, Executive Director, San Francisco Beautiful

We also wish to thank our sponsors for funding the prizes and supporting this event. Special appreciation also goes out to our table captains for inviting new friends into our circle.

Click here for more photos from the event! Click here to download the program.

ABOUT THE NOMINATION PROCESS

Park groups and volunteers from around the City were nominated to be recognized for their outstanding achievement; they are all, of course, doing magnificent work in our parks- from leading walking tours and hosting themed park work days and events to undertaking major capital improvements. Decision-making was extremely difficult as all of the applicants love their parks, are deserving of recognition, and bring tremendous value to San Francisco’s neighborhood parks.

The award review panel comprised of community leaders, former award winners and philanthropy professionals evaluated all of the applicants on the following merits:
1. Organizing efforts
2. Advocacy work
3. Fundraising skill
4. Participation in park maintenance and beautifications
5. Sustainability of the group and broad community support
6. Creative approaches to their work

PARK GROUP WINNERS

First Place: $2,500 - Friends of Balboa Park Playground
Friends of Balboa Park Playground began with two parents collecting signatures at the Excelsior Festival in Fall 2006 and a few more distributing flyers in trick-or-treat bags on Halloween. Local residents – including parents who had played on the same structures when they were children – were inspired at the potential for a new, safe place in their neighborhood for families to play.

Balboa Park has great open space, but the only playground within walking distance was built in the 60’s and had rusty and sharp edges, protruding nails, broken equipment and no play space for smaller kids. The playground received a “D” in NPC’s 2006 Playground Report Card but was not made a priority for renovation by the City.

Through the hard work of the group and a generous playground donation, Balboa Park now has a new playground. The new playground was the ultimate accomplishment, but getting there was just as important. The group made new friends, their kids got to know each other and together they experienced a civics lesson in action. Their work continues as they received a $75,000 grant to provide safe access to the playground from the Community Challenge Grant Program.

Second Place: $1,500- Friends of Cabrillo Playground
Playgrounds build community. Cabrillo Playground has suffered from broken glass in the sandboxes, overgrown shrubbery, litter, plumbing problems and graffiti, made those who frequent it feel frustrated. This group brought the community together through work parties organized to sift sandboxes and remove litter. Working with City gardeners, shrubbery and plantings have been pruned, and Rec/Park is quickly apprised of need to remove graffiti or repair damaged equipment. The play structures got a fresh coat of paint, the broken tire swing was replaced and the huge metal container box was removed to give children back their space. There is a revitalized attitude at Cabrillo playground as neighbors get together for clean-up days and meetings. It is no longer a neglected playground and parents feel better taking their children there.

Third Place: $1000- Friends of Upper Douglass Dog Park
Friends of Upper Douglass Dog Park transformed a scraggly, un-loved looking space into a community centerpiece. By organizing innovative and spirited fundraising events such as Dogtoberfest and large-scale self-care programs, the park group brings together a broad range of stakeholders. The group is thankful not only for great volunteers and park users who make the space a great place for dogs and people, but also for the way in which they have received feedback and cooperation from the community. They enjoy the excellent relationship they have forged with both NPC and the Rec and Park staff who guide and assist them in achieving their goals.

The final recognition goes to an organization without whom are parks simply would not have the artistic beauty they help the community provide.

Honorable Mention: Precita Eyes: Mosaic Tile Project with the Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon and the Excelsior
In the summer of 2007, Precita Eyes, a Mission-based community mural arts organization, led three design workshops in the community for children youth and adults to craft mosaic tile designs for four cement benches and one cement boat at Crocker Amazon Playground. Precita Eyes founded, Susan Cervantes, helped the Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon (FACE) and the Excelsior realize their dream of creating a lasting art piece that all members of their community to help to create regardless of age, ability or language. The result of months upon months of tireless oversight by Susan and her team and hundreds of volunteer hours by FACE’s Linda, Linda and Grace has been not only a set of magnificent, glittering gems in the playground, but a renewed sense of attachment to the neighborhood park.

DONATIONS

We are excited to report that we had more guests donate than ever before, and that we have raised more than $12,000 during the one-hour event! We are grateful to everyone who gave and who helped to spread the word about NPC's work in our city's parks.