What does it mean to
“Live With Character?”
Just as our buildings have unique character, so do the people who call them home. After discovering some unique stories and thoughtful intentions of Veritas residents in 2019, we decided to launch the 2020 Live With Character campaign to feature a few of the impressive examples of character.
Each quarter, Veritas will feature a chosen “character” on the website and social channels – either a resident of a Veritas building or someone nominated by one – who exemplifies special characteristics that make an impact in the greater Bay Area community outside of their paid employment. Veritas will reward each a $1,500 cash prize, to be donated to a cause of their choice or to directly fund their efforts to make a difference.
At the end of the year, one of the 4 characters will also be eligible to win a $5,000 prize, selected by a five-person panel. Each winner’s collective achievements will also be featured in a prominent local publication.
Live With Character Winners
Few people or professions were spared when COVID-19 grounded everyday life to a halt in March 2020. For 2020 Live with Character recipient Shannon Riley, the circumstances were just another obstacle to overcome. As founder of Building 180, a female-run art agency that manages artists, curates spaces, and produces large-scale, public art, the pandemic was the latest opportunity to uplift both artists and the Bay Area community she calls home.
It’s challenging for someone who didn’t live through the early AIDS epidemic to truly grasp the terror it caused. To listen to 2020 Live with Character award recipient Jim Wigler tell it, it was fear of the unknown in its truest sense: people got sick, displayed some telltale symptoms, and died, often very quickly, and with no explanation as to what was killing them.
Like many San Franciscans, Peter commutes to work. The walk to and from his Cathedral Hill apartment to his job as a porter in a Downtown high rise in the pre-dawn cold is a welcome mix of exercise, observation, and reflection. In 2017, he added a new component, handing out blankets for the homeless after a chance encounter changed him.
The American Dream has different meanings throughout the country, but for Dulce Grant in the Bay Area, it meant pursuing a higher education. Through her successful journey of achieving a degree, she learned that first-gen students face unique challenges. Determined to help others with similar backgrounds, she serves as an advisor, counselor, advocate and cheerleader as she guides students through the process, encouraging and supporting them along the way. As the Live With Character second quarter 2020 award recipient, Dulce can further fund her mission of helping others achieve their dream.
Know someone who embodies the “Live With Character” ideals?
Let us know to enter them to be eligible to win a $5,000 prize.
Live With Character Nomination Form
Read About the 2019 Characters Who Influenced and Inspired This Campaign
Good resident managers – the on-site property managers who manage day-to-day business at their place of residence – possess certain traits: chief among them, a knack for creative problem-solving, a good, old-fashioned work ethic, and a skill for interacting with people.
The best art feels natural. No matter how labored over, there is an ease to the completed piece – a sense that it was always meant to exist. It’s the feeling given off by the work of Jack Mattingly, a longtime San Franciscan and talented artist.
Familiarity is a funny thing. Day-to-day life and its responsibilities can have a numbing effect on people, leaving us oblivious to even the most magnificent settings. Sometimes an occasional push outside our comfort zone is necessary; something to remind us to…
