Around Town: It's 'wearing of the green' at annual luncheon Around Town: It's 'wearing of the green' at annual luncheon (March 02, 2005)

St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated five days early when the St. Francis Center Auxiliary holds its annual benefit luncheon Saturday, March 12, at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park.

The corned beef and cabbage lunch has been a tradition since the days when many of the St. Francis Auxiliary women were members of St. Marcella's Mission in Woodside, which was a part of Our Lady of the Wayside parish in Portola Valley. The mission has since been disbanded.

The March 12 event begins with a guided tour of St. Patrick's Seminary at 10:30 a.m. The children of Holy Family School, located at the center, will sing following the noon luncheon.

St. Francis Center in Redwood City serves poor working families in central San Mateo County by providing food, clothing, job training and placement, and temporary housing to those most in need. Free medical and dental services are also available.

The center also houses the tuition-free Holy Family School for children in grades one to four, and includes English language immersion. Sister Christina Heltsley is executive director of the center, assisted by Sister Susan Ostrowski.

Local auxiliary members planning the luncheon are Mary Lou Putnam, Lillian Balliet, Norma Rawlings, Agnes Babcock, Trudy Cattermole, Ann Kimball, Gerri Beasley and Jo De Luca.

Tickets to the luncheon are $50 and may be obtained by calling Gerri Beasley at 854-1262.

Disco benefit planned for leukemia group

Even if you're not beguiled by the bell-bottom, disco still has its benefits. Or at least it will on Saturday, March 12.

Beginning at 9 p.m., the British Bankers Club bar at 1090 El Camino Real in Menlo Park will host a disco party fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It costs $5 to get in, and there will be a raffle to benefit the organization, with prizes such as A's and Giants tickets.

The society works to help fund research, education and patient services for leukemia and other cancers of the blood. For more information about the organization, go to www.leukemia-lymphoma.org. Call Tommy at the BBC at 327-8769 for more about the fundraiser.

Domino tournament in Atherton

The 43rd annual Masters' Domino Tournament will be held Saturday, March 5, at Menlo Circus Club in Atherton.

Sponsored by the Children's Health Council Auxiliary, the event opens with a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Play begins at 9:30 a.m. There will be a noon break for lunch, with final rounds at 1 p.m.

There is a $140 registration fee for the masters' division and a $70 registration fee for the novice division. The event is a fundraiser for the Children's Health Council. For more information, call 949-1120.

Peninsula Cantare in Woodside

Baritone Leland Morine will be a soloist with the Peninsula Cantare choral group when they perform Sunday, March 13, starting at 3 p.m. at Woodside Village Church.

The group, made up of 40 singers, will perform "Mystical Songs" of Ralph Vaughan Williams and music by Hassler, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Palo Alto composer Nancy Bloomer Deussen.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students. For more information, call 593-4287, or go to peninsulacantare.org.

Malcolm X meets Martin Luther King Jr.

The public is invited to Canada College in Woodside on Tuesday, March 15, for a free performance of "The Meeting," a play depicting a fictional meeting between civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It will be performed from 11:10 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. in the Canada College Main Theater, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd.

Set in a Harlem hotel where Malcolm X has requested a secret meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "The Meeting" is a debate of their strikingly different approaches to the social problems facing African-Americans.

One-woman play comes to Canada College

At Canada College on Thursday, March 3, Cynthia Foreman --ex-wife of boxer George Foreman -- will perform her one-woman play "Bruised but not Broken: The Cynthia Foreman Story."

The free performance is open to the public and scheduled for 11:15 a.m. in the college's main theater, located at 4200 Farm Hill Boulevard in Woodside.

The play -- one in a series of events entitled "Civil Rights Then and Now: A Work in Progress" -- has Ms. Foreman, 47, playing five characters that include herself, an abusive ex-husband and a domineering mother.
Death penalty talk at Canada College

Oakland journalist and community activist Barbara Becnel will speak on "What's Wrong With the Death Penalty: The Stan 'Tookie' Williams Case," from noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, in the Canada College Main Theater, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd. in Woodside. The talk is free and open to the public.

Ms. Becnel has argued that Williams, the co-founder of the notorious Los Angeles Crips gang who has spent 24 years on death row, is innocent of murder and points to his case as an example of why the death penalty is wrong.

Mr. Williams story was turned into the television movie "Redemption," starring Jamie Foxx. A free public screening of Redemption will be shown in the Main Theater at noon, Wednesday, March 2.

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