20th Annual TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss October 10, 2012

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation celebrates 20 years of wet and wild madness at this year’s TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss, poolside in the courtyard of the Phoenix Hotel/Chambers Eat + Drink on October 10, 2012. Over the past 20 years, the annual TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss has raised over $3.5 million for Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation’s (TNDC) youth and family programs like the Tenderloin After-School Program that serve more than 3,000 of the lowest-income individuals in San Francisco’s Tenderloin and nearby neighborhoods.

The lengthy list of luminaries that have participated in past Pool Tosses includes Robin Williams, MC Hammer, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Warren Hellman, Betsey Johnson, Bob Weir, Kristi Yamaguchi, Jonny Moseley, Willie E. Brown, Gavin Newsom, Lou Seal, and so many more.

This year’s TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss will be co-hosted by actor/writer best known as Ms. Yvonne of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” Lynne Marie Stewart, and TV host/actor/comedian Suzanne Whang and co-chaired by Laura King Pfaff and Jim Losi. Celebrity emcees will introduce the celebrated tossees while partygoers bid on the opportunity to toss their favorite celebs into the pool of the Phoenix Hotel/Chambers Eat + Drink.

Confirmed tossees include David Baker, FAIA, Dbarchitect; John Belluomini, CEO, Center for the Greater Good; John L. Martin, Airport Director, San Francisco International Airport; John Stewart, Chairman and Jack Gardner, President and CEO, The John Stewart Company; Todd Traina, Film Producer and Founder, Red Rover Films; Michael R. Walker, Market President, Northern California, Commercial Banking Group, U. S. Bank; John Mark Rogers, Founder, Veritas Growth Companies; Joanna Rees, Former Mayoral candidate, investor and professor. A full list of celebrity tosses will be announced soon.
Confirmed celebrity emcees include, MC Hammer, Music Producer and Performer; Cheryl Jennings, anchor, KGO-TV/ABC7; Empress XXX Donna Sachet, Performer/Bay Area Reporter Columnist; Liam Mayclem, Host, Eye on the Bay and KCBS Foodie Chap; and Tori Ritchie, Cookbook Author and Blogger at TuesdayRecipe.com. Additional emcees to be named soon.

The evening festivities will include hosted bar and tasty tidbits from some of the Bay Area’s favorite restaurants, entertainment by The Fabulous Bud E. Luv Show, DJ Rafa and a performance by San Francisco Tsunami Synchro. Bonham’s auctioneer Wes Sparling will lead the high-energy live auction while the buff and brawny lifeguards from Gold’s Gym will be on alert to rescue any celebrities who can’t swim.
TNDC is proud to have Paul Jon Boscacci, the creator of Fort Knox as this year’s celebrity cartoonist. Paul has donated his time and talent to develop this year’s TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss logo, and has created a special Fort Knox strip about the event. Fort Knox, the nationally-syndicated comic strip written and drawn by Boscacci, centers on the life of the Knox family who has moved to fictional Fort Lincoln, where they must adjust to a new base, a new town and a new school. The strip was picked up for syndication by the Washington Post Writers Group in October 2009. The strip’s art has been used by the USO and has been featured on the US Army website as well.

TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss tickets are $125 each; sponsorships start at $500. For more information on TNDC’s Celebrity Pool Toss, visit www.tndc.org/PoolToss; call (415) 358-3906 or contact llinker@tndc.org.