Last Christmas Eve I did a post titled "A Beacon of Hope This Holiday Season ..." about the San Francisco Homeless PreNatal Program. Still there in their 20th year, still doing great work! If you supported them last year as a result of my post, a big thank you. If you can contribute now, please do!
This holiday season I'm personally trying something a bit different. Given my background I'm going to offer my help as a volunteer business advisor through Pacific Community Ventures, a Bay Area initiative that helps small businesses create jobs and opportunities in lower income communities. They have supported many entrepreneurs starting and running bakeries, restaurants, landscaping, bag making and including some higher profile businesses such as Flora Grubb, my favourite San Francisco garden store, or Heath Ceramics, a long-time Bay Area operation.
It's not usually visible to most of us just how hard it is for people to make these businesses work. This recent story about Flora (yes, Flora Grubb is her real name - isn't that perfect for a gardener!) in the San Francisco Chronicle is what piqued my interest in PCV. Without them Flora Grubb (the store) might no longer exist and her 25 employees would be joining the ranks of job seekers. And I'd miss a great place to browse, shop and drink Ritual Coffee Roasters fabulous blends! Here are some pictures I took at a recent visit to Flora's store:
So, not exactly high tech - but important grassroots in our bigger ecosystem (so to speak). Maybe I can help a little bit, and in a longer-term manner than just writing a check.
As always, I hope you and yours have a happy holiday season and prosperous 2011, look out for and take care of the ones you love, and thanks once again for reading my blog!
Cheers!
Philip