Author: Alfredo Casuso

News from AAP Food Samaritans. Save the Date October 11

Written on July 7, 2026.

I hope you enjoyed a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend filled with friends, family, and celebration. As the fireworks fade and we settle into the heart of summer, I am reminded that independence can mean many different things. For the clients of AAP Food Samaritans, it can mean having the nourishment and support necessary to remain healthy, maintain dignity, and continue living independently despite chronic illness and financial hardship.

Summer is an especially difficult season for many of the people we serve. Extreme desert temperatures bring higher utility bills, increased isolation, and difficult choices between food, medicine, housing, and other essential expenses. At the same time, seasonal charitable giving often slows as many residents leave the Coachella Valley for cooler climates.

Our clients, however, remain right here — and so does their need. AAP Food Samaritans continues providing food assistance throughout the summer, ensuring that our neighbors living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses do not have to face these challenges alone. A gift of $750 helps provide food assistance for five clients for one month, but every contribution, at every level, makes a meaningful difference.

This month, we are especially pleased to recognize Eisenhower Health for their compassionate and continuing support of our mission. Their generosity represents the very best of our community: organizations and individuals working together to help vulnerable neighbors live with greater health, security, and hope.

We are deeply grateful to all our donors, volunteers, community partners, and friends. Whether you contribute financially, attend an event, share our message, or introduce someone new to our work, you are an essential part of the AAP Food Samaritans family.

Please also save the date for Saturday, October 11, when we will gather for a special AAP Food Samaritans Garden Party during the Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend. October 11 is also National Coming Out Day, making it an especially meaningful occasion to celebrate courage, visibility, friendship, and community — values that have always been central to the history and mission of AAP Food Samaritans.

Additional details about the Garden Party, including location, entertainment, sponsorship opportunities, and ticket information, will be announced soon. We hope you will join us.

As we celebrate the freedoms and opportunities represented by the Fourth of July, let us also remember the responsibility we share to care for one another. Your summer gift will help ensure that our clients continue receiving the nourishment, compassion, and dignity they deserve.

With gratitude and warm wishes for a safe and healthy summer,

Mark Anton
C.E.O./Executive Director
AAP Food Samaritans

DP&A Partner Salute – The SF Chamber of Commerce

Written on July 7, 2026.

It’s our job and our pleasure at David Perry & Associates, Inc. to be a member of and partner with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the city’s leading business organization and a vital voice for economic vitality, civic leadership and opportunity. Through advocacy, convening, programming and partnerships, the Chamber supports businesses large and small while helping shape San Francisco’s future.

We are proud to support an organization committed to strengthening the city we love.

https://sfchamber.com

Creative Communications.
International Connections.

Bill “Mr. Ocean Liner” Miller recalls “QE2”

Written on July 7, 2026.

Bill “Mr. Ocean Liner” Miller recalls a memorable crossing onboard the “QE2” in July 1986.

It is surely the most glamorously nostalgic voyage of all – crossing the historic North Atlantic aboard the last of the so-called transocean super- ships, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2. Almost all of the passengers were, in contrast to leisurely cruising, being transported – luxuriously transported, for the most part – from one continent to another. Unlike cruise voyages (which the Queen also runs), the crossing has a definite sense of purpose, a very real destination. My journey was slightly different, however. I traveled on a roundtrip: 5 days over, one night in England and then 5 days homeward.

When I boarded the QE2, as she is surely best known, at New York, she had just returned from her longest and most profitable charter yet, a special sailing from Southampton to New York via Bermuda, and then a “grandstand” anchorage in New York’s Lower Bay for the gala Fourth of July-Liberty Weekend celebrations. She had been chartered by Lee Iacocca, who had presided over the Statue of Liberty’s facelift and restoration fund-raising campaign, in his fulltime capacity as chairman of the Chrysler Corporation. Some 1,500 guests, most of them car dealers who had far and away exceeded their sales quotas, were invited for what was billed as “a caviar-filled, Champagne-flowing” trip. Robin Davies, the ship’s assistant hotel manager, was aboard for this special sailing and played an important part in the detailed planning.

“There were luncheon buffets and midnight buffets every day as well as an endless stream of special cocktail parties. The planning and preparation was enormous and even included a daily drink that bore an appropriate automotive name: Sundance, Shadow, Charger, Le Baron and Lancer. The passengers had been to Paris, a trip that included a special luncheon party at Versailles, and were then flown to London before being brought down to Southampton to join the ship. We had a special detour to Bermuda and a day there at anchor, when Mr Iacocca left the ship to fly onward to New York and prepare for the Liberty celebrations. Once at New York, the ship spent two days at anchor in Gravesend Bay. Champagne was served constantly on the open decks. We had perfect viewing for the Tall Ships parade and then the nighttime fireworks. Appropriately, we were anchored next to the largest representative from our Royal Navy, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.”

On the Atlantic voyage, the Queen had resumed commercial service and departed on an eastbound passage from her Hudson River berth with 1,550 passengers, 14 cars, 3 dogs and 2 cats on board. It would be her 586^th voyage since being commissioned in the spring of 1969. Built at Clydebank in Scotland by John Brown & Company Limited (which in those fading years of British shipbuilding had become Upper Clyde Shipbuilders), she was royally launched and highly publicized from the start, and was clearly a dramartically different successor to the two previous Cunard Queens, the immortal Queen Mary and the first Queen Elizabeth, which had run the weekly trans-Atlantic shuttle since 1947.

Today, the Queen Elizabth 2 is, I believe, the most famous liner on earth. It is a combination, in uncertain quantities, of her illustrious heritage (there has been no grander name in Atlantic passenger shipping than Cunard) and her own, quite distinct personality. John Butt, her executive cruise director, adds, “She is, of course, the last of an era, a very glorious era. There will never again be another like her. She makes news wherever she goes, grabs attention and offers her passengers a vacation of a lifetime. Furthermore, there have been some very noticeable injections of pride into the ship. The old-timers among the staff are setting a very fine example to the younger crew members. Like Chrysler, we’re bringing the Queen back!”

Rainbow Honor Walk Honor Leonard Matlovich

Written on July 6, 2026.

Today on the anniversary of his birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Leonard Matlovich (July 6, 1943 – June 22, 1988).

A decorated U.S. Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War and recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, Matlovich became the first gay service member to deliberately come out in order to challenge the military’s ban on gay people. His 1975 appearance on the cover of TIME made him one of the most visible LGBTQ+ activists of his era and helped bring the struggle for equality in the armed forces into the national spotlight.

His courage helped open the way for generations of LGBTQ+ service members to live and serve openly.

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Happy Birthday Frida Kahlo – Rainbow Honor Walk Honoree

Written on July 6, 2026.

Today on the anniversary of her birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954).The celebrated Mexican artist transformed physical pain, identity, love and political conviction into deeply personal works that continue to inspire generations. Kahlo’s uncompromising portrayals of the female experience, Mexican culture and her own complex life established her as an enduring feminist and LGBTQ+ icon.

Read Bill Lipsky’s tribute in SF Bay Times at the link below:

https://sfbaytimes.com/frida-kahlos-truth-lives-on-in-her-art

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