May 19, 2007
More than 300 people gathered May 19th at our Mission District home for the “Our House” benefit which raised a hefty $106,000.

Although event co-chairs Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge could not make it because they were at home with their seven-month-old twins, many of our Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and friends joined the festivities. The celebration also honored the work of Brenda Wright, senior vice president of community development at Wells Fargo Bank who was named HPP’s 2007 Valued Community Partner.

The celebration showcased our spacious three-floor building which houses a community technology center, art room, childcare center, yoga room, wellness center, a kitchen and garage for 17 cars. We moved into the facility, a former dot-com building, in 2005 from leased offices at 6 th and Market streets. HPP (with the support of many of you donors and friends) purchased it for $5.5 million, and we are spearheading a capital campaign to raise $1.8 million to pay off the building’s loans.

A Giants’ jersey signed by the team players fetched more than $400 in the silent auction, and guests, including “Tiny” (Lisa) Gray-Garcia, editor of POOR Magazine and Poor News Network, danced until midnight to the rock ‘n roll tunes played by High-N-Tight. Eleven of HPP Founder and Executive Director Martha Ryan’s 12 siblings attended as did their mother, Katherine. Guests sipped away at the aromatic pear-infused Grey Goose martinis.