Pao kosher comedy, and wed like to introduce you to this years beneficiaries. They are patrick, who is the founder and director of the center for elderly Suicide Prevention and griefrelated services, which itself is the program of the institute on ageing, and howard levy, who is the executive director of legal stance to the elderly. In a moment, we are going to meet lisa, and she is going to talk more about kung pao kosher comedy, but in the meantime, lets talk about your two respective agencies. Patrick, what is the center for elderly suicide and grief Prevention Services . First of all, we are very happy to be a beneficiary of this comedy praum, and institute on ageing is one of the largest not for profit ageing service here in the city and county out of San Francisco, and then our primary service through center for elderly Suicide Prevention is the 24hour friendship line for the elderly, and its an accredited crisis intervention hot line, but also warm line, meaning that people can call us who are not in a crisis, and we work with a lot of very lonely, isolated oilder people, and particularly at this time of year, are going through a lot of pain as a result of the holidays being happy time and, yes, they are very lonely. And so we operate 24 hours a day and really try to connect with people, and we know that just even a phone call to somebody really does reduce their loneliness a little bit so thats part of what we do. And, howard, youre the executive director of Legal Assistance to the elderly. What does the organization actually do . Well, we are a small nonprofit law firm, and that allows us to provide our service free of charge. We provide it to San Francisco elders and individuals under 60 who are disabled. We provide advice, counseling, rep sen tigs in selected civil litigation and other civil issues. Our big area right now ir is tenant representation because of the housing bubble going on in San Francisco thats putting great stress on everybody, but particularly people on fixed income. We also do work regarding public benefits, prevention of elder abuse, and some planning for future disability, things like powers of attorney and healthcare directives, and what we do is give a lot of advice in about 10 of the people that we see that will receive representation. So do you have particular threshold by which somebody can access your services . Do they have to have a particular nshg threshold . Do they have to be in a particular lifestyle situation, or can anybody who is elderly come to your to your organization for services . Anybody who else elderly, which is defined as 60 or older in the Older Americans act provided they live in San Francisco, but there are similar organizations in other bay area counties. And so do you do you provide a range of Legal Services or in particular, jurisdictions or particular framework . We provide a range but purely civil. As i said, they during housing issues, and theres a lot of things that we hope to its very hard to find free Legal Services. There are some Wonderful Services out there, but put them all together, and even in San Francisco, its a real patchwork of services so both of you have been in the nonprofit world and work with the elderly for many, many years, so youve seen loot of friends, youve seen a lot of things that are new, and you are always adopting, i know. But you just mentioned that people need to put together a patchwork of services. Can you talk a little bit about the ways in which in this particular moment, your agencies interact with one another . Id say first of all, for us, one of the big things that howard just mentioned has to do with housing issues, and what were seeing is a lot of our callers are really on low income, have lived in apartments for 30, 40, 50 years, and are now being pushed out, and so they will often be very uncertain about what to do or who to talk to. So we will refer to howards agency if they are willing to accept the referral. Youven, many times, our older people are just very warly of reaching out, and so it takes a while to get them to even accept the referral, and then we dont know for sure how far they go with that, you know, once they contact you or if they contact you. But thats one of the big issues that were seeing certainly here in the city and county are people are experiencing a lot of stress and worry about housing so i think thats one way that we connect certainly. Thank you. Were going to take a quick break and be back in just a moment here on mosaic. Good morning. Welcome back to mosaic. Im rabbi eric white honored to be your host. Were in the middle of a conversation about the Elder Care Services in our community, and tacking with howard levy, who is the executive director of Legal Assistance to the elderly, and patrick, who is the founder and director of the center for elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Related Services at the institute on ageing. Welcome back, howard and patrick. We were talking in the first segment about what each of your organizations does do, but, also, the ways in which you interact with one another. It really is em brematic of the way nonprofits patch their Services Together based on their con stitch wen sis. Im wondering, howard, it seems to me that if an elderly person is engaged in legal system, that in and of itself, thats a stres sore. Im wondering if you could talk a little bit about the kind of that you thin provide beyond the Legal Service aspect of what needs to be done, but then how you help an elderly person cope with, live through the stress of the legal system that theyre that they need to be engaged with. That can be fairly complicated. Elderly folks need all kinds of support under the best of circumstances, and then when theyre challenged by a legal issue such as an eviction, they need extra support. So depression kind of goes with the territory as you age, the threat of homelessness, boy, is that depressing, scary. And so we do a lot of referral for Mental Health services, including patricks agency. A lot of people get into trouble because they fete to a point in their life where they cant manage their own money. We do referrals for money management, for Case Management. People also carry all in their younger days into old age so we see folks that we have to refer for addiction services, Mental Health services, Case Management services. It becomes fairly complicated, but we try and hook people up, and often, we will work with other agencies on an ongoing basis. You know, patrick and howard, you both have been in this nonprofit world for many, many years and have seen many different trends. It seems that the nonprofit world inherently is filled with a paradox by which nonprofits are told that the most effective way to provide services to is to come up with a very particular specific mission to remain mission focussed, which on the one hand, completely makes sense, and that speaks to donors who want to feel that they are supporting something that is impactful, and on the other hand, we know that the nature of life, as howard has just outlined, is that no specific issue solves every problem that a person might come to that agency for, and so the nonprofit world is filled with this tension between its own specific mission that its pushed to articulate, and at the same time, Pay Attention to the wholeness of a person, and so im wondering from your Vantage Point if you can talk a little bit more about really that inherent paradox and and what we should do about that in the community. Patrick, what do you think . I think that its really a matter of, you know, being able to understand what our agencies do, what we provide, you know, what our areas of expertise, and to be able to make sure that were all aware of whats going on in terms of the type of work that we we do. Like, when howard was talking about the stressful nature of being involved in that legal system, well, you know, thats our, you know, kind of our bread and butter when were talking to people. You know, theyre very stressed over many, many things, and in some of those situations where where theyre really worried about finances or, you know, where theyre going to live, you know, they get very depressed, and and its very difficult. So what we do is we call out to a lot of people on a regular basis. I think last month, we had Something Like 8,000 contacts in in one month with older people throughout the bay area and beyond who are really struggling. This has been a very difficult time for them financially. The uncertainly about housing, you know, transportation issues, i mean, you know, many of these issues have been around for 40 years, at least as long as ive been working in ageing, and and thats a problem. The other thing i think is so important is, like, this this comedy club and bringing, again, awareness to people about older adults and about the issues that they face and how complicated these kinds of issues are, that theres not an easy fix for people, and so what we provide is emotional support on a regular basis and crisis intervention for those people that are really struggling to maintain their health with this. So we want to give you a chance to let folks know how to both access your services, and those who might be interested in supporting your services, how to both refer to you and, also, how to support you. So, howard, if folks want to get more information, and they want to donate to your organizational structure, how do they reach you . They can call us at 4155383333, and they can access us or make donations through our web site. Wonderful. And patrick . And the same thing. We can call, you know, the institute on ageing and that number is 4157504111, and the folks that answer that phone can really move people through our system easily. And donations, of course, would be very lovely, but, also, volunteers. We really rely on volunteers to work in many of our programs, including our 24hour friendship line. Patrick and howard, two of this years kung pao kosher comedy beneficiaries of partial proceeds. Thank you so much for being with us, and just in a moment, come back to us here on mosaic. Good morning, and welcome back to mosaic. Im rabbi eric white honored to be your host. Wed like to introduce you to lisa. Wonderful to have you, lisa. So lets just jump right in, and tell us about kung pao kosher comedy is a jewish comedy in a Chinese Restaurant and now in its 23rd year, started in 1993, a couple of months after i went to perform after what i thought was going to be a comedy club in massachusetts called the peking garden club, and i got there, and lo and behold, it was a Chinese Restaurant. So i found myself telling jewish jokes at a Chinese Restaurant and called a friend in new york the next day to tell her about my ironic experience. Out of that conversation came the idea of jewish comedy on christmas in a Chinese Restaurant, and here we are 25 years later. And we just heard from two of the beneficiaries of kung pao kosher comedy for this year. Where did you come up of this notion of each year having partial proceeds go to support a nonprofit in the community. Sdpr so we should say, how do you translate . I translate it as charity with a social conscience. So the first year in 1993, the j, which was san antonio as the jewish bulletin at the time, our local jewish newspaper, had a journalist, and she was battling brain cancer. She would cover a lot of progressive lgbt issues, and i knew her and knew that she was dealing with this health issue this nay fatal, terminal health issue. So at the end of the show, that one show on december 4th, 1993, i announced to the audience that this journalist was dealing with brain cancer, and if anyone wanted to give a check to defray her medical costs, see me afterwarz. So people who came up afterwards and people who sent me money, 500 came in to help with her medical costs. So the concept was born that night sort of extemporaneously when i came up with the idea when i was thanking the audience and closing the show, and then i decide decided from there onto always have two different beneficiaries, that i would name two largely local direct Service Organization that were doing work according to my beliefs on politics, et cetera. Wonderful. So i should say its a jewish Value Concept that is loosely translated as charity or philanthropy, but essentially includes this notion that one gives oneself right. To the betterment of society. Uhhuh. So how do you choose each year the comedians who actually comprise your show . Quiji board. Some are comedians who have been there in the past. Others ive heard about. Others contact me. This year, wendy is the headliner, as she has been in the past. Dana eagle is also on the bill, and we perform together at a jewish humor festival in minneapolis in the dead of winter last january. And then mike fein, i actually found by goog lg jewish comedian and found him. Hes out of new york. Hes in his early 30s but has this very style so its just a combination of people i know about, people who come to me, the internet. And so does every comedian perform at every show, so if somebody comes to a show whatever night, they see everybody . Exactly. And occasionally, there are some comedians who ive been in touch with who ive wanted to book, but theyre observant, and they cant perform friday night and theyve asked if they can just perform the other shows, but that would be too compli katd as far as saying, you know, these performers are on this show and these performers are on different show so each of the six shows are all the same four comedians, the three i just mentioned plus myself. And how does one get tickets . Koshercomedy. Com 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Wonderful. We are going to take a quick break and come back with more conversation with lisa. [music] and i cant change, even if i tried even if i wanted to. My love my love my love she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, she keeps me warm, we are neighbors and best friends. I love my sister. My heart doesnt see race. Love is love. Our family is no less than any other family. Welcome back to mosaic. We are in the middle of a wonderful conversation with lisa, who is the producer of kung pao kosher comedy. How did you choose these two beneficiaries, howard and patrick this year . Well, i have a very special place in my heart for elderly people. I was very close with a woman who lived at the jewish nursing home the last couple of years of her life. She became, like, my soul mate. A couple of different times, ive named two different organizations that work with seniors. Actually approached me and i went over and met with them and found out about the friendship line, and i just thought that was such a fab program for people who are elderly, isolated, depressed to be able to call in. Then the housing crisis is something that is very important right now, a very important issue to be addressing, and i was interested in an organization that was working around issues of the housing crisis and found out about Legal Assistance to the elderly and was interested in giving them a donation as well as awareness about the organization and their services. Its such an important thing to do to to bring awareness to nonprofits in so many different venues in our community. What else do you do throughout the year . I know that you produce other events, and youre involved in other parts of civic life. Well, i produce a small show once a month at del rio in the mission. Its on a third thursday of the month. Thats where i started my comedy career 20 something years ago so about 5 years ago, i brought a comedy show back there, and then i occasionally stop in at the comedy clinic that i created at the jewish home, and that was actually because of being a beneficiary of kung pao about 12 years ago, we created a twiceamovant class where residents about a dozen get together two tuesdays a month and do improv exercises and get away from their worries and their strife and just play and get silly, and id drop into that class occasionally and, you know, keep an eye on whats happening in town and knock on wood every day. Im not going to be a victim of the housing crisis. And, you know, its a big question, but the power of humor and the capacity of human beings to laugh makes comedy really a potent elixir for life, and i just wonder how, over the years, that youve been in this field really do you think out of comedy and how its changed and how its helped . Well, comedy is medicine. I mean, whether or not you were on stage or in the audience, if you were feeling crappy before the show started, theres just this amazing thing that happens with comedy and the experience of people getting together in a room and laughing and having a common experience. As i mentioned, this comedy clinic, there are people who are in wheelchairs and walkers, 80, 90 years old at the nursing home for a variety of reasons, and lets face it, the nursing home is typically the last stop, and they go to this class and forget about all of that and just laugh and just bring up all these Different Things that have happened in their lives and bring that into the class and just laugh about it. So in the world of kung pao kosher comedy, is there a singular joke as we end our time together that you can let us hear . Well, as you know, jews are not supposed to eat pork, but theres a small unknown clause that says if its wrapped up in a wonton, it okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for being with us, lisa, and go out and make a reservation and go to kung pao kosher comedy. Thank you so much for being here with us on mosaic. Blap why let someone else have all ththfun . The sosotimemehaphphard,d, never boring fun. The why cant it smell like this all the time fun. The learning the virtue of sharing this all fun. Time fun. Why let someone else have all the fun . Thats no fun. Unleash the po