City Government

Oakland A’s Week of Giving

Published

5 years ago

December 12, 2019

To celebrate the holiday season and continue to give back to the community, Oakland A’s players, front office staff, and mascot Stomper participated in the A’s Week of Giving events throughout Oakland from December 2-6.

Players involved in the week’s activities included Liam Hendriks, Matt Olson, Stephen Piscotty, and Marcus Semien. As part of #GivingTuesday, a global movement that marks the beginning of the charitable season, the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants hosted a week-long fundraising competition as part of the Battle of the Bay benefitting the Oakland A’s Community Fund.

A’s players and Stomper made surprise appearances at the Oakland police and fire stations providing lunch at Fire Station 29 on 66th Street, Fire Station 20 on 98th Street, the Oakland Police Department’s Downtown Station on 7th Street, and the Eastmont Station on 73rd Avenue.

In partnership with Reading Partners, A’s players, Stomper, and ballpark MC Ruby hosted a reading assembly for students at Vincent Academy and played whiffle ball and other games during recess with students at Parker Elementary School.

Students also received gifts. The A’s also provided games, gifts, and photos for residents of Oakland’s McClure Rehabilitation Center for an afternoon of fun.

The A’s participated in beautification projects in West and East Oakland with 100 volunteers. Half of the group helped CityTeam Oakland residents at the main location in downtown Oakland get ready for the holidays and winter months by decorating and painting an entire floor and made holiday cards for the homeless. The building includes a homeless shelter for 35 people, 53 members of their discipleship program and 15 interns and graduates of the program.

“Volunteers painted rooms, built dressers, constructed garden beds, decorated for the holidays, sorted and wrapped donated holiday presents,” said CityTeam Volunteer Coordinator Teddy Feldmann.

A second group of volunteers supported CityTeam’s new Women’s Bridge Housing Program by beautifying the yard space, constructing garden beds, cleaning the kitchen and common areas, and sorting and wrapping donated holiday presents at their site in East Oakland. Materials for the beautification events were donated by Ashby Lumber.

“The holidays are a sensitive time of year for many of our residents and to have an organization as powerful as the Oakland A’s take the time out to send dozens of volunteers to upgrade our site, sort donations, and prepare lunch is amazing,” said CityTeam Program Manager Ashley Ross with Sara Solis of Hands On Bay Area.

The A’s visited patients at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center to spread bedside holiday cheer and helped the Mobile Food Pantry by distributing pre-packed boxes of food to the program’s clients. Clorox donated supplies, including disinfecting wipes, cleaner sprays, toilet bowl cleaner, and bleach. A’s visited families currently residing in the emergency shelter of the Salvation Army Garden Street Center for an evening of holiday fun. Chevron also provided families with gifts and care packages.

Carla Thomas

Posts by Carla Thomas

Up Next

Harry Lee Overstreet Renowned Berkeley Architect, 84

Don't Miss

Best Practices in the Critical Management of Diabetes

Carla Thomas

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 7 – 13, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 7 – 13, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 9, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Barbara Lee Accepts Victory With “Responsibility, Humility and Love”

“I accept your choice with a deep sense of responsibility, humility, and love. Oakland is a deeply divided City,” Lee said in an April 19 statement. “I answered the call to run to unite our community, so that I can represent every voter, and we can all work together as One Oakland to solve our most pressing problems.”

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Barbara Lee. File photo.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌,
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

As a candidate for mayor, former U.S. Representative Barbara Lee released a “10-point plan” last week to reassure residents that she will tackle Oakland’s most pressing challenges.

Now that she has edged out her competitors in the ranked-choice special election with 50% or more of the vote, the former Congresswoman, who represented parts of the Bay Area in the U.S. House of Representatives, can put her vision in motion as the city’s first Black woman mayor.

On Saturday evening, Taylor conceded to Lee. There are still about 300 Vote-by-Mail ballots left to be verified, according to county election officials. The ballots will be processed on April 21 and April 22.

“This morning, I called Congresswoman Barbara Lee to congratulate her on becoming the next Mayor of Oakland,” Taylor said in a statement.

“I pray that Mayor-Elect Lee fulfills her commitment to unify Oakland by authentically engaging the 47% of Oaklanders who voted for me and who want pragmatic, results-driven leadership.”

The influential Oakland Post endorsed Lee’s campaign, commending her leadership on the local, state, and federal levels.

Paul Cobb, The Post’s publisher, told California Black Media that Lee will bring back “respect and accountability” to the mayor’s office.

“She is going to be a collegial leader drawing on the advice of community nonprofit organizations and those who have experience in dealing with various issues,” Cobb said. “She’s going to try to do a consensus-building thing among those who know the present problems that face the city.”

Born in El Paso, Texas, Lee’s family moved to California while she was in high school. At 20 years old, Lee divorced her husband after the birth of her first child. After the split, Lee went through a tough period, becoming homeless and having to apply for public assistance to make ends meet.

But destitution did not deter the young woman.

Lee groomed herself to become an activist and advocate in Oakland and committed to standing up for the most vulnerable citizens in her community.

Lee traveled to Washington, D.C. to work for then U.S. Congressman Ron Dellums after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mills College in Oakland in 1973. Lee later won a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fellowship to attend the School of Social Welfare, and she earned a Master of Social Work from the University of California-Berkeley in 1975.

Lee later served in the California State Assembly and State Senate before she was elected to Congress in 1998.

After serving in the U.S. Congress for more than 25 years, Lee ran unsuccessfully for California’s U.S. Senate in the 2024 primary election.

Lee joins current Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and former San Francisco Mayor London Breed as Black women serving as chief executives of major cities in California over the last few years.