PRESS RELEASE

Marin Independent Journal
October 4, 2009
Jim Staats

The first musical benefit (staged by Marin Family Action) to help a group of local families facing foreclosure Saturday didn't draw a big crowd, but pulled in a good amount of donations, organizers said. The daylong slate of Bay Area performers, inflated entertainment for children and warm, sunny weather brought a few hundred people to the "Marinstock" festival at Hamilton Amphitheater.

SF Chronicle
September 28, 2009
Pam Gould

The latest in benefits are massive foreclosure prevention events that draw thousands of desperate homeowners looking for ways to keep their homes.

Save the Dream--with stops in Chicago, St. Louis and most recently in L.A.--is the most well-known. The event features a one-stop-shop for those looking to rework their mortgages into more workable and affordable loans.

Even ritzy Marin has its share of loans gone bad and the Marin Family Action people are stepping in with an event of their own to help.  Marinstock, billed as "one day of music and action" will feature music, food and speakers (Rep. Jared Huffman is one) geared to raise money for families to help fight eviction due to foreclosure.

Marinstock 2009 takes place October 3 at Hamilton Amphitheater in Novato. Tickets are a $10 donation and kids under 17 are free.

San Francisco Chronicle
September 27, 2009
Events draw thousands hoping to keep homes
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer

Just as Hoovervilles and bread lines were emblematic of the Great Depression, foreclosure gatherings may go down in history as the public face of the Great Recession. . . With more than 1.5 million home loans currently delinquent, foreclosure-related happenings - ranging from mass auctions of bank-owned properties to mass protests targeting those same banks - continue to proliferate. Jesse Jackson held a prayer vigil outside the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank earlier this month. Religious groups sponsor rallies. Nonprofits offer workshops. Politicians hold hearings.

"It just snowballed; people kept coming in the door," said Mwanza Furaha of Lagunitas, who got involved with a foreclosure support group run by Marin Family Action.

Furaha, a longtime R&B singer who is fighting foreclosure of the home she and her husband own in western Marin County, decided to bring her music background to bear in the foreclosure battle. She's acting as both an impresario and onstage performer for Marinstock, a daylong benefit concert for families struggling to hold onto their homes, being held Saturday in Novato at the amphitheater at the old Hamilton Air Force Base.

"We're raising money for attorney fees and for families if they lose their homes," said Manny Fernandez, executive director of Marin Family Action in San Rafael, the grassroots nonprofit sponsoring the event . . .