Fire, police chiefs to lead UCSF Children's Hospital benefit

WHEN: 1:15 to 2:15 pm, Friday, October 7

WHERE: UCSF Children’s Hospital, 505 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, in Moffitt Cafe on the hospital’s second floor.

WHAT: Kickoff of the 2005 Macy’s Holiday Tree fundraiser for UCSF Children’s Hospital.

The event will feature SF Police Chief Heather Fong, SF Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, representatives from Macy’s West, and young UCSF Children’s Hospital patients. In addition, Gary Delagnes, from the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association, will present a $25,000 check to UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret.

For the third year, Macy’s San Francisco is making its annual Holiday Tree Lighting a charitable event to benefit UCSF Children’s Hospital, Northern California’s center for more than 85 years for extraordinary care and innovative research for children and their families.

To kick off the event, Chief Fong and Chief Hayes-White will deliver keynote remarks at a party for the UCSF community. Active community volunteers, the two are serving as honorary co-chairs of the Macy’s Tree Lighting-UCSF Children’s Hospital fundraising campaign. 

Fong and Hayes-White will speak about the support that San Francisco police officers and firefighters have given to UCSF Children’s Hospital. In addition, Hayes-White will speak about her own experiences with UCSF Children’s Hospital when her son was a patient.

Macy’s 16th annual tree lighting ceremony will be held on Friday, Nov. 25 (the day after Thanksgiving) from 6 to 6:30 p.m. The event is Macy’s annual gift to San Francisco and is free and open to the public. Tree lights can be sponsored at $10 each to illuminate the 80-foot fir tree in Union Square. Every penny of tree-light sponsorship goes to programs that support children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Tickets will be on sale at Macy’s Union Square, at the UCSF Medical Center/UCSF Children’s Hospital gift shop on Parnassus Avenue and at www.ucsfhealth.org