When I was a little girl and my Dad was both working all day and going to law school at night, we did not have much, but even then, my parents were always committed to helping others.  And they raised us to consistently help and care for others and our community. 

As a family we volunteered with the mentally ill at Agnews State Hospital, as a teen I worked with the homeless and at-risk youth at Larkin Street Youth Center, cancer patients at CPMC Hospital and the elderly both at Little Sisters of the Poor and at St. Francis Hospital. 

In college I tutored kids in Washington DC (where I also worked in Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional Office), worked with abused children at the Stuart House in Santa Monica, and continued to volunteer with vulnerable populations and feed the homeless with my siblings when in San Francisco.

After college, while working for a small newspaper in New Jersey, I started the Woodbine Foundation which provided opportunities for foster kids and women and children living in domestic violence shelters. In law school I served indigent clients in the Penn Law Legal Aid Clinic and continued to provide pro bono legal services as a baby lawyer with Skadden Arps.

Most important to me is that I have been hands-on volunteering in SF since I was 5, working with many vulnerable populations including the disabled, children, the elderly, the sick and the homeless, both with organizations and on my own.  When I was 16, living in the Richmond District, my 3 siblings and I decided one night that we wanted to bring food to the homeless.  We made over 50 bag meals; with my new driver’s license I drove us down to the civic center and we walked around with a wagon and handed meals out and connected with people sleeping on the street.  It was very meaningful to us. We did this many more times and I have continued to do it as an adult with my own family.

When I returned to San Francisco after a Federal Clerkship with the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall in Los Angeles, I began volunteering with and joined the board of Holy Family Day Home. Thus began a lifelong commitment to HFDH, including 15+ years on the board and chairing a massive campaign to rebuild years after Loma Prieta caused extensive damage, ensuring the organization’s viability to continue educating homeless and underserved children to end the cycle of poverty.

I have led fundraising of over $40 million for important causes including all levels of education, homeless services, health initiatives, scholarships, cancer research, the arts, environmental and wildlife conservation, refugees, ending human trafficking and intervention for at-risk-youth.  I have served on many non-profit boards including Hamilton Families, Holy Family Day Home (early childhood education for homeless and low-income children), San Francisco Ballet Auxiliary, and Georgetown University.  

At age 11, my daughter Cassidy became passionate about ending human trafficking and has educated all of us on this epic human tragedy. She inspires us to take action. Under her leadership, we have volunteered in several trafficking shelters around the world and are engaged in on-going efforts to address the root causes.

Upon deciding to volunteer in Bangladesh we decided to bring aide and manpower to the Rohingya refugees as well . . . in monsoon season!  In the camps in Bangladesh we built a school, three homes, dug water wells, planted trees, provided medical care and medication, played with the children, cooked, served hundreds of meals and held hands with women as they shared their heartbreaking stories with us.