Mission Mission

[pic by George Belle]

Friends and neighbors of some tenants displaced by yesterday’s fire on Valencia Street have set up a fund to help them get back on their feet.

At 1pm on October 28th, our friends’ apartment at 25th and Valencia in San Francisco’s Mission District caught on fire (the cause is still being determined). Luckily, our friends noticed the fire and were able to get everyone out of the building before it was completely engulfed in flames. By the evening, when firefighters escorted them one at a time back inside the destroyed building to search for belongings, they found little left intact. Most of their posessions have been lost, and they are now without a place to live. Please help our friends get back on their feet by donating what you can!

The money raised here will be given over to the five tenants at 1448 Valencia to divvy up between those affected, so that they can replace some of what was lost.

Link

UPDATE: Our pal Leef from Mission: Comics & Art tells us that EHS Pilates, at 1452 Valencia, are also looking for some help today (Tuesday):

EHS was effected by a 3 alarm fire yesterday and suffered severe water and smoke damage. We are here at the studio NOW (12noon) trying to salvage everything else. We are looking for a little help here. If you can spare an hour today to help move props, books, etc. or just stand outside and make sure no one walks away with our equipment. Any help you can give us right now would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you. Carrie

Scott writes in to let us know about this fundraising event for Marshall Elementary:

We are that small public elementary school on 15th and Capp. Our families are not wealthy, and we are struggling to figure out how to raise money for our school to fund the things that the school budget doesn’t. And that is pretty much everything outside of teacher salaries.

This year, we are teaming up with Lucha Libre – Mexican wrestling. Lucha Libre is a form of wrestling, popular in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, that is characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and high-flying maneuvers. Should be more fun than the typical bake sale or silent auction! We will have some food to buy as well.

We set up a site to buy tickets and it would be great to get some of our community to come in and support our fundraiser.

$10 adults / $5 kids

OCT 6, Sunday, Doors open at 1:30 PM.

Looks pretty amazing.

Well, this sounds pretty delicious:

1st Annual Best Tamale Contest

Help us find the best tamale in the Mission, and help Marshall Elementary School at the same time!

Marshall Elementary School is hosting the first annual Día de los Niños Tamale Contest. For $20, you get to sample the full variety of tamales offered by our Mission-based tamale chefs – the parents of Marshall Elementary School students and our Mission neighbors – all while enjoying the live entertainment and festivities.

The chef judged as creating the best tamale receives $500. The rest of the money will help the Marshall Elementary PTA fund areas that are not covered in the school budget, to include (but not limited to) technology for the classrooms, science-based field trips in support of the school’s innovative Oceans Month program, and funding for organized team games and peer leadership during outdoor play.

The tamale tasting takes place from noon to 2pm on Saturday, April 27th at Marshall Elementary – 1575 15th Street, San Francisco (enter on Capp Street). For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit besttamalesf.org.