It’s not everyone who can have Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli sing “Happy Birthday” to them on their 70th birthday. But Steve Wozniak isn’t just anyone.
The generous and geeky genius whose creativity spawned the Apple era was the guest of honor for a virtual surprise party Tuesday night organized by his wife, Janet Wozniak. A decade ago, she arranged a surprise party at the Tech in downtown San Jose to celebrate his 60th. But the coronavirus pandemic meant this one needed to be a socially distant affair, so the couple watched the event from their South Bay home, sitting in front of colorful portraits of the couple made by pop artist Romero Britto.
“He doesn’t really like celebrations, but I know he likes helping people,” she said at the start of the event, which was hosted by singer Jewel and was a benefit for the Inspiring Children Foundation, the nonprofit she founded with entrepreneur Ryan Wolfington.
Jewel hosted the online event, which had recordings of dozens of celebrities performing and giving birthday wishes to Woz. The lineup included Andy Grammer, Vance Joy, Emmylou Harris, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Rock and William Shatner. Several Bay Area notables made appearances, too, including Apple and General Magic alum Andy Hertzfeld and former Apple vice president John Couch, plus House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi and San Jose Sharks Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl.
Of course, there were some tech hiccups on the streaming event, prompting some to wonder if it was using the ancient-in-computer-age networking system AppleTalk.
If you missed the event, you can still celebrate the “11 Days of Wozdom” scavenger hunt with daily challenges like posting a photo of your happy place, telling Woz a joke and baking a Woz-related cake. All the details and prizes — Apple gear, of course, and Woz still gets an employee discount — are available at www.wozbday.com/challenges-prizes.
One of my favorite moments of the birthday event was Woz explaining he’s not 70, as far as he’s concerned. “During my Apple development days, I did everything in Base 16,” he explained. That means that in hexadecimal terms, he’s only 46. It’s almost like inventing time travel.
GOOD DEED DEPT.: As far as climate goes, we have it pretty good in the Bay Area. But for homeless residents who don’t have air conditioning or a shady room to escape to, summer heat can be deadly. That’s where Leadings of Spirit comes in.
The new nonprofit group has partnered with a Target store in Mountain View, which donated two cartloads of bottled water to hand out to San Jose’s unhoused population this weekend. A half-dozen other Target stores contributed water as well as face masks, and 10 Target employees will join Leadings of Spirit volunteers as they head out to the encampments to distribute both items. If you’re interested in finding out more about the group, you can find them on Facebook or contact Mark Metzler at waterdistribution8128@gmail.com.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: John A. Sobrato — whose family has made a mark in both development and philanthropic circles — emailed to say that the San Mateo County Undocumented Relief Fund is continuing to grow and having an impact. So far, 6,000 cash grants of $1,000 each have already been distributed to undocumented families struggling because of COVID-19. More than 12,000 applications are going through the vetting process.
“We have raised $10.7 million to date and have a goal of $15 million,” Sobrato said. “We received the first corporate donation from Facebook last Friday and hope other corporations will partner with us.”
Even if you’re not a corporation, donations can be made to the Mission Asset Fund, which is vetting the applications and distributing the grants. Go to www.missionassetfund.org/coronavirus-rapid-response for details.
