Once in awhile an opportunity comes along where there is no other response than "I must grab it." With other opportunities, they grab you. The following story is of the latter ilk.

But before I get started I must address the 600,000 monthly visitors who had been coming to Rugged Elegant Living on a regular basis and must be wondering where I went for the past nearly four months. A special expression of thanks to Wes, who took the time to pick up the phone and call to make sure I was simply o.k.

I told Wes that I hadn't been writing because I had gone through surgery, that we had been working on the e-commerce side of our business, and that my husband and I had bought a new house. However, what I wanted to tell him is what I am about to tell you now. The most significant reason I have gone offline is that I have been working on a project that has grabbed my heart, my soul and my attention, and now I am finally ready to tell the world about it.

I hope if this story touches you in any way, you will think about the resources you have that you can bring to the table. Whether you have creative ideas, financial means, mainstream media contacts, experience in this arena, or practical knowledge you'd like to share, we are all ears.

Building A "Foundation House" for Youth ... So They Can Thrive

Having unexpectedly bought a new home and moved our Rugged Elegance headquarters further west of the city near what is called "Land's End," Tim and I began the process of selling our previous home through a traditional real estate agent.

Until this week, we thought it was likely that this fabulous property, located in the center of the city, would have gone to another single family. Perhaps eventually, it will.

For the past year, we were getting prepared to remodel our home to better serve the needs of our own two children. However, friends kept telling us that if we were planning to invest a significant amount of money in our current property, we should first look at what else is on the market. As far as I was concerned, this house could have been "it" for our family, forever. It had plenty of space for our two children, our dog and our lifestyle media business. It has a pool, which is very unusual for San Francisco. The roof deck offers a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. We just needed an inside space from which to enjoy that view. One of the best features is that the house is located in an unpretentious part of the city, on a street we call our "Two Block Secret Neighborhood."

While we would have rather not moved, we nonetheless heeded our friends' advice. One weekend in February, we went out to a neighborhood called Sea Cliff and took a look at one, and only one property. By the end of March we owned it. That same day we hired an innovative architect by the name of Bernardo Urquieta of BRU Architects.

At that same time, our home in the Anza Vista / Western addition area was formally put on the market.

However, before doing so, our friend and trainer Anthony Thier of HealThier Fitness, came to us and suggested an alternative path to selling the house to a private party as a single family home.

He suggested we instead turn the house into a creative haven for under served kids in the city.

My immediate reaction?

"Sold!"

During the fifteen years we lived in the neighborhood, we had always wanted to find an effective way to reach out to the kids living in the Pitts Plaza development, a block away.

From the moment Antony recommended we make the house into a place where kids come together from all walks of life to be taught positive life skills, not only were we sold, nearly everyone we spoke with about it said they wanted to help.

Antony's first thought was to create a unique place for kids to hang out with their mentors where together they can cook, swim, work out, as well as create art, music, theater, etc.

We first met Antony in September when he became our three-times-a-week personal fitness trainer. Over the past year, he has also become our kids' ski instructor. After four trips to Tahoe this past season, the girls are now proudly tackling Black Diamond runs. In addition, Antony has inspired all four of us to get into biking. Before we know it, we'll all be doing triathalons together.

Having someone like Antony in our lives is especially significant because we have two children with Type 1 Diabetes. As a result, we are always looking for ways to stay healthy. Having been a professional chef, Antony is both a guide and an inspiration when it comes to good nutrition.

Needless to say, he has quickly become an uncle figure in our kids' lives.

So, when Antony came up with this generous idea for our house and then added, "I would even consider becoming the live-in director," my immediate reaction was, "I'm even more sold!"

Antony Thier, The Proposed Director of The House

Since our journey together began nearly four months ago, Antony, Tim and I have invested significant time preparing the house, decorating it, talking with our community, attending an all day social services requirements session, meeting with potential operational partners, figuring out who would appropriately own the house (if it wasn't first sold to a private party), and hosting an event to bring many of those constituents together -- which we did on Thursday, May 25th.

That gathering of people has inspired me to finally write a story about this soulful and inspiring adventure which is just getting started.

However, before I go on, I must digress a bit, step back in history, and say a few words about the previous life of the house.

The Rich & Soulful History of Our 1900 Victorian Home

"Chez King Fredel" as we have called our home on Broderick Street since 2002, is an Edwardian built in 1900. The house has survived two earthquakes. Since it was built it has been cared for and loved by five different owners.

Four years ago in April, the week we began settling into our first single family home, we learned that in the early 1960's, the property served as a live-in home for emotionally disturbed girls.

Essie Collins, our neighbor for the past fifteen years, who we consider the matriarch of the neighborhood, said recently, "Your house was called The Fillmore Fell Group Home." Ms. Collins, who is responsible for building a number of the condominiums on our street, served on the Board of Directors of the home.

It is my understanding that during its nine years in operation up to fifteen girls lived in the house at any given time.

The very week we moved into our home, we met one of those young girls -- now a forty-some year-old woman still struggling to survive in San Francisco. She was driving by in her red Toyota having just finished cleaning a client's home in the neighborhood. When she rolled down her window and yelled, "I used to live there," I responded fervently, "I want to meet you."

Little did I know what we were getting ourselves into with that invitation.

In 2002, we had a Feng Shui expert come out to do a blessing on the house, which includes clearing the "Hungry Ghosts" from the house.

While Steven Post was certain to have cleared the previous "ghosts" from our house, little did we know that a real-live one still remained.

How A Real Live Ghost Story Provided Inspiration For The House

The first time we invited her in, she asked for work. As house cleaning was her profession, without hesitation, we gave her work. But then she came back two months later, and told us we had never paid her. Of course, we had.

Periodically, for the past four years, our live hungry ghost would knock on our door and ask for work, for money and/or for food.

Every two or three months, she was back again. One time she showed up on our doorstep soaking wet, so we invited her in and gave her some new, dry clothes. Another time, Tim walked around the corner with her to Walgreen's to buy her the hygiene products she requested. Most of the time, we simply gave her food. Each time we saw her, she looked more and more down on her luck. About a year ago, she said she lost her job to take care of her husband, who subsequently died. The trigger event that helped her cause the least was the night she pulled down half our front hedge and then demanded to be paid for it. Recently, I ran into her a block from our home, at the corner store. She did not recognize me because she was clearly tripped out on drugs. On that day, I told her not come to us for a hand-out until she made a commitment to getting herself clean. The last time I saw her, she came to our door asking for $5 so that she could get her anti-depression medicine from Kaiser Hospital. I gave her $20 to get her medicine and some food. However, I told her that unless she returned with a receipt and proof of her purchases, this would be the last time we would freely give to her. While the hospital is only three blocks away, not unexpectedly, she never returned.

As you can imagine, when I was presented with the suggestion to use the house to reach out to the youth in our city, my first thought was, "If we could help prevent even one boy or girl from becoming a real live Hungry Ghost down the road, it would be so worth the effort. The minute we said, "yes, let's do it," it was as though the soul of the house came alive. Nearly every conversation we have had thus far has steered us toward creating a positive and creative environment for kids.

The biggest challenge to-date has been in identifying a select group of co-owners, who are interested in investing in the house first for the benefit of the kids and secondly for its future financial return.

The Proposed Ownership of The House

Whether it is this house or one half-as-beautiful in the Western Addition, we are confident and determined to create a safe, creative and beautiful haven for both privileged and under served kids in San Francisco. When we succeed we hope to share our model with those who would like to do the same in other urban environments around the world.

Our current task is to identify a small group of for-profit investors. These co-investors would put up the capital necessary to own the house outright. Their return on investment would be tied first-and-foremost to the success of the house as a place which serves kids, and secondarily tied to the for-profit future appreciation of the house.

Ideally, each co-investor would be willing to hold the investment for a minimum of five years.

To learn more about the property, please go to:

The Proposed Operation of The House

Rather than set up yet another non-profit organization and compete against the terrific ones already in existence here in the city, our plan is to identify a group of positive youth development organizations with whom we can partner. Monies donated for the operation of the house would flow through those organizations.

One organization we have already selected is the San Francisco Chapter of Friends of The Children. This is an organization our family foundation, Thrive Foundation for Youth, has supported since our foundation's inception ten years ago. Five years ago, Tim served on the board of the San Francisco Chapter, at the time of the chapter's inception.

When I told Charlotte Burchard, the Executive Director of FOTC-SF that we wanted to create "an integrated place" where parents with privileged kids feel comfortable having their children learn and interact with children who do not have as many privileges, her reaction was immediate. "Jennifer," she said, "You are speaking my language."

Charlotte added:

Having served kids in the Western Addition since 1982, I believe it is when children from all walks of life work and play in an integrated environment, this is when we begin to change the world.

Tim, Antony and I share Charlotte's belief that by creating a rich, creative integrated environment for children living in the city we will have the opportunity to have a significant impact on our adults of tomorrow.

Regardless of whether our current home becomes the house we share with Friends of The Children, Tim and I have recently provided the seed capital to FOTC to hire two new Friends, i.e., full-time mentors to kids deemed to be "the least likely to succeed" in their community. These two Friends will each serve eight kids living in one of the Western Addition's development called Pitts Plaza.

The other day, I became further committed to our efforts when I heard Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel speak on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The Oprah's Book Club author of Night and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner recited a Hebrew Biblical commandment "Lo taamod al dam reakha." It means, "Thou shall not stand idly by." Wiesel told Oprah, "When the blood of your fellow human being is being shed, I have no right to stand idly by."

Elie Wiesel's words further inspire me to take action.

In some respects, I feel like I'm simply following the lead of the house. The house seems to be calling us to return it to its roots, especially now that we have filled it with four years of love and care.

A Number of Ways We See The House Being Used - Day & Night

As the vision behind converting the house into a safe and creative haven for kids started to evolve, we imagined turning the garage into a gym. Afterall, the proposed live-in director is a professional trainer.

We thought the downstairs playroom would make a perfect place for younger kids to be cared for when their mom or dad could use a couple of hours to themselves.

Having watched our children put on many a theatrical production in that space, it is already primed for exactly this kind of use, and others.

Of course, with so few pools in San Francisco, what a treat to be able to teach kids how to swim.

And with a gourmet kitchen that happens to have two ovens and two dishwashers, what a terrific idea Antony came up with to teach kids not only how to cook, but to prepare a meal from scratch and serve it to their parent(s) and/or mentors.

We envision using the dining room as a library / resource center for both parents and children. It would also make a great counseling room.

One of our neighbors came over a few weeks ago and said, "Before you bought the house four years ago, I told the previous owners they should turn the house into a Bed & Breakfast." "This is exactly what you are proposing, but in a more philanthropic way," I told her. Instantly, we not only had her support I have great confidence she may become a volunteer at the house.

Upstairs, where there are four beautiful bedrooms, we will reserve one of them for our live-in director.

While The Foundation House for Kids will serve children only during the day, our intention is to use the remaining three upstairs bedrooms at night to serve parents who have children staying overnight in a nearby hospital. Milly Hanley, a prominent philanthropist in San Francisco, and one of our biggest supporters, made this recommendation when she saw the close proximity to Kaiser Hospital, just three blocks from the house.

The more we have talked with people who share our passion to help kids thrive, the more we become committed to its conversion, especially after having not received a compelling enough offer from our real estate agent. The further we pursue this course, the more it feels that it is meant to be.

At the same time, we remain open that perhaps this is not be the exact house. So, we have kept our eyes and ears open for other places, in case the house was destined to be sold to a private party. However, that has not happened to-date.

Decorating The House

In addition to identifying investment partners with whom we would co-own the house, and operational partners to make good use of it, one of the additional challenges to add to the mix is in figuring out how to beautifully furnish the home.

Tapping into the Rugged Elegance Select Establishment community for their time and resources, it did not take long before the house looked like a mini Decorator's Showcase.

Jonathan Rachman, the owner of Fleur*t on Clement Street, was the first to take on the job of decorating a room. He selected our girls' previous bedroom.

Jonathan was also influential in getting Patrice Cowan Bevans to take on the task of decorating the formal dining room.

Two calls later, Diane Wynne, the owner of Von Demme on Union Street, agreed to decorate a room. Given the Natural Walls glaze in the City Hall View room it was natural to ask her to furnish our previous guest bedroom.

Kerri Zaldastani, also a client of Antony's, heard what we were up to. In an instant she was on board. "I want to decorate Antony's room!" she proclaimed. And so she did -- first, with beautiful African antiques and art. And then a month later, once her shipment of antiques that she purchased with me in Hong Kong had arrived, the room was transformed with Chinese antiquities, including a double dinosaur egg from Henan, China, doors from Macau, and three wooden stickmen figures from the Han Dynasty circa 110 BC originally found in a tomb in Xian, China.

Shortly thereafter, SF Examiner columnist Pamela Fishman Cianci reached out to her vast network in the city. Thanks to Pamela's efforts Gump's jumped on the band wagon. The famous home furnishings establishment sent over two red tables for the kids' playroom and four large boxes of housewares, including beautiful rattan trays, vases and other decorative items.

Of course, we had to celebrate our contributors.

So, I offered to host a lunch in their honor. Pamela Fishman Cianci said she would be willing to write about our event in The San Francisco Examiner, but the only available date she had was May 25th. "Less than two weeks to prepare?" I said, "No sweat. Whomever will come will come." Little did we expect the positive turn-out we got that day.

With Leslie Flax's help, we chose fine Italian paper for the invitations and hand painted paper which we converted into liners. I turned to Rona Siegel's talent as a calligrapher to address the envelopes.

Our friend and jazz musician Jesse Foster successfully lined up his band.

Thanks again to Pamela Fishman, who also has an event planning business called Outlined Productions, we were introduced to Daniel Ripley Catering.

Fishman Cianci's June 6th 2006 Life & Style column in The Examiner came out beautifully. Hopefully, it will inspire many to join our team. For those of you who live in the Bay Area, please look for her write-up called Promoting Plans for A Safe Haven for Children and Families.

Photographs for the column were taken by Sarah Sewell, and used with permission, in this article. Thank you Pamela and Sarah!

Our Journey Begins

The day to honor our Foundation House contributors arrived.

The weather cooperated.

Thanks to our gracious community, nearly 100 fabulous people toured the house, tasted Daniel's delicious food, and soaked up our vision for the future of the house.

Thanks to those who took time out of their busy schedules to take a look at the creativity of the interior designers who contributed to our mini Rugged Elegance Decorator Showcase.

Thanks to Robert Birnbach, the owner of Robert Birnbach Studio, the rooms were professionally photographed for the benefit of the press.

Thank you also to those of you who were there in spirit, cheering us along -- from afar.

Most of all, thank you to those we honored on May 25th, who helped furnish the house -- in great part -- to benefit the kids, mentors and parents destined to enjoy the future use of the house.

Our mini Rugged Elegance Decorators Showcase

Over a dozen designers and gracious Rugged Elegance Select Establishment owners and managers have contributed thus far to the decoration of the house.

Gump's offered two red tables for the playroom downstairs along with four large boxes of housewares. In addition, Francesca Farolan and Carmen Roberson from Gump's took the time to see their donations in place.

Nicole Whittey, the owner of Nicolette on Presidio Heights, graciously decorated the Dressing Room closet with prom dresses for the girls.

The Dining Room -- by Patrice Cowan Bevans Interiors

Patrice Cowan Bevans teamed with Nathan Hawley to create the dining room. The table she chose is a mid 19th century work table. The carved Regence walnut two-drawer commode with legs ending in Peids de Biche was created between 1715-1720.

If anyone is interested, this $30,000 table is available for sale for only $12,000. The current chairs together with another dining room table are being donated by Patrice -- for the benefit of the kids.

The contemporary Italian Alabaster lamps were available for $1,050 as a pair (not including the shades), until I personally snatched them up.

Elizabeth Johnson created the artwork in the room. The 10" x 96" At The Edge oil on masonite panel is available for $2,900. Her 2003 39" x 48" Pink Beach oil on canvas is available for $3,800.

Patrice Cowan Bevans can be reached at 415.750.1291.

The Great Room -- by Urban Chateau

Urban Chateau offered a $4,500 leather bench for the benefit of the kids. The bench is a 19th century Spanish Canape in the Medieval. I would have wanted this piece personally, as well, if it had not been generously donated.

Urban Chateau's owner Lisa Erickson can be reached at 415.673.2643.

The City Hall View Room -- by Diane Wynne of Von Demme

The City Hall View VonDemme Room -- by Diane Wynne

Diane Wynne decorated the City Hall View room using primarily Dialogica furniture. In addition, she filled three of the closets with lingerie from her boutique along with unique treasures only found in her shop.

Diane is the owner of the charming home furnishings store on Union Street in Cow Hollow called Von Demme.

Von Demme is the exclusive distributor of Dialogica in San Francisco. We personally own two Dialogica headboards.

Most of the pieces in Diane's room have been donated by Von Demme.

Milly Hanley, Christopher Caen & Diane Wynne

Diane Wynne can be reached at 415.441.1696.

The Fleur*t Girls' Room -- by Rachman Massuco Interiors

Jonathan Rachman of Rachman Massuco Interiors is passionate about creating safe and beautiful havens for children to thrive -- worldwide.

When we succeed, he would like to create a similar home in Bali to honor his sister, who recently passed away.

The furnishings in his room came from his charming "industrial feminine" store on Clement Street called Fleur*t.

Your hostess, Jennifer King (moi), also turned to Jonathan's talented team of floral designers to provide the flowers for her mini Rugged Elegance Decorator Showcase.

Jessica Davis and Lisa Erickson

One of Fleur*t's talented designers is Jessica Davis. During the lunch, she and Urban Chateau co-owner, Lisa Erickson, took a moment to soak up Jonathan's room.

Jonathan Rachman and his design partner Julie Massuco can be reached at 415.751.2747.

The ZD Design Master Bedroom -- by Kerri Zaldastani

Kerri Zaldastani had a deadline to meet. And she was up for the challenge. She knew she had a partial container of Chinese antiques arriving from Hong Kong shortly, but the house was going on the market, and she needed a solution, fast. So, she filled her room, initially, with African art and antiques.

However, three days before the showcase her fabulous treasures from Hong Kong arrived. With a little help from Sue Fisher King's recent bedding sale she was able to create a warm, inviting look in the master bedroom.

The one-of-a-kind red leather lamp came Beatrice Amblard's charming shop on Clement Street called April in Paris.

Kerri Zaldastani of Zaldastani Design

The LIV Furniture bed Kerri purchased will be donated by another couple for the benefit of the live-in director of the house, Antony Their.

Kerri generously donated a Harvest mirror, the window coverings, and her precious time, as did all the designers.

Kerri Zaldastani can be reached at 415.929.1800.

Thursday, May 25th marked the formal beginning of the creation of The Foundation House for Youth, whether it is this house or another.

The journey begins here.

A Community of Givers Come Together

Sarah Ahles, Rugged Elegance Project Manager

On Thursday, May 25th, Rugged Elegance Project Manager, Sarah Ahles was delighted at the turn-out for the Decorator Showcase.

She said:

Every person who entered the house came with a supportive "how can I help" attitude.

If we had a job to offer everyone, I think all seventy-five might have signed on the dotted line, after walking through the house and capturing the vision that was communicated to those in attendance.

One guest in attendance was Daniel Homsey, the Director of MONS, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, who offered a number of key people to contact as we iron out the logistics and potential pitfalls of this venture.

Brenda Finney, Rev. Henry Davis and Sheryl Davis

Among those "on our side" were Brenda Finney, previously a producer at ABC7/KGO-TV, as well as Reverend Henry Davis of Rhema Word Church in the Western Addition, and Sheryl Davis, the community outreach coordinator for Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco. Ms. Davis was on her way to meet with the district supervisor. She made sure she had all of our collateral material before she left.

Robert Birnbach, Lisa Roth & Claire Morris

Prior to the event, professional photographer, Robert Birnbach of Robert Birnbach Studio, generously donated his time and resources to take photographs of each room, in case the mainstream media becomes interested in our efforts.

Robert is also the co-president of the PTA at his son's public school in Cole Valley. Robert is a big believer in his friend Antony Thier's outreach. Creating "integrated environments" is a significant part of what Robert will be promoting at Grattan Elementary School next year.

Lisa Roth, a supporter of ours for over twenty years, and Claire Morris, Creative Director at Williams-Sonoma, both offered to help in any way they can.

Jesse Foster & Friends

Jesse Foster filled the living room with his friends and fellow artists, drummer Jon Arkin, keyboard player John Groves and guitarist Nelson Braxton. Jesse is a notable jazz, R&B, soul and pop singer, as well as a well-respected voice teacher in San Francisco.

Jesse Foster & Friends' live jazz music can be heard live at Bistro Yoffi on Chestnut Street in The Marina. Please contact Bistro Yoffi directly for their upcoming appearance dates.

San Francisco -- City of Charitas

One of our most dynamic guests was San Francisco Examiner Columnist Christopher Caen. In addition to attending our event, he generously touted our outreach the very next day in his May 26th 2006 Column.

Christopher is not only the son of the late, great Herb Caen, and a columnist in-his-own-right for The San Francisco Examiner, he is the founder of an upcoming lifestyle magazine focused on the world of philanthropy.

Look for the launch of Impulse Media Partners' hard copy publication -- yet to be named -- which is designed to promote a lifestyle of "Giving"... giving to the world of music, the arts world, to food and nutrition, entertainment and fashion.

Christopher's goal is to inspire people to give to their family, their community and to our planet.

"Think lifestyle magazine like Martha Stewart Living" Christopher's partner, Stacey said. "However, replace 'Living' with 'Giving.' This is the magazine we will be launching in August!"

Given the fact that Christopher's famous father coined the term, "Beatnik" in the '60's representing the poets, writers and musicians who defined the "Beat Generation," perhaps the clever, outspoken Caens should call their new magazine "Benefik" or "Noblik" for those humbly and nobly driving a new generation of charitable giving.

Actually, my favorite name was the one Tim came up with -- "Charitas."

Tim said, "It combines the word 'charity' with Harvard University's motto 'veritas' which means 'truth'."

Tim explained:

"True Giving," that's what I presume they intend to promote. 'Charitas' reminds philanthropists to give for all the right reasons.

For us personally, it means to help bring true healing to the world.

I can see the Caen's logo now.

Sign me up, Christopher and Stacey! We're already believers and future subscribers.

So Kids Can Thrive!

Speaking of names, perhaps you have heard us refer to the Broderick Street house as "The Thrive House." That was our initial working name for it.

Currently, we are calling it The Foundation House for Youth.

Whatever the house is called, and wherever it ends up being located, the May 25th gathering at our home confirmed that we are on the right track to filling a huge need not only in San Francisco, but in the nation, and around the world.

The mission of this undertaking is simple.

We are dedicated to creating a safe, creative and beautiful environment which provides integrated life skills to under privileged and privileged urban youth.

So, This Is Where We Need Your Help

If you or anyone you know may be interested in investing in this creative venture along with the current owners of the house, Jennifer King and Timothy Fredel, please send them to:

The Foundation House profile.

If you know of a youth-oriented non-profit organization that may be interested in using the house during the day, if you know of a hospital looking for lodging for parents and/or families who has a child in the hospital, or if you know of someone who would be willing to donate beautiful furnishings for the house, please ask them to send an e-mail to inspireatruggedelegance.com or have them call 415.440.0809.

Thank you for taking the time to read this story through, and for considering how you can be a part of this life changing adventure.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, foundation building, thrivin' living!

Your Host & Hostess

~Jennifer King & Tim Fredel

P.S. Before publishing I always read my stories to Tim for comment and review. His comment this time? "It is no wonder you have not written a story for four months. This explains well."

I promise it won't be as long before I write again. We are on our way to Berlin for the World Cup, where I will be reporting live.