BENEFICIARIES

Over the past 32 years, Kung Pao has raised 10’s of 1000’s of dollars and awareness for different organizations. In keeping with the Jewish tradition of tzedakah (charity, in Hebrew – tied in with a sense of duty and social responsibility), each year Kung Pao donates partial proceeds to organizations and causes we believe in. See below for this year’s and past Kung Pao beneficiaries.

This year, partial proceeds benefit The ACLU and Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS) East Bay’s Immigration Legal Services.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation's largest public interest law firm, with a 50-state network of staffed, autonomous affiliate offices. The ACLU appears before the United States Supreme Court more than any other organization except for the U.S. Department of Justice. Some 100 ACLU staff attorneys collaborate with 2,000 volunteer attorneys in handling close to 2,000 cases annually. The organization, which has more than 1.7 million card-carrying members, litigates across the nation and all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Its Washington, DC legislative office lobbies the US Congress. The organization uses strategic communications to educate the public about issues and has expanded its reach by applying international human rights standards. A number of national projects address specific civil liberties issues: AIDS, capital punishment, LGBTQ rights, immigrants' rights, prisoners' rights, reproductive freedom, voting rights, women's rights, and workplace rights. 2025 has been a busy year for the ACLU, which has filed and won numerous cases against the current Administration. https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/we-are-defending-freedom-in-the-courts-and-still-winning • https://www.aclu.org

Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS) East Bay’s Immigration Legal Services’ attorneys provide compassionate, high-quality legal representation for immigrants at no cost, including deportation defense, citizenship applications, asylum, adjustment of status, U-visas (non-immigrant visas for victims of certain crimes), VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) self-petitions, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and more. Each year, their team handles more than 90 open removal defense cases, conducts over 200 consultations, and serves as “Attorney of the Day” to ensure that no one faces immigration court alone. https://jfcs-eastbay.org/our-services/immigration-legal-services

Past beneficiaries:

2024

Shalom Bayit

The Chinatown YMCA Food Pantry and Grocery Distribution Programs

2023

•Hebrew Free Loan

•The Chinatown YMCA Food Pantry

2022

•San Francisco-Marin Food Bank

•The Center for Reproductive Rights

2021

•San Francisco-Marin Food Bank

•Shalom Bayit 

2020

•Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance

•The Helen and Joe Farkas Center for the Study of the Holocaust

2019

•Kehilla Community Synagogue Immigration Committee

•Groceries for Seniors

2018

•Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay — Refugee & Immigrant Services

•Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice

2017

•Jewish Family & Children’s Services (JFCS) Sonoma County North Bay Fire Relief

•Jewish Community Center (JCC) Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria Relief Fund

2016

•Shalom Bayit

•Seniors at Home

2015

•Institute on Aging’s Friendship Line
•Legal Assistance to the Elderly

2014

•Jewish Family & Children’s Services (JFCS) Food Programs
•San Francisco Suicide Prevention (SFSP)

2013

•San Francisco and Marin Food Banks’ “Healthy Children Pantries” 
•The Jewish Home San Francisco’s Esther Weintraub Comedy Clinic
(Click here to download an article about the Comedy Clinic from The Jewish Home’s
magazine.) JewishHome-Mag-ComedyClinic-article

2012

• The Brown Twins/JFCS’ Emergency Assistance Fund

• Bay Area Women & Children’s Services Drop-in Services and Food Pantry

2011

• The Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ L’Chaim Adult Day Health Care Center

• Muttville Senior Dog Rescue

2010

• JFCS’ Food Pantry

• The Jewish Home San Francisco’s “Esther Weintraub Comedy Clinic

2009

• The National MS Society, Northern CA chapter

• JFCS’s East Bay Refugee & Immigrant Programs

2008

• Jewish Family & Children’s Services “Food Pantry”

• The 100 Friends Project

2007

• The Jewish Free Clinic

• Jewish Family and Children’s Services “Chicken Soupers”

2006

• The Jewish Home’s “Esther Weintraub Comedy Clinic”

• The Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living’s “Komedy Club and Library”

2005

• The Jewish Home’s “Esther Weintraub Comedy Clinic”

• Clowns Without Borders

2004

• The Bay Area Jewish Coalition for Literacy

• Laughing Stock

2003

• Familial Dysautonomia Hope Foundation

• The LGBT Family Assistance Project at Jewish Family and Children’s Services

2002

• Jewish Home Comedy Clinic

• Gay-Straight Alliance Network

2001

• International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission

• Bay Area Jewish Healing Center

2000

• SFJCC’s Montefiore Senior Center

• Lesbian & Gay Senior Services Collaborative

1999

• Breast Cancer Action

• The Holocaust Center of Northern California’s Tolerance Education Program

1998

• Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases (WORLD) – A social and information network for women with HIV/AIDS

• Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal – Promoting freedom for Jews in the former Soviet Union & reuniting families in the Bay Area

1997

• Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic –A clinic for low income women with cancer

• Shalom Bayit– Jewish Women’s Task Force on Domestic Violence

1996

• International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

• Jewish Family & Children’s Services AIDS Project

1995

• SF Jewish Film Festival – Program of Jewish humor short films

• Family Link– a hospitality house for visiting families of people with AIDS

1995 – Los Angeles show

• L. A. Jewish AIDS Services

• Aunt Bee’s Laundry Service – offering free laundry and house-cleaning services to people with HIV/AIDS.

1994

• Women’s Cancer Resource Center

• GESHER: Bridge to Understanding– a joint project of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav & Community United Against Violence

1993

• The late Tamar Kaufman – A Northern California Jewish Bulletin writer battling cancer -