Please enjoy a few of the neighborhood letters sent in to us from the many friends and family of McKinley Square who are continuing to discover and be overwhelmed by the great impact of these efforts.   

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Some companies talk the talk… SuccessFactors Walks the walk!  Words cannot express how grateful everyone is thanks to all of you and this incredible volunteer effort. 

We literally have dozens of emails and calls from friends and neighbors who are overwhelmed with the results and love SuccessFactors gave to our community.  Whether they were present during the day, saw you before leaving for work or got updates via text/emails/twitter/FB–they all arrived home to a great, inspiring surprise that has empowered them to want more. 

We have never received such heartfelt letters as the ones we had started receiving yesterday and continuing throughout today. All of you are AMAZING!

It’s been a great pleasure getting to know each of you.  Have a great week! 

Joyce B.

700 Vermont St. Neighbor

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Success Factors volunteer cleanup of the 800 and 900 Blocks of Vermont was an extraordinary commitment to improve our community.  

The company employees as well as DPW staff who coordinated the efforts have to be applauded.

The effort has improved the environment of the community and makes it a beautiful reason for living on the "HILL". The energy displayed was unbelievable and the work was done in a very short time. Perhaps the project can lead to "Adopt a Street" by companies in San Francisco much like the Adopt a Highway Program in light of depleting city funding of maintenance of these areas.

Arnold C.
900 Vermont St. Neighbor

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Such incredible progress! I'm so proud of our neighbors & grateful to the SuccessFactors volunteers. DPW have been so helpful in these cleanup efforts. It feels good to have such great cooperation & vision succeed in such tangible ways. 

Bravo!

Henry W.

900 Vermont St. Neighbor

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Dear Success Factors,

Thank you so much for your day of service to our street! The McKinley Square gets volunteers throughout year, but none as energetic, motivated and friendly as your staff. As a community liaison, I was down with the yellow and blue teams at the bottom of the windy street. 

The energy, laughter and dedication to make the area better was palpable and contagious.

Everyone was so careful to make sure we weren’t pulling up native plants. It was so nice to see how everyone was so careful with our landscape. 

Even more impressive was the fact that so many of your staff were willing to drag those huge bins up that street to fill them up with mulch… and  then drag them back down.. over and over again. 

The difference in the landscape is startling. Many of my neighbors came home from work on Monday and cried at the beauty that was discovered by hours of weeding, raking, pruning and mulching.

Thank you again so much for giving of yourselves to help our community!!!

Erica H.

900 Vermont St.  Neighbor

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Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to help out! It was truly inspiring to stand back and watch the change that a few hundred hands could make. 

Thanks,

Lawrence F.

San Francisco, CA

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We thank you so much for your major efforts and wonderful success.  You organized and saw through to the finish the WONDERFUL Clean-up of Vermont St.  

You and all the volunteers did an amazing job.  You all deserve pats on the back.  Eric and his group did a great job under your direction.  You deserve another pat on the back for finding them and engaging them.

In our 26 years on Vermont, we have seen nothing like what you did. 

Thank you so much.

Tadasu & Lori S.

900 Vermont St. Neighbor

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To Whom It May Concern;

I wanted to express to your company my appreciation for all the time and effort SuccessFactors donated to the cleaning and weeding at McKinley Square on Monday, May 9, 2011. Everyone who has visited McKinley Square Park since your clean up/weeding party has commented to me what a beautiful job your company did for our park. 

I cannot express in words alone how wonderful it was to come to McKinley Square Park on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 and see our Park transformed into a lovely place to visit with our neighbors, play with our dogs and see the children having fun playing in a safe and clean play area. 

Thank you again for your efforts, my dogs also appreciate the removal of all the foxtails as they can be very harmful to them. The food was excellent and the cupcakes were delicious. Hopefully we can arrange for another clean up party next year.

Regards

Kelly K.

Rhode Island Neighbor

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Hi Joyce: 

I heard you had a very successful event, congratulations.  I am glad everything worked out.

Cheers!

Sandra Z.

Department of Public Works

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Hi Joyce,

Your welcome! It was a great experience for me and I'm sure Lawrence too. Thank you for the opportunity to work with such a motivated group. I am really impressed with how much we got done on Monday. I also really liked that a group that does not normally get their hands dirty went for it so whole heatedly.

I hope we can share our knowledge and enthusiasm about the natural beauty of the Bay Area with further groups. 

Thanks again and it was a pleasure meeting you too. 

Kaya M.

Mission Area Neighbor

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Hi Neighbors, 

I'm sure many of you noticed the awesome job the company "Success Factors" did in the clean-up of 800 and 900 Vermont blocks. I was blown away when I returned home from work that evening!

Thank you so much for your support in efforts to continue to beautify the neighborhood!

Best,

Jennifer K.

900 Vermont St.  Neighbor

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Thank you for taking the time to organize this work day and including Lawrence and Kaya who will inspire many on how we can preserve one of the city’s few remaining natural areas. I am bummed I couldn’t be there.

So inspiring to hear about the donations, too!!!!

Peggy L.

600 Vermont St. Neighbor
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DPW ROCKS!

Words cannot express how grateful everyone is by the support DPW gave to all of us and this great effort.  We literally have dozens of emails from neighbors and friends who are overwhelmed with the results and so very inspired to get involved and do more.  DPW single handedly stole the show with your leadership, communication style and hard work in the field.  

Sincerely,

Joyce B.

Vermont St. Neighbor

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Thanks Joyce for your wonderful praise.

I thank Sandra Z. and Joey F. for the confidences in letting me lead this project.   Your volunteers were the one who did the awesome job and teamwork was amazing.  They make me look good.  I also want to acknowledge Malachy H. and LaVonda W. from our BUF Department for the enclave area with their leadership.  

Looks amazing up there when I drove by today and dropped the flags at your front porch. 

Also, Shawn F. for helping me with the tools , water jugs and helping me with the tools by putting in each worksite and roaming around to help me check the areas and taking photos and loading the packer truck with the volunteers and helping me with getting all the tools back. 

While I go and make sure each and every site goes according to the time line of the work scope and what areas need volunteers and to get them to that particular area that need attention.  

The communication style and with my phone was a big help in getting all the work done.   Everything just flowed. We can’t say enough – THANK YOU and YOUR TEAM for all the hard work and time.

Nancy W.

DPW Community Corridor Partnership Program

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Looks great, Joyce.  I saw a lot of busy people even as I was leaving for work at 7 am.  

Thanks for all your hard work!

Joe T.

San Bruno Ave. Neighbor

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Hi Joyce,

We heard your organization was behind the removal of lots of fox tails on the hill last weekend. The hill looks great!

I wanted to thank you and your organization for this! :) 

Have a lovely weekend!

Kim B.

Kansas St. Neighbor

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We wanted to say a big Thank you for the huge effort put in for the clean-up of the 800 and 900 block along our house to both you and SuccessFactors.

It is excellent to see the volunteer work and the results of the effort. I particularly was impressed that they reached out to back areas of the 900 block of Kansas with the back entry and cleaned up the leaves and debris over there. The huge mess that occurs primarily because of the leaves being shed by the surrounding trees, yields a green yet messy backdrop. The clean up efforts helped it be “ Clean and Green” which is impressive.

Clean up of far reaching areas that are often left neglected has particularly helped as I often see the area around my house ( 2200 22^nd street) as a gateway for the homes along the 900 block of Kansas and the Vermont homes. The Clean up efforts gives a positive image of our neighbors.

Very often messy streets and neighborhoods give messages of neglection and abandonment and encourage homeless people and nefarious activity. An active community with clean surroundings is always a huge welcome for the residents of such neighborhoods.

Wanted to say a Big Thank You again. Really appreciate it.

Best regards,

Ritu V.

22nd Street Neighbor