Bread & Roses brings hope and healing to thousands of
remarkable individuals each year. Some are children like
Danny, just beginning to discover their potential. Others have
contributed to our communities in extraordinary ways, like Bill
Murray.
We met former San Francisco resident William Francis “Bill”
Murray at Nazareth House in San Rafael, a facility served by
Bread & Roses since 1975.
Bill joined the San Francisco Fire Department in 1920; it was
the end of the era of horse-drawn engines. He served as captain of
the Treasure Island firehouse during the 1939 World’s Fair, and
during World War II he headed the contingent that provided civil
defense services for The City.
As a lieutenant, Bill founded San Francisco’s first all-firefighter
barbershop quartet and glee club. During the Christmas season,
the quartet sang at the bedsides of the ill in San Francisco’s
hospitals. “My father sang ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ more
often than Tony Bennett,” recalls his son, Bill Jr., now chief of the
Glen Ellen Fire Department in Sonoma County.
Bill was appointed San Francisco Fire Chief in 1956 and he
retired in 1971. Then, Mayor Dianne Feinstein designated him in
1984 as The City’s first and only official Fire Chief Emeritus.
“Bill was at the center of civic life in San Francisco and loved
music,” says Steve Johnson, Activity Director at Nazareth House.
“He very much missed the opportunity to attend cultural events
and very much appreciated Bread & Roses’ beautiful concerts. He
never missed a show and told me time and again how they lifted
his spirits and fed his soul.”
Just beginning the great story of his life is 3-year-old Danny.
According to his teachers at Friends of St. Francis
Childcare Center in San Francisco, a facility served by Bread &
Roses since 2003, Danny is bursting with potential.
“Danny is so active,” says his teacher, Gigi Cochran, “that
those who care for him worry.”
Born drug-addicted and not able to live with his birth parents,
Danny was placed in foster care before being adopted by a loving
family. Today, Danny’s loved ones and teachers are looking for
ways to harness his terrific energy.
Explains Gigi, “Danny can barely sit for two minutes at a
time without becoming distracted or agitated. He has a very hard
time focusing and remembering what he is taught. Except, that
is, during a Bread & Roses performance.
“When Bread & Roses produces a show, Danny sits rapt for
45 minutes at a time. We teachers watch this and it helps us see
what he is capable of and what we can do to help him focus.
“Danny retains almost all of what he has seen and heard at
your shows, even a month later.”
Last year we had the privilege of meeting 24,000 children and
adults at 524 shows – each person as special as Danny and
Bill, each needing roses as well as bread to experience the fullness
of life.
Says Steve Johnson of Nazareth House, “The importance of
nourishing souls has been recognized for centuries. Bread &
Roses exemplifies the beauty that the 13th century Persian poet
Muslih-uddin Sadi described when he wrote:
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. |
