Mother Wright, tireless advocate for poor, dies

[Kadie]

Mother Wright, tireless advocate for poor, dies
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, May 9, 2009

She was considered Oakland's Mother Teresa for her tireless work caring for the hungry and downtrodden.

Mary Ann Wright, known from the chambers of City Hall to the chilly undersides of freeway overpasses as "Mother Wright," died Thursday at a Berkeley hospital after battling a series of afflictions, her son said. She was 87.

For more than two decades, Mother Wright fed those in need in Oakland and beyond, starting with one meal a week - all she could afford with food purchased from her Social Security checks. She melded dedication, faith and goodwill into the Mother Mary Ann Wright Foundation, which feeds more than 450 people a day on a shoestring budget of $137,000 a year.

Mother Wright, a devout Catholic, accepted no pay and was assisted primarily by her daughters. In 2005, the national Caring Institute in Washington, D.C., named her to its Hall of Fame for Caring Americans.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/09/BAHI17HGPS.DTL&tsp=1



Mary Ann Wright hugs Mariah Sanchez, who had come to help out at Oakland's Mother Mary Ann Wright Foundation. (LIZ HAFALIA / SFC)

[MADem]

1. What a lovely lady.

But I just had a "comprehension hiccough."

I read "tireless advocate for the poor," and thought, "Geez, you'd think some sumbitch could have bought that hardworking woman a lousy set of tires...!

She'll be missed.