Friends & Family Barbeque

Saffron Strand BBQ chefs treated members, friends, and families to savory ribs, hot from the smoking grill, at our second annual “Friends & Family Barbeque” October 14, 2012 at the Seagull Picnic Area of Miller Knox Park in Point Richmond.

Nearly 100 attended the fun and fund raising event which Saffron Strand members organized to build their vocational skills and work-related social skills. Planning and executing this community event developed their organizational and technical skills, on-the-job experience, and entrepreneurial and social enterprise potential. Donations collected before and during the Barbeque help fund future training at the Saffron Strand Center.

Also, hot-from-the-grill came BBQ chicken, hamburgers and hotdogs, and veggie burgers. Delicious sides and desserts included potato salad, string beans, sweet corn, collard greens, fresh fruit kabobs, peach cobbler, and Jell-O fluff. This year’s Friends & Family Barbeque added to Saffron Strand’s growing Bay Area reputation for delicious food in all sorts of venues. The Barbeque also featured the “Live Music Jam” – local musicians brought their own instruments – and “Poetry in the Park with Christina.”

Increasingly, the homeless throughout the Bay Area must count on themselves just to survive, which means getting back to work. Great food and fun the Friends & Family Barbeque helps both the homeless and other Bay Area residents think outside the box when it comes to homelessness.

The homeless members of Saffron Strand are making it fun for the whole community to support development of the homeless workforce. Their determination to gain the skills necessary to achieve and sustain “living wage” employment inspires the theme of our Fourth Annual Conference – “Developing the Homeless Workforce: What Will It Take?” – scheduled for June 17-18 again at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium. See “2013 Conference” below for more information.