{"id":477125,"date":"2026-09-27T04:47:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T04:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/477125\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T04:47:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T04:47:33","slug":"how-sf-woman-brought-good-neighbor-week-to-city-with-the-help-of-the-39th-president-nbc-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/477125\/","title":{"rendered":"How SF woman brought \u201cGood Neighbor Week\u201d to city (with the help of the 39th President) \u2013 NBC Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julia Gitis likes to throw herself into situations where she has no idea what\u2019s going on and then figure things out along the way.<\/p>\n

That mindset may be the perfect explanation for how she became the driving force behind San Francisco Good Neighbor Week.<\/p>\n

It all started with a seemingly random invitation to a Zoom webinar in May 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings happen when you join a Zoom webinar,\u201d Gitis joked.<\/p>\n

The webinar focused on National Good Neighbor Day<\/a>, a holiday signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. While the day has been observed sporadically around the country over the years, Gitis thought it might be a good fit for San Francisco and a natural extension of her community-building passion.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC Bay AreaNBC Bay Area<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I didn\u2019t expect was the response from San Francisco residents just from me asking the question,\u201d Gitis said. \u201cI have never gotten as loud a \u2018yes\u2019 to any question I\u2019ve ever asked in my life as I have to asking people in San Francisco if we should do a Good Neighbor Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

That enthusiasm quickly turned into action. In 2025, the first San Francisco Good Neighbor Week<\/a> was officially proclaimed and organizers say it became the largest Good Neighbor celebration ever held in the United States.<\/p>\n

This year, Gitis and her team of volunteers are planning an even bigger event.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC Bay AreaNBC Bay Area<\/p>\n

The week begins with a kickoff celebration Saturday at Civic Center Plaza before spreading across the city\u2019s neighborhoods over the next seven days. Planned activities include community cleanups, neighborhood gatherings, and meetups designed to help residents connect with one another.<\/p>\n

But Gitis says the true magic of Good Neighbor Week happens in the smaller, more personal moments.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC Bay AreaNBC Bay Area<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really incredible,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can knock on your neighbor\u2019s door 364 days a year, but there\u2019s something about having a citywide celebration around Good Neighbor Day or Good Neighbor Week that gives people the push to say, \u2018This is it. I\u2019m going to do it today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gitis experienced that spirit herself last year when she hosted a neighborhood potluck during Good Neighbor Week. This year, one of her neighbors is returning the favor and hosting a gathering of their own.<\/p>\n

For Gitis, that ripple effect is exactly what Good Neighbor Week is all about: inspiring small acts of connection that strengthen communities one neighbor at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julia Gitis likes to throw herself into situations where she has no idea what\u2019s going on and then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[22978,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-477125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bay-area-proud","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}