SPOTLIGHT: THE HEART OF SENIOR LIVING


Chefs and Community Support San Francisco Seniors


By Leo Williams


than 100 vintners, and 900 attendees to benefit Meals on Wheels San Francisco (MOWSF), an organization that provides food and nourishment to 4,500 of the area’s homebound seniors. Gala attendees enjoyed meals provided


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by stars of the San Francisco culinary world, such as Charles Phan, chef of the Slanted Door; Mourad Lahlou, chef of the epony- mous Mourad; and Nancy Oakes, chef of Boulevard Restaurant and gala chair. Their offerings included delights such as Califor- nia lamb, ricotta gnudi, ramps, morel, and crimini fricassee. According to Karl Robillard, director


of marketing and communications for MOWSF, the event brought in more than $3.3 million. Those funds are well appreciated. Robil-


lard said MOWSF’s 24 drivers serve about 6,000 meals on any given day, a number that has been climbing by more than 10 percent each year as the city’s older adult population grows. Nearly three-quarters of the seniors receiving service from MOWSF are at or below the federal poverty line. “A lot of the reason is what you hear from


anybody working with senior populations,” he said. “The demographics of this entire country—and certainly San Francisco—are changing rapidly. More people are living longer, and there are more seniors than ever before.” MOWSF counts on the gala to provide


about a quarter of its budget, he said. The agency brings in about $14 million annual- ly, split between private and public sources. The gala, in turn, is responsible for about half of its private income.


56 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MAY/JUNE 2018


he 31st Annual Star Chefs and Vintners Gala, held May 20, 2018, brought together 100 chefs, more


David Nayfeld, chef and co-owner of Che Fico and Nancy Oakes, chef of Boulevard Restaurant and MOWSF gala chair. Robillard credits Oakes, the event chair,


for maintaining enthusiasm for the gala within the city’s culinary community. “Because she has really gone to bat for


Meals on Wheels, many aspiring new chefs want to be part of this gala,” he said. “Many of the established chefs, like her, who have been around the city for years, are eager to be part of it every year.” Attendees at the gala were treated to a


three-hour experience; the first hour was dedicated to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres fea- turing cuisine from Spain to India to Japan. To avoid having the untenable job of pre- paring meals for 900, the chefs divided into teams, with each team serving about 100 guests. As a result, there was a wide variety of dining experiences across the room. “It is likely that the table next to you


will be enjoying a different appetizer, main course, and dessert from your table,” Robil- lard said. “That’s how they keep the quality so high and how they keep the event so ex-


citing and unique. You never know exactly what you’re going to get.” A live auction accompanied the meal, with people bidding for vacation packages and dinner parties at winning bidders’ homes. “These are all things that you could never


buy anywhere outside of the gala,” Robillard said. “You have to be in this room to have a chance to bid.” Overall, the gala serves to bring the com-


munity together and provide help for those who might go hungry without this support. “Honestly, it’s just an amazing event,”


Robillard said. “There are really no words to accurately describe how beautiful it is, how incredibly important it is for seniors all throughout the city. If you apply the amount of money we raised this year to the cost of producing meals, we raised enough money to provide 660,000 meals to homebound se- niors throughout San Francisco. That’s a lot of home delivered meals and safety checks for seniors!”


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