Fundraiser for Irish Shooting Victim February 18, 2007

The Italians Fête the Irish at a Benefit for Injured Irish Tourist
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Brendan McKenna came to San Francisco Christmas 2006 on vacation, he was expecting to enjoy himself after a month's volunteer labor rebuilding New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. Instead, shortly after he arrived he was shot in the stomach by three local thugs during an attempted robbery.
Determined that McKenna should not leave San Francisco disillusioned with his experience here, the Fior d'Italia has already fed him and his family several times and will now host a benefit luncheon to help this young man pay for the costs he has incurred from this misfortune.
Featuring traditional Irish entertainment, the luncheon, with proceeds going to Brendan, will be held from 12 to 3 p.m. on, Sunday February 18, at the Fior d'Italia's new location at 2237 Mason St, on the ground floor of the San Remo Hotel. The cost of the event is $50 per person which includes lunch and your donation to Brendan.
With the personal expenses he has incurred from his unplanned layover in San Francisco, business opportunities lost and medical costs, McKenna estimated he is now in debt at least $300,000, a still mounting sum.
After surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, McKenna left the hospital only to have to return for complications and then a second operation.

“Fortunately my doctors tell me they will be no long-term medical effects," McKenna reported.
The Fior’s proprietor Bob Larive said, "When we read about Brendan's misfortune in the paper, we had to do something. The Fior d'Italia has a long history of reaching out citizens and tourists who have come to grief in our city. We had to show him that this was an open and welcoming town."
The Fior d'Italia's tradition of helping out individual in San Francisco who become victims of crime here goes back years. One example, as was recorded in the history of the restaurant entitled: The Fabulous Fior: Over 100 Years in an Italian Kitchen, the restaurant came to the aid of two British visitors in October 1995. Three ruffians accosted the two on the corner of Columbus and Green in North Beach and savagely beat them, causing one to lose the vision in his right eye.
The San Francisco Chronicle's popular columnist Herb Caen reported that the mother and sister of these visitors "were warmly welcomed to North Beach… and Fior d'Italia has dined them nightly."
Reservations are required for the benefit and can be made by calling the restaurant at 415-986-1886.
For more information call Bob Larive at the same number or at 530-432-8129.