I thought I was going to just another networking event. Boy…read morewas I wrong! Real Food, Real Stories was like going to the cafe of my dreams. Not the one filled with glowing faces wearing ear buds and staring at laptops but the one that has people interacting and exchanging eclectic opinions. The refreshments were great but I got so much more than a compostable plate of pasta and some business cards. I gained insight from real people about what we eat and how we grow it. When it was time for the "presentation" I took a seat and was mindlessly scrolling through emails when I heard a soft gong (it was a sounding bowl) and Pei Ru, the founder of RFRS, asked the group to simply listen, be present. The speaker, Nikiko Masumoto who told us the story of her life, farm and family, was eloquent and engaging. I was totally sucked in. I found out later that RFRS trains there presenters in the art of storytelling. No pitches, no powerpoint just real people and real stories. What a great atmosphere. Entertaining and enlightening! More in the South Bay Please!!!

I consider myself an avid foodie and have always loved keeping up with the latest food trends and…read morerestaurant openings. I discovered RFRS through a friend and attended an event shortly after- one of their signature "Picnic" storytelling events featuring a successful Bay Area restaurateur. The event far surpassed my expectations. The venue, vibe, food and community was amazing. I met friendly, open-minded people and learned a ton about the restaurant business and food sustainability. As someone who loves food, but hadn't previously given as much though to food sustainability, the event helped open my eyes to the food system, motivated me to learn more and be proactive about my food choices. RFRS does incredible work helping local and sustainable food producers tell their stories and has created a community of both food industry members and eaters that are excited to learn and bring about change. If you aren't familiar with the food system or food sustainability, don't worry! RFRS is the perfect, welcoming and low-key place to learn more and maybe even start making small, positive changes in your daily food choices. I highly recommend attending one of their events. I've attended several more since my first and always walk away with new friends, a full stomach, new knowledge and more ways I want to get involved.

Whether you're a playwright hoping to workshop a new script, an actor looking for performance…read moreexperience or a mere mortal looking for cheap/free entertainment, PCSF is a great San Francisco resource. Although I've never submitted work (and will remain forever in awe of those who do), I've participated in staged readings as both actor and audience member, and I always meet some cool people and enjoy a chill night of live performance. Scene nights are free to attend, whether or not you're a PCSF member, and each scene typically lasts 10 minutes. If you're a playwright looking to workshop a scene and aren't a PCSF member, it's only $10 to get your pages read by paid actors (pretty freaking good for actor time + feedback.) You can also attend workshops of full-length plays, or their performances of multiple short plays for a small fee that goes to support PCSF. Worth. It.

I've been an Experience Corps volunteer since March, teaching elementary school students in San…read moreRafael and am so thrilled with this experience and with this fabulous organization! Not only did they find me the perfect place to work and encourage me to bring my skills as a journalist into the classroom, they also are committed to building community among their volunteer staff. I'm volunteering this summer to make sure one of my students has her multiplication tables down pat by 5th grade and I'll be back this fall to work with her and other students from last year. What an absolutely fabulous and fulfiling experience!

From their website: Kinetic Steam Works is an educational…read morearts organization working to preserve and promote steam powered heritage, artifacts, and technologies through the restoration of vintage steam engines. From me: The annual KSW Roll Out is (literally) a blast, featuring steam engines, gizmos galore, the always-popular Snail Car, food (steam-powered margaritas!) and entertainment for the whole family. It's a colorful, friendly crowd and the steam folks are very approachable. If I have more free time, I might just drop by on a Wednesday night and see exactly what I can do with a wrench.

Admittedly I missed a lot of the fun at KSW's Roll Out, but how badass is this place? A workshop…read moresolely devoted to refurbishing, rebuilding and reworking steam-powered engines and sundry other gadgets? Nifty! Their Roll Out event was super fun, even if I missed a lot of the festivities. People were drinking and communing around these ancient beasts while the giant iron snail car threw fire from its antennae. Food was served out of a huge old double-decker bus. I definitely look forward to learning more about KSW and hopefully the next time they roll out the carpet I'll be on time!

Following the 2025 Presidio Half Marathon, The Guardsmen failed to provide a medal as promised. It…read moretook nearly four months after the race for the organizers to provide a medal, and this was only because I checked in with the organizers. Medals are an important part of the race experience and this failure to provide one on the day of the race is below the basic standards of what a race participant (who paid $150 to participate) ought to expect. Based on this experience I would not participate in any Guardsmen events. I am not sure they really have the organizational ability to organize races, so should probably avoid trying to organize a race again.

The Guardsmen hosted a running event that I went to this year called Presidio 10...they host events…read morelike a golfing event...in San Francisco...supposed to help youth and help the community..education or what..fun events to check out like the dog event in August. The run had pancakes and bloody mary's, as well as gift bag.

They hold the SF Film Fest. Got many tickets over two seasons. Saw so many movies and saved the…read moretickets. Good indie films. Saw the cast and crew at times. Indie films with famous actors and actresses.

Wow! I just saw "The Taking of Tiger Mountain", a huge 3-D film from Hong Kong & sponsored by their…read moreEconomic & Trade Office. The effects we saw @ The Sundance Kabuki were 2-D but even without the full technical effects the film was astonishing! The acting was really good, the story took cinema-goers from present day to the past to present day again. In Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles, you can follow along - but hold on for a rough and bumpy ride. Truly impressive! Film: 5 stars Effects: 5 stars Acting: 5 stars I loved the tiger...

What a wonderful scene, dogs playing together, performing tricks, hilarious costumes, socializing,…read moreoh yeah, and picnicking. 2023 was the 12th annual gathering of tri-legged and differently-abled dogs. A dog parade made its way around the park. What's not to love? Photo-ops & smiles all around. People came from all over the Bay Area. Cuteness overload. Next year they're attempting to break the world record. Mark your calendars.

For days I contemplated on what the subject matter would be for my 500th Yelp review. I narrowed…read morethe choices down to two then decided to use neither because this one simply fell into place. During the holidays many people take time out of their busy schedules to volunteer to help those less fortunate than themselves. I was taught this lesson many years ago and have taken it a step further by volunteering my services to different organizations year round. I'm often asked how I'm able to volunteer as often as I do, and simply put, I think I'm able to do this because I work it into my schedule much like someone would incorporate an activity of leisure or hobby into theirs. On Thanksgiving morning 2008, I signed up to help prepare a turkey feast for those in need. The name of the organization for which I was volunteering for is Fill Up America. Fill Up America is a 501.c.3 non-profit organization based in San Francisco and completely volunteer-run. In addition to providing free holiday meals during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays the main mission of Fill Up America is to obtain surplus food from local growers and markets to bag and redistribute to those in need. Every Friday morning volunteers gather at the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center on Folsom Street to help unload surplus food from pallets and then help to sort and bag the donated food. From literature I gathered at the site I learned that much of the surplus food comes from the San Francisco Food Bank, the San Francisco Produce Market and Trader Joe's and is redistributed to families and individuals in the SOMA and Mission neighborhoods. Going in I knew nothing of the organization, and I simply expected to help out in a kitchen or help to serve food. It turned out to be so much more than that. Being Thanksgiving morning they had a large force of volunteers on site to help out. After a quick overview by one of the volunteer coordinators we got to choose which immediate task we wanted to take part in. I chose to be part of the street team which headed out to specific target areas to stop and talk to the homeless and those who looked like they needed a meal and to inform them that we had a free hot Thanksgiving meal for them if they wished to attend. Broken up into two person teams and armed with a handful of informational flyers I wasn't sure what kind of reception we would encounter, but it turned out to be a very positive, worthwhile experience as we were greeted with smiles and gratitude from most of the people hanging out on street corners or just sitting on the sidewalks. Before I knew it we had run out of flyers. Things were looking good at the meal site when we returned. With volunteers cooking at yet another site a half block away and the space being all cleaned up and swept the number of available tasks was pretty bare. As soon as one of the coordinators suggested help was needed cleaning up in the kitchen I jumped at the opportunity to get my hands dirty. As it turned out I was to get my hands quite clean by scrubbing and washing all the serving pans, pots and utensils. I had plenty of helpers to help me wipe and put things in order and amazingly enough we were ready to go about 45 minutes before the scheduled serving time. Although the shift that I had signed up for ended I decided to stay longer to help serve the food. There were plenty of volunteers there, but I wasn't about to do all that prep work just to walk away when the guests began to show up. I wanted to see how it all went down. Since one of the organizers had already asked me to prepare the sterno canisters, (I love playing with fire.) I simply grabbed an apron and a pair of gloves and jumped into the server line. I got to ladle gravy onto everyone's turkey, potatoes and stuffing and just seeing all the happy faces and hearing all the gratitude made the entire morning so very worthwhile. Fill Up America doesn't have a permanent address. If you're interested in volunteering simply call the number posted and ask for David.