RICHMOND ROUNDUP

Richmond Resident Wins Top Managerial Award
Richmond District resident Derek Chu was honored by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Feb. 25 during the 27th annual MFAC Public Managerial Excellence awards. The awards are designed to recognize city employees who have exhibited sound fiscal policies and affected positive change in city government.

Chu is a budget manager at the city's Human Services Agency.

Winners in the managerial competition are nominated by a department head and then selected from a volunteer community panel. Only a few of the 46 nominees earned the panel's nod to win the award, which was given to the winners in the North Light Court at City Hall.

Lafayette Students Pinch Pennies to Help Wildlife
The first-grade students in Room 10 at Lafayette Elementary School sprung to action when the ship Costco Busan hit the Bay Bridge and spilled oil in the Bay.

The class started a "penny drive," called Save the Seabirds, and raised more than $500. The organization Phase Forward matched the student's funds.

On March 14, students at Lafayette presented a check for $1,005.32 to a representative of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory oil response team.

The student's teacher and classroom organizer, Alex Dakin, used the oil spill incident to teach her students about the importance of birds as an ecological indicator of potential problems in the environment. The students then went on to give a presentation in every classroom at the school, from kindergarten through fifth grade.

SFGOP Elects Chairman
The members of the San Francisco Republican Party unanimously elected long-time party member Howard Epstein as its chairman on March 11. He has previously served as party's treasurer, vice chair of finance, vice chair of communications and vice chair of political affairs.

As chairman, Epstein's mission is to turn out the Republican vote in November to help elect Sen. John McCain and other Republican candidates. As the chief spokesperson for the party, he will work on good government issues in the City by taking pro-security, pro-growth, pro-individual responsibility, and low-tax positions on city ballot issues.

Restaurants serve support
To help raise money for furnishings and other items for the Richmond/Senator Milton Marks Branch Library, local restaurants are donating a portion of their proceeds during April.

Every Wednesday, diners at nine Richmond restaurants will help the Friends of SF Public Library achieve its mission of raising the funds for all items unrelated to the major renovation currently taking place.

Participating restaurants are: Angelina's Cafe & Catering; Bill's Place; Clement Street Bar and Grill; Katia's; Nib's Bakery; Old Shanghai; The Richmond; Tommy's Mexican Restaurant; and Troya.

Students earn top honors
Five former Richmond District residents were recently honored for their academic achievements.

For the fall 2007 semester, Allegra Z. Wong was named to the Grinnell College Dean's List, and Tessa J. Perliss was named to the Connecticut College Dean's List. As well, Jennifer Laney Lee, a graduate of Lick Wilmerding High School, and Zoe Kathryn Unruh, a graduate of Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, were both named to the Dean's List at Washington University in St. Louis for the fall semester and Svetlana Guz, who attended George Washington High School, was granted second honors on Clark University's Dean's List.

Charity supports community
The San Francisco Chapter of National Charity League (NCL), a non-profit organization of mothers and daughters who serve their communities together, recently held an event honoring the work of its dedicated members.

The goal of NCL is to foster a sense of community responsibility while strengthening mother-daughter relationships. Activities highlighted at the event included knitting hats for premature babies, participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, cleaning local beaches, and more. For more information, visit www.sfncl.org.

Washington wrestlers go to state finals
History was made Feb. 24 when George Washington High School sent wrestlers from all 14-weight classes to the All City Championship Finals. Washington also set a San Francisco record by sending representatives from 12 of its 14 weight classes to the state championships in Bakersfield. The champions are Washington Eagles Demetric Strong, De Mon Jones, Kenny Lim, Kelly Nguyen, Osman Chim, Mitchell Coloma, Frank Zhu, Andy Lam, Alan DeLira, Jason Liao, Coleman Rosenberg, Anthony Marshall, Jesse Grimes and Yoyci Medina.