>> the mayor wanted -- >> before you leave i have a surprise. sophia will be a major opera singer. today she will sing something we will hear a lot of for the next year. ♪ ♪ >> well, thank you, everybody. and welcome. happy thanksgiving and happy season of sharing and caring for each other. i just spent a wonderful morning with the inter-faith council and their 15th anniversary of breakfast with quite a host of wonderful, wonderful people who care about the city and about the world. and while the theme was articulated as a very rich greening theme, i think we found out from many, if not all of the speakers, that the way we care about our earth is reflected in the way we care for each other first and foremost. and that's really important. and, so, today i'm standing with people who have demonstrated their highest level of care for people, people who work and live and breathe the social safety net for everyone in our city. and i could not ever do my job as the mayor, nor i suggest any member of the board of supervisors, elected office who also have responsibility for caring about the quality of life for everyone, unless we had a caring leadership in our social safety net. so, thank you, everyone, for coming and being part of this season of giving and a season of caring and sharing with everyone. you know, this year our season of giving campaign i'm focused on highlighting organizations that really work on the ground with our domestic violence victims, our youth, our seniors, our veterans, and certainly our homeless. and that's almost everybody. [laughter] >> but we definitely have a very specific programs that we have created with their help because we believe that targeting our efforts with each and every one of these groups has helped us over the many, many years getting past the rhetoric of simply saying that we care and into real programs that change people's lives and get them into our system of help and support. this year we're also wanting to send a message with not only our social service provider but our whole business community. please help the victims of hurricane sandy on the east coast. their need, the winter here is relatively mild compared to what they're experiencing on the east coast. those harsh winters is the reason why i did my four years of college and i came right back to the west coast. [laughter] >> but they, again, reflect a high level of need out there. and i hope everybody who is listening on both the government channel and the wonderful media that we have, the multi-cultural media that we have, please do your best and go to sf gives back.org. the website, and find out how you can join our american red cross who is here today to help all those victims. we have done so with not only our city's finest in our response network, but i know all these folks here have sent their volunteers, as well as utility companies who are helping them restore, even today, vital utilities and have their volunteers come and report back. and we will learn lessons about what has happened there and how we can, again, help ourselves by increasing our opportunities to be even more ready for our expected challenge of the earthquake. please, cecil, please come on up, yes, yes. please join us. i was just introducing both of you. [laughter] >> janice, for being part of our wonderful, wonderful world of connectivity. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you. >> so, i'm also just wanting to go through some of the groups that have joined us this morning . the salvation army. [speaker not understood], cathy black is here. certainly michael and rita from the inter faith council who i had a chance to be with all morning. cheryl davis from more magic and operation impact, thank you for being here. brenda story from the mission neighborhood health center is here. from lock and youth street, thank you for being here. sister from st. anthony's is here. tyler and miller from hunters point family, you're here. thank you very much. ella wolf graham, center for young women's development is here this morning to join us. [speaker not understood] the good samaritan family resource center. paul from sf food bank are also here to join us. and i'm sorry if i've forgotten anybody else, but you're as valued to us as everyone here today as well. i would also encourage that we use the newest ongoing evolving technology of the city to access the list of organizations that people can help connect up with. also, what other programs, if you're with much more resources, please go to our 311. i know nancy is here, the great leader of that organization, that talent. but also go to sf mayor.org as well to find out what other information you might want to have in order to reach out for more of the needy and help them in every way you can. i also want to say as part of this campaign that i'd like to announce that we again will be hosting snow day here at city hall. sometime in the month of december, the date hasn't been decided yet, but it will be continuing a very great tradition, not only of welcoming the tree of hope, but also asking people to bring in nonperishable items that can be donated to people in need during these holidays. and bring them here to city hall as part of a great celebration that we have that unites everyone. it will be free. it will be youth and family oriented and again, it will be supporting our food bank. with that, i know that they're going to be happy today because i'm delivering 100 turkeys. [laughter] >> and that will make me happy in doing so. and i want to again suggest to you that part of this morning's cherish time was really understanding how helping other people can really help ourselves with our own spirits. this is what we do. this is the character of san francisco. we help others. it lifts up the spirit of this city. it's like winning a world series. a

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