Available to Purchase
AUCTION ITEMS
COMING SOONSign Up to Participate
Not Attending?
check out the auction itemsWELCOME TO GRACENTER'S ANNUAL
GALA LUNCHEON 2024
We are so grateful for your participation!!
The theme that we have chosen for this year is
Every day we watch each woman at Gracenter reach for her personal star that will take her to a whole new universe of possibilities for her future!
Each woman is unique, with her own gifts and skills--and dreams!
Our goal is to support each one as she begins to dream--
perhaps for the first time in her life--
and explores possibilities, sets goals and
takes the courageous steps to achieve them!
Recovery entails far more than just refraining from using or drinking. A true, long-term success requires a whole lifestyle change, encompassing every dimension of wellness: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. It is a tall order and once the women discover the resources that are available to them, and learn that they can make amazing progress--one step at a time, one day at a time--they do, indeed, reach for their star and hold on tight!! The advantage of communal living at Gracenter opens them up to learning from each other, supporting each other and forming friendships that often last for years after they leave our program. Many also return to Gracenter as staff which they see as an opportunity to give back and to be role models of success.
So today, we honor our program participants and all who have embarked on the difficult, but well worthwhile, journey of sobriety, success and support of others. Their success has been due to your support.
In gratitude for your trust and encouragement, they in turn, give back to their families and communities. As a result, the return on your investment increases because it yields ongoing benefits to so many others. You are an essential part of their success and impact!
So, welcome to our Gala, enjoy the music, photo booth, incredible silent and LIVE auction items, and great raffle prizes, while you hear about and from our amazing honorees!!
If you need assistance in bidding, we have our STAR Super shoppers to assist you. just reach for THEIR star!!
To purchase raffle tickets, please contact Sr. Marguerite
at (628)224-2050 or [email protected]
Once home to flower-growing enterprises and farms, The Portola, is San Francisco's Garden District. The Portola Garden Tour began in 2006 as a fund-raiser for the Portola Branch Library. When the library project was completed, they decided to continue the popular event as a fundraiser, and created The Portola Garden Scholarship at City College San Francisco for Environmental Horticulture and Floristry Department students to encourage the green movement and environmental awareness. The first scholarship was awarded in 2010 and has grown to two or more per year and pays for the CCSF students' work projects in The Portola.
This year, the Portola Garden Tour Scholarship and Work Project Committee awarded the work project funding to Gracenter for the landscaping and garden design around our newly constructed building. The project was designed by April Ellis, LCSW and Registered Horticultural Therapist, and a student at CCSF. In her "Grace-Full Garden" she created a true haven, carefully designed to embrace the wonders of nature and provide a safe and nurturing space for women, while supporting the essential pollinators and local wildlife.
April worked in partnership with Rebuilding Together, a leading national nonprofit organization, which works to create sustainable change, as they repair homes, revitalize communities and rebuild lives. They work closely with SheBuilds, a women led and women-focused non-profit which brings together tradeswomen and female volunteers to rebuild women-centered homes and women-focused community spaces. Special mention also to Steve Mongan and two professors at CCSF, Malcolm Hillan and Thomas Wang for their invaluable contributions. In just two weekends, our grounds were miraculously transformed--a feat that would have taken us months and would have been financially prohibitive. Please view the video--created by our Outstanding Volunteer, Alex DeMarco--to see them in action!
We are so proud and grateful to present the AMAZING GRACE AWARD to the Portola Garden Tour for their support every year with funding of the work project for the students at CCSF to provide our floral arrangements at these annual Galas, and for this year's amazing grant to provide the funding and other support for this new project! Our gratitude is truly boundless to all the Committee members: Ruth Wallace, Christina Wenger, Darlene Zane, Ray Coshow, Larry Zabo, Pamela Holm and Barbara Fenech, member emeritus.
Special thanks also to Steven Brown, Dept. Chair of the Environmental Horticulture and Floristry Department at City College of San Francisco for his guidance and enthusiasm in providing the floral arrangements every year and for being a part of this year's amazing project.
This year, the Portola Garden Tour will be on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10 am-3 pm, featuring 20 plus private and public gardens--including Gracenter. Go to https://portolagardentour.org for more info, ticket purchase & map.
See you there! 
Alex DeMarco is a working artist, storyteller, and a Director of Photography, with an extensive background in Sales, Business Development, Marketing, and Training. It was when he was traveling self-funded and solo with his cameras, walking through the Kenyan shanty towns, he saw up-close untreated, Polio, Leprosy, HIV, AIDS, and starvation. It was when a man with leprosy, missing his nose, ears, hands, and feet, chased after him and got in Alex's face, forced him to look him in the eyes, and bear witness to him as a human being, while shaking a coffee can gathering change, that Alex experienced an awakening. He received a message that he had been given specific talents and it was time to put those gifts to work to help make the world a better place. Years later, living in San Francisco, photographing unhoused women he reconnected to his experiences in Kenya and the message he had received. Since he was raised in a home with addiction and domestic violence, he understood how easily one could find themselves living on the streets. It was when Alex heard about Good Shepherd Gracenter and the real and lasting work the Sisters have been doing in San Francisco since 1932 to help women leave street life behind, he realized he could put his talents to work. He met with Sr. Marguerite who shared the work the Sisters are doing both in here and in 72 countries around the world. He was very inspired and has since created three short films that helped raise $175,000, finishing the new building for five additional women at Gracenter. It was in amplifying the message by using his innate talents, combined with hard work, service, and a sincere desire to make the world a better place that he founded his company, Sixth Gear Media. He and his team have since created work for numerous companies including Good Shepherd Gracenter.
Scroll down to check out his vimeo below.
New landscape and a fresh start at Gracenter
produced by Alexander Escobar DeMarco, our Outstanding Volunteer.
SixthGearMedia.com
Congratulations to our 2024 Outstanding Graduate
Gabriela Villarreal considers San Francisco her home, because it is a big part of her journey to sobriety. Originally from Santa Rosa, she made her way to San Francisco in 2013, hoping that a geographic move would help her find a new way of life free of drugs. She was able to get into A Woman's Place on 13th St. in San Francisco, a rehab for women. She was able to leave her ego at the door and get to her core issues. When she graduated, she knew she needed more structure and an opportunity to get back in society and maintain a life free of drugs. She learned of Gracenter and talked to Sandra, the Program Manager, and kept in touch with her on a weekly basis for a month. When she arrived at Gracenter in 2015, she was able to get back into the workforce, bond relationships with women, and rebuild her relationship with God. She graduated from Gracenter in 2017 and was eventually able to come back as staff to work with the women and really give back what she received from Gracenter, a full circle moment. She thrives with her close relationship with her friends and family, especially her dad and siblings, and every Sunday has family dinner together. On January 1, 2025 Gabriela will have ten years clean and sober and has had a healthy relationship with George for 4 years along with Nyla her American Bully. They got together in the height of the Pandemic. She hopes to one day open a nonprofit in Sonoma County to help women with Drug/Domestic Violence issues because she has first-hand experience with both and is passionate about helping other women in similar situations. She lives each day with intention and purpose . Gracenter has helped her love herself and has given her the tools to live a new way of life, clean and sober. Now, the sky's the limit……..
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
Click to fill out Sponsorship Form 
If you wish to place an ad, send your logo or artwork to [email protected] or we can design an ad for you!
Hosted By Gracenter
Questions? Please contact Sr. Marguerite
Share With Others
Help us spread the word!
Steve Loveseth had been involved with Gracenter's recovery program from the very beginning of its existence. In 1988 he suggested that we create a recovery program for women, and offered to help develop it. So, we changed our shelter into a licensed drug program. Steve provided direct services as counselor and group leader. Besides being a professional drug counselor, Steve also had special training in group process, so he facilitated a weekly group meeting for the residents. He showed himself to be an ever-constant presence, always showing up and proving the value of his trademark words "Just show up" which are so important for those in early recovery. He was a committed Mission Partner, giving twenty-one years of dedicated service from 1988 to 2009. Steve was a mentor to a number of the Sisters through the years.
Steve was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 and entered hospice in early 2024. Sharon, his wife, who had also been a counselor in our program, told us that through all the years the program continued to be a "constant" in their lives. They continued to stay in touch, and attended all in-person fundraisers. In 2009 we presented Steve with the Gracenter Amazing Grace Award which is shaped like a flame and expresses "our heartfelt gratitude for his steadfast flame of wisdom and serenity".
They both have had years of experience working in the field of recovery in San Francisco and Contra Costa County, and they mentioned that there is no program like Gracenter. They said that it is different because it sets no limits in providing what a resident needs to succeed. It has a "where-with-all" like no other program. "No holds barred". If a woman needs something to survive and succeed, Gracenter seeks to provide it. Sharon said that Steve really had a heart for women caught in addiction and he worked against the moral judgements that he felt were leveled against them. So, Gracenter has a special place in Steve's heart as he has in ours. It has truly been a gift and labor of Providence and Zeal. Steve passed away on May 9, 2024 but will remain in our grateful hearts always.
