Twitter in San Francisco: giving back on #FridayForGood

We consider each #FridayForGood to be one of the most important days on our calendar. There were 30 different offices worldwide involved and over 100 projects this past Friday, making it a truly global event. Still, it all began here in San Francisco, our birthplace and headquarters.

This year saw our largest turnout to date in San Francisco, with 1,025 volunteers lending a hand to 63 projects – a huge win for Twitter and the City. Our employees continue to be eager to give back and make a difference in the lives of others. Here are some highlights from last Friday.

Twitter for nonprofits, digital citizenship, and Coding for Kids @NeighborNest
At Twitter NeighborNest (@NeighborNest), we piloted the “Twitter 201 for Nonprofits” workshop tailored for community partners to train them in amplifying their work through our platform.

There were eight organizations represented, including San Francisco Public Library (@SFPublicLibrary) and Epicenter-SF (@EpicenterSF); topics covered included extending reach and using the analytics tool. Volunteers from our @safety team, in collaboration with United Playaz (@UP4Life), also conducted a focus group to brainstorm on ideas how to equip parents and youth service providers around digital citizenship. The discussion touched on reputation management and online privacy. The day ended with @TwitterEng volunteers running a “Coding for Kids” session with our regular students from Catholic Charities (@CatholicCSF).

Boys and Girls Club SF
One of our teams partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco (@BGCSF) in the Tenderloin to clean and beautify Boeddeker Park as a public space for local kids. They cleaned windows, washed walls and park fixtures, scrubbed the basketball court, and organized the space for everyone to use.

Hand Up
In partnership with Hand Up (@HandUp), we built and gave out hygiene kits in the neighborhood around Twitter HQ. Our team heard about homelessness in San Francisco, which solutions are working, and learned how to engage with those in need. We assembled and gave away nearly 80 kits in the Tenderloin.

Meals on Wheels
The oldest and largest national organization of its kind, Meals On Wheels (@_mealsonwheels) provides two home-delivered meals each day to homebound seniors. Twitter volunteers spent the day delivering emergency disaster kits to Meals on Wheels clients. We also conducted neighborhood assessments in order to serve more than 120 nearby SROs (single-room occupancies).

826 Valencia
Some of us partnered with 826 Valencia (@826_Valencia) to support an entire class of elementary-aged students in learning about collaboration, self-editing, the bookmaking process, and elements of successful storytelling. The end product was an original story written entirely by the students, and a great time was had by all.

JVS Bay Area
Working with Jewish Vocational Services (@JVSBayArea), we helped job-seekers build skills and confidence through mock interviews and feedback on their resumes. Volunteers met one on one with participants to help bolster their confidence.

Community happy hour
After a wonderful day, some nonprofit partners representing 25 organizations joined our employees to celebrate the #FridayForGood day of service. The happy hour played host to a local jazz band and local vendors, as well as a LEGO build of the #FridayForGood logo with friends from Play-Well TEKnologies@PlayWell_TEK.

Learn more about our #FridayForGood projects around the globe.