Wishers hang their hopes on SF City Hall’s holiday tree

Volunteers watch as Jeff Cotter of the Rainbow World Fund attaches a branch atop the “World Tree of Hope” at City Hall. Volunteers watch as Jeff Cotter of the Rainbow World Fund attaches a branch atop the “World Tree of Hope” at City Hall. Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Wishers hang their hopes on SF City Hall’s holiday tree 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Not everyone who wishes for something at Christmas is wishing for world peace. Some people are wishing for something more useful.

“I wish it will snow in the morning so nobody does not have to go to school for two weeks,” wrote one wisher.

That wish and 17,000 others — the majority having to do with the people of the world coming to their senses — have been scribbled onto slips of paper, folded into the shape of birds and hung on San Francisco’s official holiday tree in City Hall.

Like the season itself, it’s a tree with a lot of hope and no guarantees. That’s how Christmas works.

“It’s powerful to put your wishes and prayers out there,” said Jeff Cotter, founder and executive director of the Rainbow World Fund, the humanitarian foundation in San Francisco that assembles the tree every year. “But we can’t promise they’re going to come true.”

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Volunteers with Salesforce.com draw pictures and write wishes on...

It’s the 12th season for the majestic 23-foot-tall tree, which stands at the entrance to the Board of Supervisors chambers, a place where things sometimes happen that no one wishes for.

Anyone can write a wish and fold a bird. All you need is a square piece of Japanese origami paper and a lot of patience. The patience is necessary because the first dozen or so attempts will not look like birds, despite the wishes of most origami beginners.

You can also dash off a wish on the foundation’s website. Cotter and his staff will fold it into a bird for you, because Christmas is a time to do nice things for other people. The limit is 100 words per wish. More than that requires two birds.

Among the wishes this year were ones urging an end to war, an end to hunger and an end to ads on the Pandora online music service. The score on those is 0 for 3.

The City Hall tree, unlike most trees, is made of plastic and metal. It is assembled like a layer cake, with giant steel hoops. Before the wishes get hung on it, the tree looks a little like the frame for hoop skirts worn in “Gone With the Wind.”

The official tree lighting is next Monday at 6 p.m. Mayor Ed Lee wrote on a bird that he wanted civic pride and respect in San Francisco, and is scheduled to show up for the ceremony to see if that comes about.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Folded origami cranes are seen on the Rainbow World Fund "World...

Putting the tree together is plenty complicated. Birds from previous years are saved and rehung. All birds must be strung with metal wire and sent to a special plant in San Leandro. There, each one is dipped into a vat of fireproofing solution. It costs Cotter $500 a year to fireproof the paper birds, but that’s part of the deal with the city. Seventeen thousand paper birds are just as flammable as they are inspirational.

After that, a final step remains. Each paper bird is pressed by head bird presser Karen Kai with a beautician’s hair-straightening iron.

“First the wings,” Kai said. “Then the head and the tail and you’re ready to go.”

A lot of famous people have scribbled wishes that did their time in the tree. Barack Obama asked for a kinder world, Joan Baez asked for organized nonviolence, Shirley Temple Black asked for people to think. Naturalist Jane Goodall fired off a long request on behalf of the environment, harmony, health and happiness that came in at 44 words over the limit but, because she was Jane Goodall, she got her wish to have a long wish.

Hillary Clinton, in her wish just before the presidential election, selflessly asked for marriage equality instead of for victory at the polls. She got the first wish.

“With wishes, there are no guarantees,” explained Cotter. “That’s not our department.”

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@

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