Season of Sharing Receives California Prize

SoS honored for Bay Area impact

The 2015 California Prize for Service and the Common Good recognized Season of Sharing for nearly three decades of emergency support for families in need.

The University of San Francisco awarded the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund with its 2015 California Prize for Service and the Common Good. Established in 1986 by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and the San Francisco Chronicle, Season of Sharing has raised more than $100 million to help thousands of Bay Area families in need.

“In a special way, USF’s Jesuit mission and Chronicle Season of Sharing overlap in a particular concern for the most vulnerable members of our society," said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., in presenting the award.

Since 2008, the California Prize has been awarded to recognize “tremendous impact” by a single individual or group. Past honorees include Drs. Tricia Hellman Gibbs and Richard Gibbs of the San Francisco Free Clinic, Larry Bauer and the San Francisco Giants, and Daniel Lurie, founder of the Tipping Point Community, an organization that fights poverty. The California Prize was created and endowed through the generosity of Susan and Philip Marineau to shine a light on people and organizations that reflect the university’s values and enrich the lives of others.