Champions Luncheon Recap

Child Care Champions Luncheon a Huge Success

Child Care Champions Provider Honoree Delia Suarez, family and friends. Photo by Julio Cesar Martinez.

Over 300 community members, colleagues and city officials joined us on May 16 at the Four Seasons Hotel for Child Care Champions, our inaugural fundraising luncheon.

The elegant event began with the debut our new Child Care Champions video and a powerful welcome by Event Chair Anna Nordberg, who shared her own sense of gratitude and joy, watching her children thrive in child care.

Keynote speaker Barbara Carlson, outgoing director of the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education, presented a compelling look at the role of child care in addressing the opportunity gap in our city. She shared the astounding fact that there are 2,929 low income families on the waiting list for child care subsidies.

Next we celebrated the life and legacy of Children’s Council founder Patty Siegel. Staff member Janet Zamudio gave tribute to our founder by presenting the first Patty Siegel Community Champion Award to Parent Voices, a state-wide parent advocacy program which Patty founded and nurtured for 20 years.

Board Member Jim Kirk introduced a heart-warming video featuring the first recipient of the Family Child Care Award, Delia Suarez. An active member of our Child Care Provider Quality Network, Delia has served as director of Delia’s Little Angels in San Francisco’s Bayview district for 15 years.

The program concluded with a “call to action” by our board president, Fran Maier, who thanked and encouraged attendees to continue their unwavering support of Children’s Council’s work at the local and state level.

We are immensely grateful to all of our sponsors, as well as to everyone who joined us for this inspiring event. Truly, you are all Child Care Champions. See you next year!

Click here for a photo gallery from Child Care Champions.