Silver Terrace Wellness Day a Success!

Team Wellness Day

The sky was bright and the air was warm for the first ever Silver Terrace Wellness Day.  Over 300 neighbors from the Portola, Visitacion Valley, Bayview, Bernal Heights, and of course, Silver Terrace, came to enjoy themselves at a city playground today, where they were met by eager volunteers ready to help them get a little wellness into their lives.  A long list of health and medical organizations, local businesses, and volunteer agencies were on-hand to provide a wide variety of experiences within the confines of the playground.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was put on FREE of charge and through volunteer effort, from the food to the instructors to the permit for the park.  Everyone chipped in to create a truly magical day.

Armando Luna, Championship Fitness

Starting us off, Armando Luna of Championship Fitness, who usually gives of his time by teaching yoga at the Bayview Opera House, started the day off with a yoga class for a group of early birds.  Later in the day, Sports Basement showed up to offer a soccer clinic and Rec & Park sent some folks over to lead a Volleyball skills clinic. 

Jorge Cordoba and Sharad Jain

Jorge Cordoba of SFGH was a HUGE help in coordinating and setting up all the  health and medical information booths.  API Wellness offered Hepatitis B testing, NEMS and Clinic by the Bay offered blood pressure testing, getting over 60 people tested.  The San Francisco Suicide Prevention Center was on hand too, as was the 3rd St Youth Clinic.  Given that many in our community do not speak English well or at all, the California Healthcare Interpretive Association was on hand to talk to people about how they can get help obtaining services in their own language and to connect with the healthcare providers who were there to let them know of CHIA's services.

Recology serves up lunch

The Green Goatee, QGI

Andrea Cohan's VeggieTable

Food is a major part of wellness, and so this was another major draw for people coming to the event.  Tony "The Green Goatee" Tarket of the Quesada Gardens Initiative spent hours under the tree showing people how to garden and giving them a plant to take home.  Speaking of plants to take home, Andrea Cohan of the Veggie Table brought over 20-lbs of collard greens, strawberries, and other veggies for people to take.   Recology's Ron Walton and his crew did a bang up job of keeping the food flowing, serving up over 250 hot dogs and 100 veggie, beef, and turkey burgers.  The free veggies and lunch were both GONE by noon!!!  Next year, one per person, though!  Paige Boger was also on hand to sign people up for Eatwell Farms Organic Veggie and Egg delivery.

Chris Schlesinger, At Home CPR

Oscar and  Jr Paramedic, AMR

Off in the clubhouse, Chris Schlesinger offered two CPR classes for those who wanted a basic understanding of what to do in an emergency.  Paramedics Bill and Oscar from AMR Ambulance were on-hand just in case we had one, and to show off their ambulance to the kids.

Kids at Wellness Day

Michele Elefante, SF Karate

Speaking of the kids, Erica Rendón of Portola Family Connections spent the day over in the playground area with Julia and her troupe from Our Family Coalition face painting and playing with hula hoops.  Judging by the number of kids walking around with their faces painted, it looked like they had a blast.  Kids were also into the karate lessons offered by Michele Elefante of SF Karate, and it looked like they all had a fun time kicking it!! Dogs - the children of some of us - were also taken care of throughout the day by great folks at Fog City Dogs.

I'm really proud of the job we did yesterday.  Not to go without mention, Vickie Bell of Neighborhood Parks Council, who helped coordinate the entire day, Mariano Tabios, volunteer neighbor extraordinaire, and Robert Watkins and Marquiza of Rec & Parks. 

It looks like this could be an annual event, so anyone who's interested in helping, especially with  translation, outreach, or organization, please drop me a line!