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San Francisco, CA
Permit No. 116
2018
bethanycenter.org
ruthstable.org
ANNUAL
We’re Just Getting Started!
Bethany Center’s construction is complete! Residents have moved into their redesigned and
refurbished home and are enjoying a beautiful outdoor Green Space. Next up: The public opening
of the new Ruth’s Table building in 2019.
REPORT
Ruth’s Table celebrates
Carnaval San Francisco
BETHANY CENTER NEWS is an annual publication of Bethany Center, a Covia Affordable Community, and
Ruth’s Table, a gallery and learning center fostering opportunities for people of all ages to engage in creative expression.
BETHANY CENTER
2018 ANNUAL REPORT
NEWS
B E T H A N Y C EN T E R A N D RU T H ’ S TA B L E / 5 8 0 C A P P S T REE T S A N F R A N CIS C O C A 9 4110 / W W W.B E T H A N YC EN T E R.O R G / W W W. RU T H S TA B L E .O R G
John Casey, Debra Varner, Jerry W. Brown, David Chiu, Mr. Deng, Ken Donnelly, Karim Sultan, and Kevin Gerber
Margie Ramirez and granddaughter Talia Monica Lee, Janet Jones, and Kathryn Hyde
CONTENTS
2 A Letter from Jerry W. Brown / Covia
3 Board Member Sheila Malkind
4 Muralist Dan Fontes
5 Photographer Heidi Wagner
6 A Dazzling Night of Art
7 50th Anniversary Celebration Photos
8 A Living Gallery for All
9 The New Ruth’s Table
Muralist Dan Fontes celebrates
with a Lion Dancer p6 10 Annual Report / Grow With Us
11 Recognizing our 2018 Donors
A LETTER FROM JERRY W. BROWN, CASPF
SENIOR DIRECTOR,
COVIA AFFORDABLE COMMUNITIES
Moving Forward at 50 Kevin Gerber, Katharine Miller, and Karim Sultan of Covia
Bethany Center’s affiliation with Covia Affordable Communities, announced in 2018, was among the mile-
stones we toasted at our 50th Anniversary Celebration as we raised our glasses to our past and to our future.
Covia operates other affordable communities in the region, The affiliation also benefits our staff through the many ad-
including Lytton Gardens in Palo Alto; Presidio Gate Apartments ministrative resources that Covia provides, like IT and other
in San Francisco; Oak Center Towers in Oakland; Jennings Court technical support, accounting and payroll, and professional
in Santa Rosa; and Shires Memorial in San Jose. development. This has freed up Housing Administrator Benson
Bethany Center’s emphasis on lifelong learning and creative Lee and our staff to spend more time with residents, listening
aging programs will be a boon to the many seniors in Covia’s to their concerns and meeting their needs.
communities as they access the creative aging programs offered As we celebrate 50 years of serving seniors, we look forward, as
every day at Ruth’s Table. part of Covia, to enhancing the Bethany mission for the next 50!
2
“Ruth’s Table left a lasting
mark on me. As an
immigrant who left most
of her family back in Costa
Rica, I felt I found a new
family among the open
faces and warm embraces
of Bethany Center. I am
honored to be part of the
social fabric of Ruth’s
Table.”
IRENE CARVAJAL,
RUTH’S TABLE ARTIST
3
ARTIST PROFILE: DAN FONTES
A Fresh Face!
Salud means “health.” “Salud!” is also the
name of the nine-story mural on the 21st
Street exterior of Bethany Center. For most
of 2018, Salud! lived behind scaffolding,
being restored in conjunction with Bethany Kristi Holohan, Antoinette Johnson, Dan Fontes, Gwen Perry, and Desi Mundo
Center’s 50th Anniversary by artist Dan
Fontes and his team.
Salud!, first painted in 1997, portrays
real-life Bethany Center residents from many
different backgrounds, “living their fullest
lives,” according to Fontes. He completed
the restoration with the help of five artists
he calls his “dream team”—Desi Mundo,
Kristi Holohan, Antoinette Johnson, Gwen
Perry, and Haley Summerfield—who bright-
ened up the portraits and touched up the
details. They worked long days, using brush- Dan Fontes with Elizabeth Dunlap in 1997 (left) and 2018 (right)
es as small as ¼ inch to apply acrylic paint
over the massive surface, followed by three coats of heavy-duty
Artist Dan Fontes restored his iconic
anti-graffiti varnish. In addition to being talented, these artists are
brave. “You have to have courage to step out over that 9th floor, 100 mural with a group of five artists he calls
feet in the air,” says Fontes.
his “dream team.”
The mural shares what goes on inside Bethany Center and Ruth’s
Table with the outside world. Says Fontes, “To me that’s a re-
ally critical message: that people understand this is a senior
center, these are beautiful people who live here, that it’s a
diverse community that’s shared by multiple races and
people from different countries and areas. It’s a positive
place, it’s a beautiful place, it’s a gathering of souls. In a
way, it’s a work of art.”
The unveiling of Salud! capped off the 50th Anni-
versary Celebration by bringing guests outside to 21st
Street. Led by Fontes, the gathered revelers counted
down to the big reveal: dynamic neon lights running
up the center illuminating the word BETHANY.
4
ARTIST PROFILE: HEIDI WAGNER
5
A Dazzling Night of Art
Expressions of creativity ruled the night at Bethany
Center’s 50th Anniversary gala, “Celebrate the Art of
Growing Older.”
Donors, sponsors, residents, and colleagues in the field of aging
mingled with artists, who expressed their love of working at Bethany
Center with the supportive community brought together by Ruth’s
Table. We’re delighted to share their words among these vibrant
photos as we relive this unforgettable night.
Kim Edmonds, Karim Sultan, Jerry W. Brown, Tom Azumbrado, Noah Reischmann, and Kevin Gerber Aiko Cuneo and her son, Hudson
6
“As humans, we need comfort and the space
to share our creative imaginations freely.
Ruth’s Table is clearly the catalyst for
such a community.”
ALEX BENEDICT, RUTH’S TABLE ARTIST
7
OUR NEW BUILDING
A Living Gallery
for All
Interactive, inclusive, and intergenerational—Ruth’s Table
is a living gallery where all are welcome to experience
the joy of creativity.
In 2019, we’ll open the doors to our new building, marking the
biggest transformation in our history. In this standalone space,
we’ll be able to expand our free creative, educational, and cultural
programs beyond what’s been possible before.
More space and better facilities will increase our accessibility to
Bethany Center residents and older adults around the Bay Area.
Greater visibility will allow us to extend our reach to neighbors
and a broader community, serving as a vibrant gathering place that
brings together people of all ages, interests, and abilities.
We know that when people come to Ruth’s Table, what they ex-
perience here has a transformative effect on their lives. This new
building ensures a future alive with boundless creativity and an
even greater impact of our work.
An Urban Oasis
We dug up a parking lot and planted
a Green Space. This beautiful, sus-
tainably designed oasis provides a
safe place for enjoyment, creativity,
and relaxation in the middle of the
Mission District.
This outdoor canvas has so much cre-
ative potential: live performances, exercise
programs, and community gatherings of all
kind. From Bethany Center residents and
staff, to kids from the neighborhood schools,
to art-lovers who come to our events and
programs, multiple generations can connect
with each other in the open air.
Bethany Center Family Day Garden Party 2018
8
Changes Are Coming
To Ruth’s Table
In 2019 we’ll launch a year of programs to cele-
brate ten years of Ruth’s Table: a dynamic series Public
of rotating exhibitions, artist-run workshops, Programs
after-hour events, family activities, and com- Bethany Center Neighbors &
munity initiatives. The diversity of creative Residents Community
programs we offer to older adults—the heart-
beat of our mission—is expanding as well, with
exciting new partnerships already underway.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Honoring Our
Artistic Roots
“Bauhaus: An Enduring Legacy” celebrates the 100th anni-
versary of the influential Bauhaus Movement. Inspired by
our namesake artist Ruth Asawa, who connected to Bauhaus
artists through her training at the legendary Black Mountain
College, this yearlong exhibition will highlight textiles, color
Residents with Ruth Asawa’s art at the de Young Museum
theory, photography, activism, and innovations in technology.
9
ANNUAL REPORT
8% 56% 7% 64%
REVENUE 9% EXPENSES
29%
2018 fy 2018 fy
1% 0.6% 26% 2%
6% 71% 68%
27%
In-Kind Services
GROW WITH US
Planting Seeds of Inspiration
Since our enthusiastic beginnings around a single table at Bethany while younger people absorb the insights and experience of those
Center, Ruth’s Table has always dreamed big. Again and again who’ve lived long, eventful lives.
we’ve witnessed the amazing benefits of bringing generations 2019 will be a catalyst year for us. We’ll celebrate our ten-year an-
together—seniors feel revived, more stimulated, and less isolated, niversary in a building of our own! We have been planting seeds that
10
OUR 2018 DONORS
11