Three Ways to Give Back

Carly Perez-Banuet, Operations Manager of Cushman & Wakefield of California, Inc., the management company of 2201 Broadway, sent this announcement about the annual Breuner Building holiday drives:

This holiday season we are supporting three wonderful ways to give back in our community.

The cold weather is here! Please consider donating a warm winter coat to our coat drive. Coats and jackets should be clean and gently used. The goal of One Warm Coat is to provide any person in need with a warm coat, free of charge. Carly has a collection box in her office, or feel free to leave them with security. Coats will be collected until February 1, 2011.

 

The Alameda County food donation barrel is in the main lobby. Last year the Breuner Building  collected about 350 lbs. –  about 270 meals for local folks. Let’s top last year!

This is a list of most needed non-perishable foods:

• Canned Fruit & Vegetables
• Canned Meats and Fish
• Peanut Butter
• Pasta
• Beans
• Rice
• Canned Soup
• Dry Cereal and Oatmeal
• Tomato Sauce
• Powdered Milk

The food bin will be located in the main lobby through the first week of January.

Our neighbors at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Suite 815, are hosting a Toasty Toes sock drive to benefit a woman's shelter – A Friendly Manor. Please deliver new adult and youth sock donations directly to Suite 815; they have a box in their front lobby and will collect socks up until December 17, 2011.


Copyright © 2010 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

Annual Breuner Building Food Drive

Carly Perez-Banuet, Operations Manager of Cushman & Wakefield of California, Inc., the management company of 2201 Broadway, sent this announcement about the Breuner Building Annual Food Drive:

It's time for our annual Holiday Food Drive! Last year we collected over 200 pounds of food for local families. Let hit 300 lbs this year! The barrel is already set up in the lobby. Attached is a list of their most needed foods. Let’s spread that holiday cheer!

The Alameda County Community Food Bank has been serving the community since 1985. As the county's clearinghouse for donated food, the Food Bank provides food assistance for 40,000 low-income Alameda County residents each week, which includes 14,000 children and 7, seniors. Most adults served are among the working poor. While the holidays are always a season of escalated demand for food, in 2009, the Food Bank is responding to unprecedented need in Alameda County.


* The following is a list of the most needed food items:

• Canned Fruit & Vegetables
• Canned Meats and Fish
• Peanut Butter
• Pasta
• Beans
• Rice
• Canned Soup
• Dry Cereal and Oatmeal
• Tomato Sauce
• Powdered Milk

The food bin will be located in the main lobby through Christmas week.

Genealogy for Beginners

The California Genealogical Society is offering an ongoing, free, introductory class in genealogy, the first Saturday of every month, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the CGS Library at 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California, in the historic Breuner Building. This Saturday's class will be taught by Dick Rees.

The course is part of the "First Saturdays Free" policy that allows open access to the library and resources to non-members and the general public on the first Saturday of every month. The dates for the remainer of 2008 are: April 5, May 3, June 7, August 2, September 6, October 4, November 1 and December 6. The library is a benefit of membership and is available to non-members for a $5.00 day fee during the rest of the month.

For the remainder of 2008, CGS is opening its doors to the tenants of the Breuner Building for use during the lunch hour, at no charge. President Jane Lindsey notified the society's neighbors that CGS will offer this benefit on Thursdays and Fridays, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for the remainder of 2008. CGS recently marked the one-year anniversary of the society's move to the Breuner Building.

Please note that the CGS Library will be closed on the first Saturday of July for the Independence Day holiday. Further information is available at the CGS Google calendar.

Two ways to give back

The California Genealogical Society and Library is celebrating our first holiday season at our new address in the Breuner Building at 2201 Broadway in Oakland. It was gratifying to receive this from the Breuner Building Operations Manager, Carly Perez-Banuet:

This holiday season we have two great ways to give back! The first is One Warm Coat. Please bring in any coat you no longer need and One Warm Coat will help distribute back into our surrounding area. You can drop off to security or the management office on the mezzanine level. My goal is to have the final coat pick-up on 12/21/07.

The second is our annual food drive with the Alameda County Food Bank. The food collection bin is set up in the lobby and ideally we will have multiple pick-ups. We will have them pick up once the week of the 17th and one the first week of January. I have attached a wish list of needed foods. You may have also noticed their billboards up in the area…our donations going right back into the community!

* The following is a list of the most needed food items:

• Canned Fruit and Vegetables
• Canned Meats and Fish
• Peanut Butter
• Pasta
• Beans
• Rice
• Canned Soup
• Dry Cereal and Oatmeal
• Tomato Sauce
• Powdered Milk
  

From the One Warm Coat Web site:

Lois Pavlow created One Warm Coat because she wanted a coat to be given to someone in need. Lois organized the first One Warm Coat drive on Thanksgiving Weekend in 1992 at Union Square in San Francisco, California.

In 2002, Sherri Lewis Wood starting expanding One Warm Coat’s efforts beyond San Francisco so that all who had an interest in donating a coat or hosting a coat drive could easily do so. The impact of these simple and meaningful coat drives makes a difference in the lives of many. Today One Warm Coat drives are held in 49 states across the country from September through March, and include international locations.

From Alameda Counyty Food Bank Web site:

The Alameda County Community Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has been serving the community since 1985. As the county's clearinghouse for donated food, the Food Bank provides food assistance for 40,000 low-income Alameda County residents each week, which includes 14,000 children and 7,000 seniors. Most adults served are among the working poor.

• Provide food to 300 community agencies that serve on-site meals and/or food bags for their clients 
• Distribute bags of food to school children in need
• Distribute fresh fruits and vegetables several times a week to member agencies
• Operate a toll-free hunger helpline that makes over 1,000 referrals each month
• Conduct food stamp outreach clinics
• Educate the community and public officials about the causes of hunger and poverty

Open house

One of the things I love about CGS is that the members are always ready to throw a party. After the move was over and the dust had settled, our volunteers were glad to celebrate and show off our new facility. The Open House was held on Thursday, April 26, 2007. The invitations looked like this and were hand delivered to all of our neighbor tenants at 2201 Broadway.

Many of our neighbors came to introduce themselves.

Several of our board members and volunteers were on hand to greet our guests.

A few were interested in looking for an ancestor in the 1920 or 1930 census.

I think that we were successful in finding something for everyone and more than a few seemed to catch the genealogy bug. It was another successful CGS event.

Photographs courtesy of Jane Lindsey.