San Francisco Blog

Raising Funds (Toys for Tots Drive)
The Milk Bar
November 29, 2008
Notes and photos by Jackie Lopez

Saturday night was all about celebrating a few minor victories in this time of recession: gas prices going down (well, for the time being), the stock market shooting up with Obama's appointment of a Treasury secretary (it'll probably plummet come next week, but we'll take what we can get). But more than that, it was about giving something back. An unopened, unwrapped toy got you into the Milk Bar for free. Toy-less party people were asked for donations of $5-$20 at the door.

DJ Whooligan of the Bay Area's 40Love got the night started. Papalote's Mexican was delivered and devoured in less than an hour. (The taqueria had donated food for the cause, feeding the always-ready-to-eat patrons at Milk their bean and cheese burritos, which are always full of so much more than just beans and cheese.)

Guest after guest arrived, each bearing gifts at the door. DJ Royce, then Zita from Bay Area Sistah Sound, then Jah Yzer from Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi (who had a killer set, by the way, with his brand of reggae hip-hop), then Mr. E from Papalote Hi-Fi, and Distortion 2 Static's Prince Aries.

The crowd enjoyed the mix of music given them as they gave back to the less fortunate. And, as always at Milk, those in attendance maybe enjoyed themselves a little too much.

It appeared that many had taken full advantage of the Black Friday sales. Mr. E arrived with huge toys: a ride-on fire truck and a life-sized doll. A sweet lady brought in a massive bag of toys straight from Mervyns (another victim of hard times, which is going out of business on Masonic and Geary.) Another woman donated a load full of children's pop-up books from Borders' bargain section. One man came in with two enormous white teddy bears, which a friend had to pry out of my arms. Other popular items included High School Musical dolls and Transformers, board games and, amazingly, video games.

The generosity of people from the scene was pretty heartwarming. One man came in and donated an undisclosed amount. Then a guy behind us asked "How much did he donate? I'll match it." And he took out his loaded leather wallet and did.

Critic's Notebook:

Personal Bias/Full Disclosure: In case you couldn't tell from the text, I helped get the donations in order Saturday night.

Random Detail: Some people showed up with used toys. Sigh.

By the way: To the boy who came in and promised to get us a toy in two days, by the time this gets published, your two days will probably be up. We'll take your True hat instead, homie.