Vital Life Services is proud
to announce: We are MOVING!
Judge
approves sale of Your Black Muslim Bakery for use as AIDS treatment
center
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER, Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND -- A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has OK'd the sale of
the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery's North Oakland headquarters
for use as a nonprofit center serving people with AIDS and other
critical illnesses.
In a hearing this afternoon, Judge Edward Jellen authorized court-appointed
trustee Tevis Thompson to convey the property at 5832 San Pablo
Ave. to NCK LLC, a partnership buying it on behalf of Vital Life
Services, for $1,052,000. The money will go toward satisfying
the bankrupt bakery's creditors.
Jellen also OK'd a back-up offer of $1,051,000 tendered by Paulette
Arbuckle, a North Oakland woman whose real-estate broker is a
member of the Bey family that built the bakery into a community
institution and business empire, only to see it end in bankruptcy
and violence.
Arbuckle had made the first offer on the property - $899,000,
offered just four days after the property went on the market in
September - but NCK, represented by Kurt Zimmerman, outbid her
at an auction held behind closed doors Wednesday at the office
of Thompson's attorney, Eric Nyberg.
If the sale goes through as intended, the building will become
the new home of Vital Life Services, formerly known as the Center
for AIDS Services, now located in rented space at 5720 Shattuck
Ave. in Oakland.
Founded in 1987 as a Catholic agency providing pastoral care,
meals and massages to HIV/AIDS patients, it's now a nondenominational
organization providing a wide range of services - from food to
counseling to acupuncture - to those living with HIV/AIDS and
other maladies.
Zimmerman declined to name NCK's partners, saying they'd formed
the limited liability corporation in part to protect their anonymity.
The property - a L-shaped lot of about 14,000 square feet, on
which the bakery building stands at 5832-5838 San Pablo Ave. and
a residential duplex stands at 1083 59th St. - was placed in trustee
Thompson's hands in August after Jellen moved Your Black Muslim
Bakery from voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization into Chapter 7
liquidation.
Zimmerman said no decision has been made on what to do with the
duplex, but NCK and Vital Life Services plan an extensive renovation
of the commercial building on San Pablo Avenue with hopes of opening
their doors April 30, 2008.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP!
Donate Food
We use 30 dozen eggs a month and serve breakfast meat (bacon,
sausage, and ham) and juice to our clients for breakfast. People
living with HIV/AIDS need 50% more protein to maintain their health
so we serve a hot breakfast with a healthy serving of protein
to our hungry clients. We are looking for eggs, high-grade breakfast
meat and either fresh or concentrated orange juice. (Our fantasy
is organic meats and eggs.) To donate, please call Chad Stafford
@ 510-655-3435 or e-mail him Chad @VitalCalifornia.org
Give us your BART Tickets
Mail your left-over BART tickets with the remaining small amount
to us and we will turn them into BART for cash that will feed
our clients. If you send your tickets to us NOW, we can get them
processed by August (the East Bay Community Foundation processes
the tickets three times a year). Ask your co-workers, friends,
neighbors, relatives, and business associates for their left-over
BART tickets. This “small change” will add up!
Donate to Vital Life Services
$.93 of each dollar goes directly to client services we spend
your donations very carefully. If all of our donors contributed
$25 each month, we would be smiling with gratitude!
