45th Annual Penny Pitch Brings Out Large, Competitive Crowd to Raise Funds for St. Anthony Foundation

May 15, 2023

The Tarnished team take home the first-place Ed Moose Memorial trophy

The winning team holds the first place trophy at the 4th Annual Penny Pitch

It was standing-room only for the majority of the 300-plus attendees to the 45th Annual Penny Pitch fundraising event on May 12 at Chief Sullivan’s in North Beach. St. Anthony Foundation, committed to providing pathways to stability and renewal for thousands of San Franciscans in need annually, hosted the event to raise funds in order to support the foundation’s full offering of services, including the Dining Room, Free Clothing Program, Resource Center, Hygiene Hub, Medical Clinic, and Technology Lab, among several others. Preliminary estimates indicate this year’s event raised approximately $125k for St. Anthony’s, providing essential and life-changing services to people in need.

“Hopefully, the result is not only that we will raise more than $100k, but it’s also building community and just having a really fun day.”
Nils Behnke, CEO of St. Anthony’s, in an interview with KPIX/CBS Bay Area

St. Anthony's CEO Nils Behnke speaks at a podium at the 45th Annual Penny PItch

Forty-four teams competed for the Ed Moose Memorial trophy taking part in the renowned bar game in a tournament-style bracket. Each team, consisting of six participants, pitch pennies in assigned lanes with a team advancing who has the penny closest to the back wall. The Tarnished, captained by Matthew Goudeau, won the Ed Moose Memorial trophy edging out Pitches Be Crazy from Salesforce. The Tarnished lost in the main bracket and came back through the Losers’ bracket (via cornhole) to win the tournament.

Additional awards were handed out as well – Team Spirit went to Pitch Don’t Kill My Vibe (Salesforce), Best Costume to the San Francisco Giants team, and Best Team Name to Pitch Better Have My Penny from Bi-Rite Food Distributors. Raffle prizes were also given to attendees, which included San Francisco Giants tickets, sports memorabilia package, Club Fugazi tickets, SFMOMA tickets, and various restaurant vouchers and wine.

Runners up celebrate with their second place trophy at the 45th Annual Penny Pitch

Thank you to all of you who were able to come out and support this year’s event, including San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson, Assistant Deputy Chief Erica Arteseros, former fire chief Joanne Hayes-White, former police chief Greg Suhr, Supervisor Dean Preston, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and Supervisor Ahsha Safai, our incredible participating teams, our tremendous staff, our awesome co-chairs Meagan Levitan and Dale Carlson, our fabulous emcee Paul Tonelli from 107.7 the BONE.

We’re so grateful for our amazing sponsors (Bi-Rite Food Distributors, Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, San Francisco Giants, Dale Carlson, The Toboni Group, Original Joe’s San Francisco, Ann Gray Miller, Chief Sullivan’s, BarbCo Real Estate, PlayStudios, The O’Shea Foundation, Turner Group Construction, Nob Hill Gazette, Gordon Clifford Properties, San Francisco Police Officers Association, Boston Properties SF, Meagan Levitan Corcoran Icon Properties, Golden State Warriors, Aaron Boyd, Salesforce, Rob Ronzone, Salesian Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Ogburn Family, Club Fugazi, Okta, Jerry and Jim Sangiacomo Family, Maija Muncy, Tom Hsieh, Hoenigman Family Foundation, Maureen Sullivan, St. Anthony Foundation Young Professional Council, San Francisco Association of Realtors, Richard Darwin, Matthew Goudeau, Mary Wolfe, Golden Brands, San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, Delta Dental, Tim and Rhanda Dunn, Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco (ECS), Trillium Asset Management, New York Life Insurance Company, Dean Preston, Primetime Printing, Jim Mercurio, Ryan Noll, Elks Lodge).

Finally, thank you to KGO-TV/ABC7 Bay Area, KPIX/CBS Bay Area, and KCBS for covering our event.

See you all next year!