Ron Fontanini sends rescue to a fellow worker.

Albert “Sunny” Schreiber is a senior trainee from the National Council on Aging (NCOA) who works with Ron Fontanini, serving meals for the San Francisco meals program at the city’s Silvercrest residence.

One morning Fontanini realized that Schreiber—who consistently showed up early—was late. Concerned, Fontanini called Margrit Koch, a representative of the NCOA, to inform her of Schreiber’s absence. Koch tried calling Schreiber’s home, to no avail.

The next day, with Schreiber still absent, Fontanini, now seriously alarmed, called Koch again. Koch called Schreiber’s family, but they, too, had no information.

Fontanini persuaded Koch to call the police, who sent the paramedics to Schreiber’s house. They broke down the door and found Schreiber unconscious on the bathroom floor. They revived him and immediately rushed him to the hospital.

Schreiber later said he was trapped and calling out for help for more than 36 hours, while falling in and out of consciousness. If it had not been for Ron Fontanini, the outcome would have been drastically different.
Schreiber remained at San Francisco General Hospital, recuperating from his ordeal and looking forward to his return to work with Fontanini and the rest of the Salvation Army meals program staff.