California State Treasurer Fiona Ma and Founder Sunny Schwartz
and Co-chairs Debbie Mesloh and Alex Tourk
invite you to join us, LIVE AND IN PERSON, on
Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022
for our second annual Five Keys Home Free fundraiser.
DELANCEY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO I 6:00 - 8:00 PM
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, QUESTIONS OR TO RSVP:
Sheila Von Driska | sheilav@fivekeys.org | 415.505.3552
MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES:
Mary Beth Sammons | marybethsammonswriter@gmail.com | 847.757.3189
Our online auction us live and will end on September 23rd at 5:30 pm PST.
Home Free is a first-of-its-kind transitional housing program that helps criminalized domestic violence survivors reenter communities and thrive. Here, formerly incarcerated women will experience peaceful and humane transitions - from prison to freedom, from victim to survivor.
All contributions will help us to open our second home in Southern California, directly fund much-needed trauma-informed therapy, vocational and educational training classes, horticultural training and maintenance of the Home Free Freedom Forest and gardens, first freedom birthday dinners, ongoing cultural celebrations and holidays, and survivor empowerment classes to teach the women practical life skills from how to manage money to how to change a flat tire, etc.
Dinner Sponsor $25,000
Benefits include 25 tickets and:
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Premiere logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web and social media
Your logo on the cover of the menu book
Prominent placement full page color ad in the menu book
Your logo and a link to your homepage on event website
Exclusive logo slide and branding
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Toast Sponsor $15,000
Benefits include 15 tickets and:
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Prominent logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web and social media
Full-page color ad in the menu book
Your logo and a link to your homepage on the event website
Logo slide and branding
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Floral Sponsor $10,000
Benefits include 12 tickets and:
Your logo on table tents for floral arrangements
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web and social media
Full-page color ad in the menu book
Your logo and a link to your homepage on the event website
Logo placement on thank you slide
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Table Linens Sponsor $5,000
Benefits include 10 tickets and:
Your logo on cocktail napkins
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web and social media
Full-page color ad in the menu book
Your logo and a link to your homepage on the event website
Logo placement on thank you slide
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Dessert Sponsor $2,500
Benefits include 6 tickets and:
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web, and social media
Your logo and a link to your homepage on the event website
Logo placement on thank you slide
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Appetizer Sponsor $1,250
Benefits include 4 tickets and:
Your logo on a table card
Recognition from the hosts on our stage
Logo placement on all Home Free for Dinner materials: print, web, and social media
Your logo and a link to your homepage on the event website
Logo placement on thank you slide
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
After Dinner Mint Sponsor – $500
Benefits include 2 tickets and:
A post-event thank you from the women of Home Free
Seat at the Table Sponsor $150
Although everyone is invited to join our table at no charge, we encourage donations large or small. A $150 donation will go a long way in allowing us to do special things for the women like a day trip to Muir Woods or a day at the ballpark, etc.
Don’t see your giving level reflected? Have something else in mind? We’re happy to build a custom sponsor package for you.
Please contact amelial@fivekeys.org if you have any questions regarding sponsorship.
FINDING FREEDOM: RECLAIMING LIVES, CELEBRATING THE SIMPLE MOMENTS
Watch Our New Sizzle Reel
Creating a place to call home for women experiencing freedom for the first time in decades
A LETTER FROM SUNNY
As you know, I have been working with the team at Home Free to right one of the most horrific miscarriages of justice against women who were abused in severe domestic violence back in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. Terrified and suffering, their self-defense ended up in the death of their abusers, or they were at the scene of a crime because of the coercion of their abuser. But their lives were forever changed because they were not allowed to bring evidence of their abuse into their trials or parole hearings. Consequently, they were sentenced to life or life without parole, or what many survivors rightly call, “death by prison.”
Now, thanks to exhaustive lobbying and years of advocacy, the laws are changing (in large part thanks to then Assembly pro tempore Fiona Ma) and hundreds of these women await the hope that their sentences can be commuted. Slowly, some of these women are getting out. Our passionate and dedicated team at Home Free is receiving them with the love, care, and dignity they deserve and providing a safe place where they can sleep with two eyes closed, instead of one open fearing what is to come.
We provide a safe haven and a home for them to experience peaceful transitions and responsive programming that fosters the pride and self-worth and the aspirations of each survivor when they take their first steps back into society.
Our job is to create a pathway to their own independence through financial literacy, trauma-informed therapy, and programs teaching them the simple things many of us take for granted, like how to use the bus system, or ATMs and technology. These are little things for many of us, but the little things are gigantic for them. I remember when Rosie, our first woman to arrive last spring, reached out to me after someone mentioned she has a Blue Tooth. She shared she thought she had a literal blue tooth and needed to do a better job brushing her teeth. And, I will never forget, thinking how hard it must be for her to get out in the middle of a pandemic. She called crying and I asked her what was wrong. She said, “I’m holding an avocado and a cantaloupe, and you can’t understand how amazing that is. I am so free.”
That amazement, that joy, and getting to witness those little moments, their self-determination, and their unwavering triumph of spirit, inspires me every day. This is a program that touches so many hearts. We are so grateful to all of you who have helped us renovate this six-flat complex with so much commitment, gusto and heart, from the landscapers, architects, interior designers, and furniture donations. We have a forest in the front of the building, as Rosie calls it “TheFreedom Forest.”
“I’m holding an avocado and a cantaloupe, and you can’t understand how amazing that is. I am so free.”
With the pandemic restrictions easing up a little, we have got so many great adventures planned for them, like trips to the ocean, which happened this past weekend, and so much more.
In the weeks, months, and years ahead, I want you to join me and our team in experiencing along with these inspiring women a new view. We are working hard now so that many, many more of them can be released from prison and walk through our Freedom Forest and be welcomed to their new home, their new futures.
Thank you for helping these women find the path to stand on their own two feet and walk tall.
Join me in making it happen,
Sunny Schwartz
P.S. Hope to see you on September 22, 2022.
VELMA & ROISE
To understand what we do, is to meet Rosie.
For Rosie it is the simple things: The sunsets. The smell of the ocean and hearing the waves. Kentucky Fried Chicken and bacon were her first meal requests. Last spring, Rosie, 67, was released from prison after serving almost 35 years for shooting her abusive husband in self-defense with the gun he was attacking her with. His daily ritual of physical violence had left her emotionally battered and scared for her life.
She was one of about 100 abused women serving life or life without parole for killing their abusive husbands or partners. The women were unjustly serving anywhere between 15 to 40 years in prison for either defending themselves against their abuser or because they were at the scene of the crime under the coercion of their abusive spouse or boyfriend. Trying to protect themselves cost them life in prison, because of a law that made it illegal for them to claim self-defense at their trial.
Thanks to a change in the law by author Fiona Ma, now our California State Treasurer (and years of tireless advocacy), California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted her sentence. Unfortunately, many of these women have nowhere to go and end up in transitional drug and alcohol rehab programs, where they clearly do not belong.
Home Free provides a home and the rehabilitation services that prepare the women for successful full integration into society, providing trauma-informed survivor empowerment programs to help navigate daily life in the 21st Century. Programs include financial and technology literacy, job, and computer training classes. It is also a haven for physical, emotional, and spiritual counseling and healing.
“I finally have a home for the first time,” Rosie has told me. “If it weren’t for Home Free, I’d probably be living in a cardboard box somewhere.”
WHAT WE DO
We are deeply invested in the safety, service, and dignity of all participants and the ongoing investment in their humanity by collectively building upon individual and community resilience and self-determination, and independence.
Designing for Women: House of Hope Creates a Beautiful, Welcoming Home
Students at the Academy of Art Institute University’s interior architecture and design program used their design skills to transform the apartment complex on Treasure Island into a peaceful haven that will house up to 12 previously incarcerated women. Learn more about this partnership
BeyondtheFogRadio.com Episode 7 Criminal Justice Reform w/ Sunny Schwartz
Treasure Island, the artificial island built in 1936 and attached to Yerba Buena Island, is located between San Francisco and Oakland, is only accessible by car or bus from the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The island is currently under new development, to become primarily luxury housing, however, the nonprofit “Five Keys” (a restorative justice program and charter school), is housing formerly incarcerated women on the island who served unusually cruel and unfair sentences for decades in prison. Through Five Keys Home Free these women are able to reenter society in a supported and gentle way. Sunny Schwartz, author, advocate, and changemaker speaks to us about this extraordinary program she founded over 30 years ago, and the island where it is possible.
Going the Extra Mile: Helping Home Free women explore their freedom
Local firms’ generosity has a profound impact
Alex Tourk has a mission to make life-changing connections that take people and communities where they need to go. Tourk, founder of Ground Floor Public Affairs, a San Francisco-based community outreach and government relations firm, became an unalloyed fan and supporter of Home Free. He secured a van donation that is giving the women wheels for jaunts around the San Francisco Bay Area and to hit the road to explore other places on their new freedom journey plus a home security system to keep our residents safe, and lots of other gifts to lift their spirits and afford necessities to make the housing units a home. Tourk and Ground Floor’s generosity speak volumes about the outpouring of kindness from local firms and business leaders including Chris Larsen, Executive Chairman, and Co-Founder, at Ripple, Enterprise, and Verizon who are going the extra mile to recognize the hard work and dedication of our Home Free team and help us forever change and lead the lives of these women forward.
“I’m so pleased we were able to bring you and the entire Home Free team value and hope through this gift that we hope keeps on giving,” said Alex. And we say, “Alex and his team make magic happen.” Thank you, Alex, Jeremy, Jannely, Zak, Hailey, Ajouah, Lindsay, and Nancy!
A Fresh Start: If CityBuild and Ken build it, they will comeBenefits include:
Months before the COVID-19 pandemic came crashing down, Ken Nim, CityBuild director at the San Francisco Office of Workforce Development, pulled together an all-hands-on-deck team to take action to convert and renovate the 1431 Halibut Court address on Treasure Island into a beautiful new six-plex that gives our residents a fresh start and safe haven for healing.
Under Ken’s leadership and dedication, the renovation team rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Mithun, the San Francisco architecture team began hosting landscape design meetings with the Academy of Art University design instructors, Katie Valcuchak, Jemy Massie, and Irving Gonzales of G7A architecture, and our Home Free team.
Ken became our leading angel for our “1,000 Angels” fundraising campaign, working closely with his colleague, Janet Gomes, to oversee and inspire all of the hard work. Ken and Janet oversaw the installation when Gelfand Architects secured $75,000 of flooring donations and when Hester & McGuire secured 12 trees from magnolias to palms to create what Rosie has dubbed our “Freedom Forest.” We are very grateful to Ken and the army of CityBuild students who made the demolition, painting and upgrades possible, and the many other partners he rallied to our cause and got our doors open.
Home Sweet Williams Sonoma® Home
A gigantic thanks to Kevin Haggerty and Ruth Kennedy at Williams Sonoma, who stepped up to our “home plate,” and generously opened their hearts and warehouse doors to furnish our six 2-bedroom apartments with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living room sets of their iconic, built-to-last furnishings. They donated just about everything we needed to create a cozy, comfortable, and welcoming home for our residents.
From upscale Williams Sonoma Home sofas, chairs, bed frames and bedding, to lamps, full-length mirrors, and fully-stocked kitchens including modern appliances, coffee makers, blenders, toasters, Cuisinart’s, dishware, silverware, dish sets, and the warm-and-fuzzies like towel sets, throw pillows, area rugs, bath mats and every wish on our dream list.
About Home Free
Home Free provides trauma-informed survivor empowerment programs to help the women navigate daily life in the 21st Century. Programs include financial and technology literacy, job, and computer training classes. It is also a haven for physical, emotional, and spiritual rebirth and healing. The women participate in yoga classes, receive nutritional guidance, and explore the world that is out their waiting for them: treks to Muir Woods, the beach and through the streets of San Francisco.
Raising awareness about Dyer and the other women’s’ stories has become crucial to Home Free’s mission to help support domestic violence services, educate the community about coercive control, push for the behavior to be criminalized nationally, and to provide transitional housing and support for the women still hoping to be released from prison.
“People ask what’s it like getting out of prison,” Dyer said. “It’s wonderful. That is what I say to myself every day. It’s wonderful.” Learn more: www.fivekeyshomefree.org