>> it's just great to have each one of you here. all of the volunteers working so hard and all of our volunteers up here who will soon be working hard. and we just thank you for coming together to help the people who will receive these meals tomorrow morning. we're going to start with a word of prayer and then we're going to continue on. heavenly father, we just thank you for this time and thank you for all the people who have come together today. and as we think about thanksgiving, we think about all the blessings that you've given to us. and we praise your name, lord, and we thank you for the opportunity that we have to give to other people during this time of the year. so, we just pray that you would bless this time together and pray these things in jesus' name, amen. >> amen. >> and now, ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to introduce to you our executive director [speaker not understood]. (applause)

>> the salvation army san francisco center is a state licensed [speaker not understood] recovery program. at any given time upwards of 200 people are here on-site, go through the program and get their life back together. our residential capacity is 106 single adults with up to 30 families and up to 52 kids with those families. you're not likely to find many treatment programs with child care program and also a licensed detox facility, but we have them here. we are truly a place for new beginnings and we have been that place at this location for 40 years. all those years we've been celebrating thanksgiving with our friends. as evidence of our thanksgiving history, i have these photos. some of you have already recognized dianne finestein

before she was mayor. she was on the board of supervisors, i think. even before that, the gentleman in the middle uniform there is my grandfather who was the executive director here before i was born. so, we've been doing this at least 50 years, a long time. it's become a tradition for us. but we're here for more than because of a tradition. we're here to -- [inaudible]. because this gives us an opportunity to thank you for being here with us. gives us an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and do good to serve those who are most in need. today we finish our preparation. tomorrow a fleet of volunteer drivers help us deliver these 5100 meals. so, thank you again for being with us here today. thank you for your help throughout the year. thank you very much for your help throughout the 70 years. and now back to our mc. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. (applause)

>> and we're going to whip right through this. so, it may look like a lot, but it's not. what we're doing mostly is introducing the people who are here today because without you we wouldn't be able to do any of this. we appreciate it so very much. so, first we're going to introduce some of our folks. the divisional officers and staff. we'll start with the divisional commander who you've met, lieutenant colonel steve smith. give me one clap. (applause) >> very good. divisional secretary for program and metro coordinator major jack bird. (applause) >> faster, got to be there. harbor light center staff turkey carving producers, we have the harbor light strategic project coordinator who you've seen running around this morning, john mcknight. (applause) >> hey, that's better. from harbor light assistant youth director trey hillary. can't miss him. the tallest guy in the room. maybe second tallest. food service manager shawn

bradley who is probably back in the kitchen. let's give it to shawn, right. assistant food manager, anna. all right. (applause) >> and our harbor light residents. [cheering and applauding] >> good, very good. the advisory board, advisory councilmembers who are with us today, harbor light advisory council chairman jim ayers. right over there. (applause) >> harbor light and chinatown core advisory council lilly chin. hey, lilly. chairman of the salvation army metro advisory board and harbor light center advisory councilmember, you all know him, pete ratto. (applause) >> hey, pete. and introduce our volunteers and vips, san francisco city ask county, the honorable mayor ed lee. [cheering and applauding] * >> from the san francisco police department, the chief of course, greg. and the san francisco police department command staff. [cheering and applauding]

>> the san francisco fire department. with chief joanne hayes white, san francisco fire department command staff. [cheering and applauding] >> we're not there yet. a little anxious. [laughter] >> where was i here? united states army, deputy commanding officers of the pacific division, colonel petty stratford, senior officer staff. [cheering and applauding] >> san francisco heights president hu man services commission, commissioner scott kahn. (applause) >> okay, here we come now. san francisco fire department lieutenant bob arazave. (applause) >> san francisco fire department station 2 headed by lieutenant jay johnson. [cheering and applauding] >> and the firefighters from san francisco fire department station 2, let's hear it for

them. (applause) >> now, did i miss anybody? college fire -- >> the city college fire captain. where is that person? fire academy. >> oh, the academy, we know about those guys. the fire academy, let's hear it guys and gals. (applause) >> very good. okay. one big applause for all of those folks, please. [cheering and applauding] >> and now i'd like to invite the mayor himself who promises me he has taken some turkey carving courses this last year, please welcome the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, the honorable ed m. lee. >> thank you, terry. (applause) >> thank you very much, terry for the introduction again. thank you to salvation army and harbor light center. to know that over 5100 family will receive a great thanksgiving dinner because of your efforts here is remarkable. and i want to thank all the

volunteers here from the chief of the fire and police departments to our men and women in the armed services, to our commissioners who are here today. all the volunteers from salvation army and their friends. it's a wonderful time of the year. it's one of my favorite times. as we kicked off the season of giving yesterday, as i call it the season of giving, of caring and of sharing, because people in many of their own personal ways will help somebody else. it doesn't have to be money. it doesn't have to be resources, but ultimately it has to be care that we all want to share with each other. and we have a lot of needy people in the city and we constantly talk about it. we have concerns of other social safety net as our congress is on the fiscal cliff and we're all bracing for hopefully good things to happen, as they've been happening in our world class city. so, i want to again thank salvation army for helping us be the world class city that we

are, giving ourselves the world class heart that we always have. so, happy thanksgiving, everybody, and let's get to these nude turkeys. [laughter] (applause) >> thank you very much, mr. mayor. and thank you so much for being here. you can carve while i do some more talking here. if you'll pay attention to the marvelous things they're doing with the turkey carving. we have 6,000 pounds of turkey here, believe it or not, 1400 pounds of green beans, 1600 pounds of yams. it's been cooking for 4-1/2 days around the clock back in that lovely little kitchen of ours. and all that work did not disrupt the usual activities, 360 meals, 400 sandwiches for homeless people. they're still baking the brownies cakes and cookies. 300 delivery routes, 500

volunteers, 6100 meals to seniors and shut-ins. the meal, roasted turkey with stuffing, gravy, yams, apple sauce, cookies and hot cocoa mix. we want to especially thank our many donors especially the aaa folks who donated 50 28-pound turkey plus aaa maps for our delivery volunteers. 15 pounds of coffee with cups. and our photographer donate his time and talent today. and it is due now. and then we're going to have some photo ops as you can see. it feels like hollywood around here. terrific. and i'd like to be a little self-serving and promote another part of the organization i'm involved in. the salvation army annual

celebrity bell ringing on union square is going to be on december 7th from 10:00 till 2:00. and we have wonderful entertainment including beatles tribute band and a rolling stones tribute band. and the list goes on. but in the meantime we're carving our wonderful turkeys here and we have this feeling of fellowship and thanksgiving comes tomorrow and it goes into full bloom. thank you for your generosity and your time. that was the quickest program you'll ever hear from the blessing to the closing words. the closing words does not mean you have to leave. you can keep on carving. but i'd like to invite roger mccourt and the harbor lights, the officer and he's going to do our closing prayer.

>> let's say closing prayer. i promise i'll be quick. don't close your eyes. father god, thank you so much for all of the people you have sent to help out and thank you for giving us the resources and the ability to help all of these people who are in need. watch over all of the volunteers as they carve this turkey and watch over all the people delivering all 6100 meals tomorrow. thanks gets to their destination. we sd it in jesus' name, amen. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> well, thank you, everybody.

and welcome. happy thanksgiving and happy season of sharing and caring for each other. i just spent a wonderful morning with the inter-faith council and their 15th anniversary of breakfast with quite a host of wonderful, wonderful people who care about the city and about the world. and while the theme was articulated as a very rich greening theme, i think we found out from many, if not all of the speakers, that the way we care about our earth is reflected in the way we care for each other first and foremost. and that's really important. and, so, today i'm standing with people who have demonstrated their highest level of care for people, people who work and live and breathe the social safety net for everyone in our city. and i could not ever do my job as the mayor, nor i suggest any member of the board of

supervisors, elected office who also have responsibility for caring about the quality of life for everyone, unless we had a caring leadership in our social safety net. so, thank you, everyone, for coming and being part of this season of giving and a season of caring and sharing with everyone. you know, this year our season of giving campaign i'm focused on highlighting organizations that really work on the ground with our domestic violence victims, our youth, our seniors, our veterans, and certainly our homeless. and that's almost everybody. [laughter] >> but we definitely have a very specific programs that we have created with their help because we believe that targeting our efforts with each and every one of these groups has helped us over the many, many years getting past the rhetoric of simply saying that we care and into real programs

that change people's lives and get them into our system of help and support. this year we're also wanting to send a message with not only our social service provider but our whole business community. please help the victims of hurricane sandy on the east coast. their need, the winter here is relatively mild compared to what they're experiencing on the east coast. those harsh winters is the reason why i did my four years of college and i came right back to the west coast. [laughter] >> but they, again, reflect a high level of need out there. and i hope everybody who is listening on both the government channel and the wonderful media that we have, the multi-cultural media that we have, please do your best and go to sf gives back.org. the website, and find out how you can join our american red cross who is here today to help all those victims. we have done so with not only

our city's finest in our response network, but i know all these folks here have sent their volunteers, as well as utility companies who are helping them restore, even today, vital utilities and have their volunteers come and report back. and we will learn lessons about what has happened there and how we can, again, help ourselves by increasing our opportunities to be even more ready for our expected challenge of the earthquake. please, cecil, please come on up, yes, yes. please join us. i was just introducing both of you. [laughter] >> janice, for being part of our wonderful, wonderful world of connectivity. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you.

>> so, i'm also just wanting to go through some of the groups that have joined us this morning . the salvation army. [speaker not understood], cathy black is here. certainly michael and rita from the inter faith council who i had a chance to be with all morning. cheryl davis from more magic and operation impact, thank you for being here. brenda story from the mission neighborhood health center is here. from lock and youth street, thank you for being here. sister from st. anthony's is here. tyler and miller from hunters point family, you're here. thank you very much. ella wolf graham, center for young women's development is here this morning to join us. [speaker not understood] the good samaritan family resource center. paul from sf food bank are also here to join us. and i'm sorry if i've forgotten anybody else, but you're as

valued to us as everyone here today as well. i would also encourage that we use the newest ongoing evolving technology of the city to access the list of organizations that people can help connect up with. also, what other programs, if you're with much more resources, please go to our 311. i know nancy is here, the great leader of that organization, that talent. but also go to sf mayor.org as well to find out what other information you might want to have in order to reach out for more of the needy and help them in every way you can. i also want to say as part of this campaign that i'd like to announce that we again will be hosting snow day here at city hall. sometime in the month of december, the date hasn't been decided yet, but it will be continuing a very great tradition, not only of welcoming the tree of hope, but

also asking people to bring in nonperishable items that can be donated to people in need during these holidays. and bring them here to city hall as part of a great celebration that we have that unites everyone. it will be free. it will be youth and family oriented and again, it will be supporting our food bank. with that, i know that they're going to be happy today because i'm delivering 100 turkeys. [laughter] >> and that will make me happy in doing so. and i want to again suggest to you that part of this morning's cherish time was really understanding how helping other people can really help ourselves with our own spirits. this is what we do. this is the character of san francisco. we help others. it lifts up the spirit of this city. it's like winning a world series. and, so, again, part of today was about bringing people who have cared for so many others

in our city together with our city hall, represent how much we love and support them in what they do every single day. we can't fathom sometimes some of the deep, deep frustration and sympathy that goes on on a daily basis when people are met up with folks that are hurt and are the victims of their need. but at least we can take a moment to thank them and to provide them with an opportunity to talk about what they're doing and how they can ask others who were helping to be successful in the city to help more people become successful in their own lives. with that, i'd like to introduce some speakers this morning who will talk about their attention to giving and to providing for others. and i'll begin with somebody who i really have come to love and work with as a city employee and who has penetrated all of our wonderful bureaucracy to help open us up even more.

that's, of course, our director of the red cross. harold. come on up, harold. (applause) >> now that i know i'm a city employee, i'm hoping for a big pay raise. [laughter] >> you know, any time you're in a room with ed lee, you know that there are going things going on. what a wonderful leader he is for the city of san francisco and the entire bay area. we're so very fortunate to have in this the best place on the planet, some of the best leaders on the planet, without any question. i got a call from joaquin torres saying ed lee wanted me to be part of this program. i told my wife, we'll start vacation later. [laughter] >> i am honored absolutely to be a part of this. when i am in the room with janice and cecil williams and

rita semmel, it's hard to get better than that. i mean, these are people who have shown us the way, how to lead, how to put that compassion to very good work. so, i am honored to be here to say i want to make sure that all of you support the season of giving. we are only able to do the things we do as the red cross back at super storm sandy because we have neighbors helping neighbors. we served about 160 people to help out with that terrible storm back east. and the words i'm getting back from our volunteers and staff is, this is a horrific disaster. we're learning many, many lessons that will be translated into, god forbid, anything that might happen here in the bay area. so, know that we are always going to help our neighbors because it's the right thing to do. but it's also an opportunity to learn from the latest things that are happening around the

country and the world so that we know when something happens here that, a, we're going to join up with our partners from catholic charities, salvation army, the city, the county, and make sure that people are going to be cared for in the best possible way. we are honored to be a part of this fabulous community, and know that we are in such good company with the people arrayed here in this room. so, mr. mayor, again, thanks so very much for the privilege of being a part of this with you. >> thank you. (applause) >> thank you. you know, harold, all of the employees that i'm hiring have to take a pay cut. [laughter] >> so, be prepared. you know, we often refer to our city as a world class city. we have world class parks, world class restaurants. we have world class sports teams and events.

people from all over the world come and they seek out this great, great city. we also want to make sure people know that we are developing world class hearts in our city. and i can't think of anyone other than a couple who has been working on this world class heart for many, many years, have i think one of the best representations of that. that's william and janice. thank you for being here. please say a few words. (applause) >> stay right there, be comfortable. >> okay, thank you very much, mr. mayor. ed lee is first class, no doubt about it. his perception, his understanding, his work ethics, what he does for this city is unbelievable. and he will continue to do that. we know that. there's no doubt about it.

the season of gifts is so critical because what we do is reach people that are unreachable many times. people that are in great need and we would be utterly surprised at how many folks we have in just our city that, that are hard to reach. but to get to them and to let them know that we care and that san francisco is the city that really cares is something that is very colt cal. -- critical. so, we feel very strong little that we are not only serving one of the most important directions in regards to reaching people, but also meeting the needs of people. none of us is immune from disaster. all of us could go through disaster that would hurt even those of us who have. so, we're trying to put the

haves and the have nots together so that in what we do, the gift of love and the gift of courage and the gift of understanding and the gift of meeting others, this is a diverse city and we need each other. it's so critical. so, thank you very much. this is the time for the season of giving, reaching out to everybody. >> thank you, thank you. (applause) >> i just want to say it's an honor to be among such a group of champions. living in a city of champions. and i think having a champion mayor is so critical. and a take on the team of the giants who said we're a team, we do it together, we cannot do it without each other. and in this season of giving, i think we should be reminded that none of us can accomplish what we accomplish alone, and

that we as a team can accomplish what we want to in terms of giving and in terms of sharing our resources. because of the season of giving, we have been able to house and to prevent homelessness for over 500 families and individuals with rental assistance and also they have -- this is a phenomenal, phenomenal effort. again, thank you, san francisco, for helping us be a real team that are world class champions. >> all right. (applause) >> in the past week we have been treated to a public dialogue about something called mvp. if i were to look back at this year and note for our city someone who has been very special in working with me to create over 5,000 jobs for youth, i would send an mvp for

eric mc donald the united way for bay area. he's been bold, he's been penetrating, and he knows, too, it isn't just about jobs. it's about caring for our youth and making sure the doors of opportunity are open. and now he's working with me and with the rest of the city on how to go beyond jobs because people who aren't ready for jobs will continue their habits that might end up in violence. and, so, he's helping me establish relationships on the ground level with everything from religious organizations outreaches, to community outreach. but, eric, today i want to thank you again for stepping up on behalf of both united way and all of the different organizations you represent and being part of the season of giving. come on up, eric. (applause) >> thank you, sir. so, thank you, mr. mayor. it's certainly a privilege to stand with you and the rest of my colleagues who are champions and advocates in our community. in many respects it's such an

exciting time here in san francisco. so many amazing things happening as we continue to build on this world class status that we have, from new business, big tech, new teams, and the like. and at the same time in many respects it's kind of a tale of two cities. while all of that amazing stuff is happening, at the same time reverend williams pointed out there are folks in need who are still challenged and struggling to meet basic needs of food and shelter and clothing. so, this is a wonderful time, especially in the season of thanksgiving. i would offer to be grateful for the opportunity to actually give back, to be grateful for the opportunity to help others who can't help themselves. so, certainly as united way has committed self to cutting poverty here in the bay area, we are proud to partner with the mayor and the rest of these, again, amazing individuals and organizations who are trying to ensure that we have a not just a safe net, but a strong safety net that enables folks to not only meet their basic needs, but then begin to thrive. it's great that you can, again, find food for a