San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
@MissBigelow
San Franciscans aiding the world’s refugee children.
Today around the globe, in the shadows of multiple wars crossing borders, some 50 million children have been forced from their homes. UNICEF — the United Nation’s Children’s Fund — is a key safety net, on site in more than 190 countries. The organization delivers aid for these young people ranging from health care, clean water and nutrition to emergency relief, polio vaccines and education.
The organization held its second gala in San Francisco Saturday, September 22, at the Four Seasons Hotel, and UNICEF President Caryl Stern noted that the city is a key locale for that mission. San Francisco is a city that takes strong stands on refugee issues.
“UNICEF is committed to attaining a world in which children are not called refugees; they’re not called migrants. Nor are they known by a number, the geography of their birth or the borders they were born between,” declared Stern. “These are not Syrian children or Guatemala’s children. They are just children, who should not be caught up in the politics of our adult world.”
The heartfelt event attracted 350 guests, who raised $520,000 at this dinner-auction.
Yet this was no mere exercise in black-tie swanning and photo opps. Guests heard and saw the children’s stories in such displays as a mobile tent classroom and a virtual reality film, “Karamoja Rising,” streaming on headsets for guests to follow the journey of two children as they struggled to find clean water and education.
The evening also featured a dash of Hollywood dazzle: A tribute to the late Audrey Hepburn, a dedicated UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, was delivered by the beloved star’s granddaughter, Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer.
The 24-year-old actor/model/ artist bears a striking resemblance to the grandmother she never met. She also shares a family passion, along with her father, Sean Ferrer, to serve as a UNICEF ambassador.
“The fashion world still reveres my grandmother. But I would argue my grandmother knew that life was more than receiving accolades or little black dresses or being wrinkle-free,” said Ferrer. “Her greatest contribution to the world was devoting the last part of her life to children around the world, lending her voice to UNICEF to protect and promote the rights of all children.”
Play date: There are no jungle gyms amid the elegant environs of the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park. Yet this historic basin, created for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, is one of the city’s oldest public parks.
Dotted with trees and benches, the bucolic space is flanked by the Spreckels Temple of Music (a classical Italian Renaissance bandshell) and crowned by the Rideout Fountain, a 1924 beauty that — thanks to a $12 million restoration by S.F. Recreation and Parks — continues to enchant vistors with its soothing gurgle of splashes.
This swank setting, gussied up with fresh-cut dahlias from Golden Gate Park and a cocktail confab, was the perfect site for 600 parents and park fans. They raised $716,000 at the recent Party for the Parks for “Let’s Play SF,” a $27 million campaign between the city parks department and Parks Alliance.
Led by co-chairs Caroline Brinckerhoff, Mollie Gardner Hector and Katy Williams (along with Parks Alliance CEO Drew Becher and Parks Commission President Mark Buell), the event featured live music followed by McCall’s dinner delicacies in a Nicole Villa Krassner-designed tent behind the bandshell.
There are 225 parks in San Francisco. And now, 13 low-income, high-density neighborhood parks are on track to be renovated thanks to this fundraiser.
“As a mom, the most important thing is that our parks are clean, safe and fun for our kids,” said Brinckerhoff, a Parks Alliance trustee and mother to her third, 10-week-old Tucker Brinckerhoff. “In terms of raising money, playgrounds are a pretty easy sell.”
“Every day this space is filled with people taking tai chi, yoga or boot camps,” said Rec & Park general manager Phil Ginsburg.
“In advance of this park’s 150th anniversary in 2020, we recently conducted a study and learned 24 million people annually use Golden Gate Park.”
And as the city becomes more and more dense, open space is an even more treasured commodity.
“Though the city faces numerous challenges, San Francisco is the first city in the country where 100 percent of residents live within a ten-minute walk to a neighborhood park,” noted Ginsburg. “Thanks to great partnerships, like Parks Alliance, our parks are undergoing a renaissance. And that’s really become the mission of our department.”