This San Francisco based style icon is famous for her signature oversized black glasses and “natty attire”. A divorced philanthropist, Joy Venturini Bianchi has been involved in the Helpers Community Inc. charity for decades and considers the Balboa Café one of her favourite dining spots. In 2016, she was criticised for the excessive pay cheques she took from Helpers and in 2017, the charity was forced to repay “tens of thousands of dollars”.
Winston Churchill once said that “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” The lies that were told about Joy Bianchi have now gone around the world several times. They were written in the San Francisco Chronicle by writers eager to pose as investigative reporters and “revitalize” the paper. They asserted that Mrs. Bianchi, as executive director of Helpers Community, misused charity funds and clothes to further a lavish lifestyle. There was never a shred of evidence to back up these assertions. If Mrs. Bianchi had engaged in any of the criminal activities she was accused of, her Board of Directors would have known immediately. I worked as a consultant for Mrs. Bianchi from the 1970’s and there is no way that she could have engaged in the activities that she was accused of without my knowing it.
Because Mrs. Bianchi had high social visibility the story was sensational. It had all the perfect ingredients for a National Inquirer expose. However, inuendo and outright lies do not make a fabric of truth.