San Francisco, CA (2/18/00)-Viz Communications announces a donation of $50,000 to the San Francisco Rescue Mission, a charitable organization dedicated to assisting the poor and homeless in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. The Rescue Mission will use the donation to assist the inhabitants of San Francisco's Tenderloin district-one of the city's most economically depressed and crime-ridden areas, covering 35 inner-city blocks.

The San Francisco Rescue Mission and Worship Center was started in 1986 by pastor and director Roger Huang as a street outreach program focusing on homeless adults and youth. Huang had begun ministering in the Tenderloin in 1985, and in 1995, he left his job as auditor of one of San Francisco's finest hotels to work full-time with the city's most neglected people. Today, the Rescue Mission has a permanent presence with full-time staff and three leased locations.

The Rescue Mission provides a variety of public services. Every week it serves food and coffee to approximately 1,000 people, as well as operating a thrift store. Annual holiday feedings and toy give-aways draw approximately 3,000 people for event. Outreach programs include public park events as well as serving the needs of shut-ins and the elderly. For street teens, the Rescue Mission offers vocational and recovery programs, and for elementary school children, it provides afterschool and summer education support, including meals. Currently the Rescue Mission is pursuing a building acquisition to start a training center that will provide room, board, and recovery workshops for 150 people.

"Every year we get help during...Thanksgiving and Christmas and very seldom do people realize the day to day need," says Pastor Roger Huang. "I do not know how to begin to thank you, you and your company have helped the Tenderloin community with your generous giving."

"Five years ago I volunteered for the San Francisco Rescue Mission," says Tony Trinh, Viz's Director of Accounting. "I worked with kids every Saturday for three years, teaching math and telling stories. Because of Roger, I think the Tenderloin has improved a lot in the last few years."

Based in San Francisco, CA, Viz Communications, Inc., is America's #1 publisher of Japanese comics (manga), as well as the producer of hundreds of books, videos and graphic novels, from the bestselling Pokémon comics (America's #1 comic series) to magazines like Animerica: Anime and Manga Monthly and acclaimed nonfiction such as Japan Edge: The Insider's Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture.

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