News & Impact

KGO-TV, ABC 7 by Carolyn Tyler Two of San Francisco’s most well-known personalities are dealing with an enormous challenge. What they are going through highlights a national problem facing seniors. Marian and Vivian Brown are in the San Francisco Hall of Fame. But now they are fighting to stay in the city they love even though the health care they now need is hard to find and very expensive. Marian and Vivian Brown are identical twins; colorful characters in San Francisco since they arrived from Michigan more than 40 years ago. See More from KGO-TV & ABC 7… Read More

San Francisco Chronicle by Willie Brown When it comes to San Francisco icons, the Brown twins – Vivian and Marian – with their signature matching outfits, dazzling blond hair and even more dazzling smiles, have been as much a part of the city as Coit Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge. And they likely have been photographed as often as well. Read More from the San Francisco Chronicle… Read More

Over their many years together, Jim and Dale became known as a San Francisco couple you could count on: to take part in campaigns for LGBT rights, to help friends living with—or dying of—HIV, and to support their city’s many cultural and athletic institutions. “I taught Dale to love football,” says Jim, 77, an ex-jock and Air Force vet, “and he taught me to love the ballet.” But as Jim and Dale, who is 69, have gotten older, they have had to face their share of infirmities. Jim has congestive heart failure, osteoporosis, and many other physical ailments. Over the… Read More

Some people dream of making it in law, medicine, or maybe Hollywood. Not Kenny Hockert. He dreams of making it big in the three K’s: kugel, kreplach, and kasha. A trained chef who spent many years working in New York restaurants, Kenny decided he wanted to fill a niche in the food truck business after moving to the Bay Area a few years ago. His specialty is Eastern European and Jewish “soul food’ reminiscent of his late grandmother Dora Rosenblatt’s family meals. “I have so many memories of spending time eating this food,” says Kenny, “and it has become a… Read More

J Weekly by Dan Pine Contemplating the severe budget cuts fraying California’s social safety net, Anita Friedman thinks the Golden State is starting to resemble Greece. And not because both have great beaches. “[California] has had multiple years of deficits,” said the executive director of S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services, “and that means we’re now down to making major structural cuts, eliminating critical services.” Read More from J Weekly  … Read More

San Francisco Chronicle by Erin Allday Gloria Lyon sat in a quiet office, preparing herself for a speech she was about to give to 50 high school sophomores, when someone asked if she wanted a chair to sit in during her presentation. Lyon, 82, didn’t spare her answer a thought. “It’s better if I stand,” she said crisply. “I want to stand as long as I can. I’ll sit for their questions if I need to.” She didn’t need to. Read More from the San Francisco Chronicle… Read More