Enjoy again a gracious tradition

Enjoy again a gracious tradition..

December 1, 2011

Good Morning, Dear Members,

Because of time constraints, this month's blog will be brief and the "newsletter" portion will be detailed in full in the January blog.

By the time this blog is posted you will have received via email and/or regular mail the following time-sensitive information:

• An email from Toni Paterson, President of the Association of Auxiliaries,explaining eScrip, the wonderfully easy fund-raising project for all LPCH auxiliaries. Since we are still in the most important fund raising season for us this is a timely topic for you to know about - eScrip. There will be more on this in our January blog. However, Toni has clearly outlined the information you will need to take advantage of this money-making opportunity.

Do you recognize some of the names listed below? Do you shop at any of them?

Bianchini's Market Diablo Foods Draegers Market

Glen Ellen Village market Key Markets Lunardi'sMarkets

Mollie Stone's Pak 'n Save Piazza's Fine Foods

Big O Tires Main Street Automotive Portola Valley Garage

American Airlines Club Cruise American Wines

San Francisco Chronicle PigglyWiggly

Do you shop ON-LINE? Note the participating stores who are on-line eScrip merchants:

Amazon Nordstrom Expedia

Apple Store Pottery Barn Chef's Catalogue

Best Buy Gap Clinique

Ashford Bloomingdale's Macy's

Home Depot

These are a few of the merchants participating in eScrip. Please review Toni Paterson's email

• The annual membership dues notice asking that you send in your $75.00 by January 1, 2012 to Mary Koeppen at 10150 Phar Lap Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014. Please remember to include the form indicating your volunteering preferences.

• The invitation to our Annual Luncheon & Business Meeting Come and enjoy this time-honored tradition where we report results of our annual fund raising efforts; where we recognize our past presidents, our project leaders, those ever so important behind the scenes members,and where we thank our out going board and welcome our new board; where we proudly present Dr. Alexander with our annual donation to LPCH. Highlights of this past year's joys and accomplishments will be shared as well as a report on our goals for 2011 and those for 2012.

Annual Luncheon & Business meeting on Tuesday, January 17, 2012, from 9:30am-2:00pm

at Michael's Restaurant at Shoreline

2960 North Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View, CA

Coffee/Tea 9:30am Business meeting 10:15

No Host Cocktails -12:00noon Lunch 12:30 $30.00 per person

Luncheon Entree Choices:

Breast of Chicken, Marsala; Crabmeat & Shrimp Canneloni: Spinach & Cheese Tortellini

Please indicate your choice of entree and return with $30.00 check by January 10,2012 to

Dallas Manning (650) 858-1376

836 Pine Hill Road, Stanford, CA 94305

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR 2012

Unless otherwise noted, our GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 1:00pm-3:00pm in the Fireside Room at the Lucie Stern Community Center

1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto

January 17 Annual Luncheon meeting at Michael's

February 21 at Lucie Stern

March 20 at Lucie Stern

April 17 at Lucie Stern

May 15 at Lucie Stern. This would ordinarily be our Hospital Tour. Because of the con- struction no tours will be given this year. However, the Foundation has offered to send us a speaker. The board has requested and arrangements have been made to have DR. GARY HARTMAN, LEAD SURGEON ON THE SEPARATION OF THE CONJOINED TWINS WILL BE OUR SPEAKER at this meeting.

June 19 at Lucie Stern

October - Annual Membership Tea

November - American Girl

JANUARY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Thora Richardson

Marilyn Ellis

B.J. Sorenson

Deborah Potash

Forgive the brevity of this blog. Noteworthy news of our successful American Girl event, our RwH, book sales and our lovely Boutique will be shared at the luncheon. They do indeed reflect our hard work this year - hard work shared by all of us. It is such a pleasure and so rewarding to see how many of you came forth to offer your time and talent for these fund raising events. Thank you all for your dedication and incredible talents.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and my wishes to each for a Happy Holiday and a Grand New Year.

Luisa

Doing what we do best...

We have so much to be thankful for - each other and the opportunity to help others -

November 9, 2011

Good morning dear members,

The holidays are upon us! Not only is it time for rejoicing with family and friends but also it is our busiest time for fund raising. This is our opportunity to do what we do best, raising money for the children at the Hospital. American Girl Fashion Show and Tea is our biggest money maker and Sarah and her committees have done an incredible job organizing it. I will be there both days and I look forward to working with you all on November 11th and 12th. Sarah asks that you please remember to come at the times you signed up for and wear black pants, white shirt and green apron.

Before I share news and photos of our delightful Tea, here are a few announcements and dates for your calendar:

We will be sending Annual Meeting information and dues notices by email. However, you can pay your 2012 dues at the November, December and Annual meetings.

The California Café is offering us brunch and dinner on Sunday, November 13^th and dinner on Monday, November 14^th. No lunch is offered on either day. Reservations are still available so please contact 650.364.2588, ext 4 or go to our website www.paloaltoauxiliary.com Walk ins are also welcome.

Nov. 15 General Meeting in Fireside Room at Lucie Stern Community Center 1-3:00pm A sampling of our Boutique items will be for sale. These are exquisite, handmade, one-of-a-kind items made by our talented members.

Dec. 3 Holiday Boutique at Allied Arts Guild.10:00am-5:00pm We will have a table in the Sunset Room selling our exquisite hand-made items and Tastes, Tales and Traditions.

Dec. 6 Holiday Luncheon will be at the University Club. We will serve ourselves from the Buffet and then be seated in the Beech Room. 11:30 Buffet luncheon. $32 per person with a No Host bar. Checks should be made out to PAA and sent to Dallas Manning 836 Pine Hill Road, Stanford, CA 94305. Dallas needs reservations by Dec. 2

Updates on our projects and Association news will be reported at the November membership meeting.

One of our loveliest times together is our Annual Membership Tea at Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton. The Tea is a time-honored event at which we honor our members for their years of service. Each honoree is presented a rose and a donation is made to LPCH in their name.

As you know, something as lovely and elegant as this event does not happen by accident. Many thanks to Audrey Polster, for her tireless efforts organizing this special luncheon; to Sharon Brugos, for doing the research to compose our list of honorees; to Marilyn Ellis, and her committee for the festive tables and décor; to Deborah Potash for preparing the lovely roses; to Nancy Bronstein for creating the 19 exquisite autumn table arrangements, to Shirlee Stites for being our personal photographer. Her photos are our history, our archives. And to the incredible Mary Hicks and her committee for the magnificent buffet. She has been creating the delectable menus for our events for many years. These women work hard with joy and are a pleasure to work alongside.

Toni Paterson, President of the Association of Auxiliaries and Dr. David Alexander, President and CEO of the Lucile Packard Foundation took time from their unbelievably busy schedules to visit with us. Dr. Alexander gave a brief presentation filled with news of Phase II construction and told us how wonderful we are - how important our work is (always a pleasure to hear!)

We have 16 members who have reached significant milestones in their years of active service with PAA. Amongst them - visiting all the way from Texas is Joan Heye. Joan, along with Stephanie Beach is responsible for your emails and hard copies of notices and blogs. However, it is Joan who has made PAA national. She is chief of our Texas headquarters!

One of our members reigns as queen of years of service, Margaret Robinson. Margaret has given 57 years of active service - that,indeed, is a significant milestone especially since most of those were spent cooking once a week every week of the year.

For more photos of our honorees, please go to our home page and click on Photos,then photo gallery and you will find Shirlee's lovely photo collection of the Membership Tea.

This was so special an event - may we have many more together.

ASSOCIATION NEWS:

• Charter Auxiliary will have their annual holiday boutique & rummage sale on Friday, Nov. 18 , 11am-2:00pm and Saturday, November 19, 9:00am-1:00pm at 1228 Douglas Ave. in Redwood City.
• San Mateo-Burlingame Auxiliary invited us to NOT come to their Oktoberfest. date was anytime we chose; time was any time we would like and any place we wished to have it. It apparently was a clever invitation that produced great success and generated money for them!
• San Francisco Auxiliary will have their Jewel Ball on November 12 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. It promises to be a glorious event!

These Auxiliaries support our Restaurants with Heart almost every month. If you have time please enjoy their fund raisers as well.

DID YOU KNOW:

• The SF Auxiliary will include our cookbooks as part of their silent auction at the Jewel Ball
• Come next year, Sarah Beetem will be a first time grandmother!

Randi Dean is a potential new member.She works in Dr. Brugos' office (his claim to fame is that he is Sharon's husband)Knowing Randi will be retiring soon, Sharon invited her to our Tea to see what a delightful group we are!!

• Sue Hnilo, the Associate Director of Auxiliaries Relations, will be retiring after 14 years with the Foundation. All of our past presidents can attest to the incredible amount of work she has done for all of us. She will stay until February to help with the training of her replacement. As happy as we are for her, Sue is so special a person to each of us that she will be missed ever so much.
• Carolyn Keeley fell and broke her hip.
• Pat Ogle is out of the wheelchair but is still recuperating from her last foot surgery.

BELATED OCTOBER BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Nancy Bronstein, Jackie Clark,, Sue Ellen Naugler, Luisa Pliska

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Sarah Beetem, Jane Bradley, Ellen Latour, Gerry Nelson,Marilyn Slater, Karen Stevens, Karen Sutherland, Kay Willoughby

Dear PAA members -we do,indeed, have so much to be thankful for: the many years of sharing joys and sorrows, of working hard and joyfully for those needy children and the opportunity to continue to give of ourselves and to enjoy each other. Have a lovely Thanksgiving.

Luisa

Exciting innovations for the Association of Auxiliaries

We are, indeed, women of substance with the power to make a difference...

October 11, 2011

Good morning, Dear Members:

Before we talk about our delightful new meeting place at the Lucie Stern Community Center and Toni Paterson's presentation, please double check your calendar. There have been some additions and corrections.

October 18 - Annual Membership Tea

at Holbrook Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Avenue, Atherton

Many thanks to Sarah Beetem for giving us these directions:

FROM NORTH: Take 101 south to Marsh Road exit (#406)Follow Marsh Rd a short way and

Turn left on Middlefield Rd.

Turn right at Watkins (the first street)

Park is 150 Watkins. Follow road around curve to the social hall

FROM SOUTH: Take 101 north to Marsh Road exit and follow directions above.

As is our custom, we honor those members who have reached significant milestones of active membership. This year we have 17 who will receive a rose and donations will be made to the hospital in their name. Although they do not receive roses, we also list our active associates for their continued loyalty. Many thank you's to all.

The list of honorees was published in last month's blog. This list of honorees represents almost 1000 hours, and past lists of honorees represent thousands more. They provide a striking visual image that reflects the promise and hard work of dedicated volunteers. Yes, many of us are older but with a youthful visage which I believe is the result of the good work we continue to do with joy in our hearts.

Oct. 25,26 - Restaurants with Heart at Mandarin Gourmet, Palo Alto

This replaces the initial John Bently Restaurant. Instead of participating in our RwH program, John Bently has planned to make a donation of 10% of his busiest day's earnings of October 24th and 25. So, please enjoy lunch or dinner at his regular prices, choosing from his regular menu on those days.

Nov. 1 - Pillow sewing & knitting at Thora's RSVP

Nov. 11 & 12 - American Girl Fashion Show Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos

Sarah Beetem has three members taking major roles in helping her with AGFS: Susan Kirtley will be coordinating decorations and equipment Mary Anne York will be in charge of food to be selected and served. Kathy Squellalti is in charge of ticket sales and table assignments. Sarah asks that we sign up with Thora Richardson to help with the event.

Nov. 13 & 14 - Restaurants with Heart- California Cafe, Palo Alto

On the 13th, California Cafe will serve their Buffet. On the 14th - lunch and dinner

Nov. 15 - General Meeting at Lucie Stern Community Center, Palo Alto

Dec. 3 - Holiday Boutique at Allied Arts- Sunset Room Dec. 6.

In addition to selling our cookbook we will be selling our beautiful handmade items.

If you have any handmade items to donate please contact Sharon Brugos. Sharon is seeking a hat rack or an appropriate apparatus to display the handmade hats and scarves.

Dec. 6 - Members Christmas Luncheon location tba

Our Bears and Books lady, Shirlee Stites has the following dates for Build-a-Bear group workshops and luncheons at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo.

Monday girls Nov. 7 Contact Ann Bennett

Tuesday girls October 25 Contact Thora Richardson

Wednesday girls Are welcome on any one of the dates or can ago on their own

Thursday girls Oct. 24 or Mon. Oct. 31 Contact Shirlee Stites

Friday girls Nov. 4 Contact Marzette Woods

Anyone who was not a volunteer on any one of the days above is very welcome to join any one of the days listed above. The more the merrier!

(Fireside room)

On September 20, we held our first meeting since the summer break at our new location at the Lucie Stern Community Center in Palo Alto. A brief description for those of you who were not there.

(B.J. Sorenson, Kathryn Esterly, Karen Stevens, Thora Richardson, Deborah Potash(writing)and Mary Hicks)

The Fireside room is bright and just the right size for us. Windows and French doors grace two sides. A working fireplace is at one end of the room and a large niche is at the opposite end. This held our individual packages of toiletries for the Teen Van. Pillows and blankets from Thora Richardson's workshops filled another corner of the room. We had tables overflowing with beautiful handwork done by our talented members. Many of the items were made by Nancy Braunstein and Sharon Brugos for the Dec. 6 boutique.

Three exquisite autumn arrangements made by Deborah Potash were poised on the fireplace mantel and one was given to Toni Paterson, President of the Association of Auxiliaries, as a thank you for coming to our meeting.

(Toni Paterson presenting)

Toni shared news of exciting innovations. We now have our very own award winning logo for the Association of Auxiliaries representing the unity of all seven auxiliaries. She would like the Association's focus to be on the auxiliaries working together as a unified group. Thus, giving us a larger presence in the community and enabling us to recruit more members for each of our auxiliaries. To this end we will have our own Association web page, a President's blog and a password-protected Association forum for the auxiliary members to use to communicate with one another.

The new Auxiliary e-newsletter will contain news of the LPCH, a list of upcoming Auxiliary events and the opportunity to register for eScrip. Our first event where all 7 Auxiliaries worked together on the same project was the 20th Birthday celebration. EScrip will be another.

Toni explained that eScrip is an effortless way for us to raise funds for LPCH. Many schools

use Scrip and several of our auxiliaries are already using it. She gave a detailed explanation on how it works and what it entails. Information was distributed and Toni elected to stay after the meeting to register anyone who is interested in participating.

(Toni and Friend)

ASSOCIATION NEWS:

• The final LPCH birthday celebration will be the Simply Giving luncheon to be held on October 27th at the Sharon Heights Country Club. Tickets are $90 ($45 of which is tax deductible. Half the proceeds will go to the Hospital. Dr. Harvey Cohen will be the featured speaker.
• San Francisco's Auxiliary's 59th Annual Jewell Ball, the Safari of Jewels, will be held on Saturday, November 12th at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
• The San Mateo-Burlingame invites us NOT to come to their Octoberfest! Date will be any day you want; Time will be any time you like; Place will be your home, restaurant or with friends; Dress formal or casual; Beverage pour a glass of your favorite beer
• RSVP: as soon as possible.
• Charter 's holiday boutique and rummage sale will be n November 18th and 19th

DID YOU KNOW:

• If you are having trouble seeing the 2011 section on American Girl on our website Sarah Beetem suggests we push the "Refresh" button on your computer. It looks like a small curved arrow and is usually located near the top of your screen next to the address you are looking for.

• Our new Association of Auxiliaries logo was honored with a Certificate of Excellence in the American Graphics Design Awards, an annual national design competition with over 8000 entries.

• The Monday girls donated $665 in memory of Betty Clancy. The money will go toward purchase of iPads for the Health Van -Adolescent Outreach Program (Teen Van)

• Joanne Rutter has the large Fostoria punch bowl that was used at wedding receptions and special events at the Restaurant. She is ore than happy to loan it to any of our members who would like to borrow it for a special event. (Her phone number is in our directory on p.22)

OCTOBER BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

My apologies to all the October ladies. In tidying up the Fireside Room after our meeting at the Lucie Stern Community Center someone inadvertently scooped up my birthday clipboard. So, I am at a loss as to who our birthday ladies are. We will have to reconstruct the Birthday clipboard. However, this does not weaken our hearty "Happy Birthday and wishes for many more" to the October ladies.

These upcoming months are packed with our fund raising events that need so many of our talents and so much of our time. The money we make enables us to make a difference in the needy children at LPCH. Thank you all for your hard work and joyful participation. It is that very hardwork ethic that has spanned generations of PAA women. We are indeed women of substance with the power to make a difference

See you all at the Tea!

Luisa

"PAA has an ala carte menu...."

Good morning, Dear Members,

We now enter our busiest fund-raising season. It is our opportunity to fulfill our membership obligations and give of our time, energy and talents to raise as much money as we can for the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Toni Paterson once said that the Palo Alto Auxiliary has an a la carte menu of projects. We do - indeed- have something for everyone. We have a very eclectic program. It is a luxury (unique to our auxiliary) that we have and that we can use to attract members who wish to give of themselves to help others. And what better cause than the needy children at the Hospital! The more members we have, the more hands we have to work at these projects. Please share our goal and activities with those you meet or with whom you work.

The blog this month will be brief and details regarding our many projects will be shared at the general meeting. For now - here are some dates to reserve on your "dance card"!

Sept. 20: 1:00pm - 3:00pm in the Fireside Room at the

Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto

(There is parking on the grounds and on the street.)

• As you learned in last month's blog, our guest speaker is Toni Paterson. She is the new, young, vibrant president of the Association of Auxiliaries.
• Please bring your travel-size toiletries for the Teen Van gifts.
• Shirlee Stites asks that you bring any new children's books for the hospital library.
• Sharon Brugos would welcome any items you have made for the Holiday Boutique.

Sept. 26 &27: RwH at Iron Gate Restaurant in Belmont

Oct. 4: Pillow sewing and knitting at Thora's please RSVP

Oct. 18: Annual Membership Tea at Holbrook Palmer Park

Oct. 24 & 25: RwH at John Bently's in Redwood City NOTE THIS IS A CHANGE FROM THE ORIGINAL LISTING ON THE EVENTS PAGE)

Nov. 1: Pillow sewing and knitting at Thora's please RSVP

Nov. 13 & 14: RwH at California Cafe in Palo Alto

The California Cafe will offer us their special brunch on the 13th)

This month's blog will be brief so details of our special projects will be reported at the Sept. 20

general meeting. For now, just a few notes:

• American Girl will have the ever-so-important sign up sheets available at the meeting.
• The membership committee has listed the members to be honored at the Tea. Please check the list below. If you do not see your name on the list and feel that you have reached a milestone year , please let Sharon Brugos know.
• Becky Yung will be organizing the cookbook selling venues for the holidays. In addition to the tables set up at random locations we will again be selling at the Pumpkin Patch, the American Girl event and the Holiday Boutique at the Guild. Please contact her to offer your time.

LIST OF HONOREES FOR 2011

10 years Active

Evelyn Lashmett

Betty Ng

Kathy Squellati

20 year Active

Joan Heye Active Associate - Velma Snow, Lita Swiryn

Rita Preston

25 years Active

Sue Moore

Thora Richardson Active Associate - Nancy Dusthimer

30 years Active

Adrienne Bennett

Malkah Carothers Active Associate - Janice McMahon

35 years Active

Marty Johnson

Bobbee Nylander

Nancy Scarff

Jane Springgate Active Associate - Joy Frost

40 years Active

Marge Meagher

Gerry Nelson Active Associate - Marcella Atherton, Norma Hough, Diana Irvin

Judy Simpson

50 years Active Associate

Betty Atkins, Bonnie Behling, Carolyn Hofstetter, Alice Kominick

57 years Active - Margaret Robinson

DID YOU KNOW:

• The Primavera Restaurant at Allied Arts Guild will not be closing at the end of December. They have decided to fulfill their lease and stay until next September.
• I misspelled Marlene Bollhoffer's name in the last Blog. Also she informed me that the Restaurants with Heart logo was her design and Deborah Potash reworked the original circle into the delightful heart we now see. Forgive my errata, Marlene.

SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Adrienne Bennett

Sally Bush

Malkah Carothers

Kay Wangelin

Dear Members - September has been an incredibly sad month for the Palo Alto Auxiliary. We have lost three of our members Mary Walt, Betty Clancy and Martha Kozloweski. Mary Walt was a member since 1967. Betty Clancy was a member since 1974 and Martha Kozloweski since 1973. These were members who truly represented the Palo Alto Auxiliary women. They were fun, loving, giving and dedicated members. They will be missed by so many of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

Please remember, dear members - that I always welcome your thoughts and ideas for PAA.

See you all at the Lucie Stern Community Center.

Luisa

*I just learned that Brenda Berman passed away this September. Brenda became a member in 2005 and was active until she moved to LA in 2008. Our condolences to her family as well.

Volunteering is enjoyable,seasonless and always in style

August 19, 2011

Good morning, Dear Members,

I must apologize for the late posting of the Blog. Due to an incredibly busy July and August which have been filled with house guests and a mini vacation, I have had little time to do the blog. So, here I am "better late than never."

First - important reminders - please mark your calendar:

• August 22 & 23 Restaurants with Heart at Scott's Seafood, Palo Alto. dinner only, no lunch
• Sept. 6 Pillow Sewing & Knitting at Thora's. Please rsvp.
• Sept. 20 General Meeting at Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road, Pal Alto, in Fireside Room from 1-3:00pm

This is our first meeting after the summer hiatus. There is much to discuss.

TONI PATERSON, the new, vibrant, president of the Association of Auxiliaries will be our guest speaker. We also have two new potential members joining us, Alvina O'Neal and Roni Wade.

• Sept. 26 & 27 RwH at Iron Gate in Belmont. Back by popular demand - Lunch and Dinner

For upcoming events, please remember to go to the website,

click on "Calendar" for complete details. Here's a link to our website ---

http://www.paloaltoauxiliary.com.

Our short summer has come to a screeching halt and the season is here where we return renewed and refreshed to the business at hand, raising money for the children at LPCH. At our finger tips we have several enjoyable, successful projects by which we can do just that: the American Girl Fashion Show and Tea, selling our cookbook "Tastes, Tales and Traditions" Restaurants with Heart and the December Boutique. All these projects need our time, talents and energy.

This month, I'd like to share a little about Restaurants with Heart. Marlene Bolhoffer is the member who brought this idea to us and who works tirelessly at making it a long term success. On her RwH committee are Deborah Potash, Audrey Polster, Barbara Braun, Elizabeth Modena, Carolann Brlecic, Sharon Brugos, Ruth Wood and Luisa Pliska. However, Marlene and Deborah do the initial research and contacting of restaurants. (Deborah and her husband Roger designed the delightful RwH logo that you see on all the flyers.) They make every effort to find lovely restaurants and varied types of cuisine for us. In so doing they have delighted our palates and expanded our restaurant choices . They are open to restaurant suggestions and welcome our assistance in greeting and checking in customers who come to the restaurants. The very best and ever so rewarding way we can support this delightful project is to go to the restaurant of the month with many friends or with just your significant other!

As you can see, it is an enjoyable, seasonless, always in style, fund raiser. So, dear members - go to your closet, pick out something that makes you feel wonderful, join a friend or two and take yourself out to a delightful dinner or lunch!

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

• The Primavera Restaurant at Allied Arts Guild will be closing on December 31st

• Our dear Mary Walt passed away August 1. Many of us from PAA attended her memorial service on August 8 at the Episcopal Church in Cupertino. She was a lovely lady and a very hardworking, dedicated member. We will miss her.

• I will be meeting this week with Lee Foster, Executive Director of Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City. This is the beginning of research on a new fund raising idea. The working title is "Matinee Maidens" or "Matinee Madness". Theater lovers, please send me title ideas. If you recall, you all did this when we asked for a cookbook title.

• Knitted scarves, hats, baby items as well as pretty sachets, bags and other hand-made items are being created by our members in preparation for the Dec. 3 Holiday Boutique.

• Worse than cigarettes and transfats is lethargy. Volunteering is a magnificent cure for lethargy and PAA does volunteering very well. Whether we are selling flowers on street corners or pencils at train stations as was done in 1930's or operating a restaurant, hostessing the American Girl event, selling our cookbook or promoting RwH, as we did in later years and are doing now - we did and do all of these - working hard with grace and joy. For that and future efforts, I thank you.

BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

• Restaurants with Heart which will be celebrating its first anniversary this August.
• A belated one to Margaret Robinson on her July 4th birthday
• Marge Ford who will celebrate 90 years
• Sue Moore
• Betty Clancy
• Sharon Brugos
• Gail Sachs
• Mildred Chin
• Inge Crozier

Come September, we will be entering our heavy duty fund raising months. Our general meetings and the Blog will be filled with news and details.

As always, I welcome your news and wishes for PAA. Until next time,

Luisa

A grand birthday party

The day was filled with the perfume of happiness....


Friday, July 1, 2011

Good morning, Dear Members,

The joy and grandeur of LPCH's incredible 20th Anniversary Celebration was the highlight of the month of June. LPCH tells us that 10,000 people visited and I'm willing to wager that a large number of them stopped by our Association of Auxiliaries' booth. The day was filled with the perfume of happiness and all one needed to be in style were sunglasses, a sun hat and a navy blue t-shirt with the colorful 20th anniversary logo!

The Auxiliaries’ booth was undoubtedly the prettiest, busiest and most welcoming of all. Beautifully decorated tables displaying our raffle prizes, baby blankets, christening gown, teddy bear, quilts and a children’s book all representing the heartfelt donations that members make for the patients. Inside the booth colorful posters were hung depicting each auxiliary’s fundraising projects.

Just outside the booth was our face painting station. This activity had long waiting lines all day. Many thanks to the talented teens who worked tirelessly transforming bright little faces into lions, sharks, kittens and princesses.

Display table with some of our wares Our face painting booth Gerry Nelson in hat in front of our booth

Pat Ogle, Barbara McCall, Sue Becker, Adrienne Bennett, Laurie Bailard, her lovely daughter, Julie, Margie Ambrunn from San Mateo/Burlingame auxiliary, Mary Hicks, Jane Andrews and Catharine McMahon who came directly from her 90th birthday party at Neiman Marcus, and I spent a good part of a very hot day baking 2000 Swedish ginger cookies (recipe from our cookbook) We packaged, labeled and sealed 1000 little bags. The cookies were enjoyed by at least 1000 people, more if they shared one of the two cookies in each packet! It was indeed a labor of love.

When you are in need of a special cake for a special occasion, please go to Kathy’s Kreative Kakes in San Mateo and tell them you are with PAA. This is the bakery that donated the use of their kitchen so we could make these cookies.

In addition to the 74 other booths representing LPCH’s various departments, outreach projects and a large entertainment stage, a Summer Scamper fundraiser was held. There was a 5K run and/or walk and a 10K run on a certified course through the lovely Stanford campus. San Francisco auxiliary, San Jose auxiliary and Palo Alto each had a team. Betty Plemons and 11 members of her family were Palo Alto’s team. Bravo Betty! There was also a “run” for 3-5 year-olds that lasted 10 minutes!

Betty Plemons and her "team"

From 9:30-5:00 we greeted all visitors who came by, shared with them the work that we do for LPCH and invited them to participate in the raffle. The cost of a ticket was their name and email address or phone#. 509 tickets were collected. Each auxiliary donated raffle prizes. Ours were 2 tickets to American Girl Fashion Show and Tea, 2 RwH meals and one copy of Tastes, Tales and Traditions. Our dear Dr. Harvey Cohen, Dr. Hugh O’Brodovich, physician-in-chief at Packard and Sherri Sager, a great supporter of the auxiliaries and one of the chief organizers of this birthday celebration, drew the winning tickets. The winners of our prizes were Julie Buckingham - won the RwH tickets and Soledad Damion –mother of one of the LPCH pharmacists – won our cookbook. A delighted Stacy Ashland and her 9-year-old daughter were winners of the American Girl Fashion Show and Tea tickets.

The American Girl Ticket Winners and friend!

Those who worked on this historic day are to be applauded. Take a bow Erika Crowley, Becky Yung, Kathy Squellati, Deborah Potash, Gerry Nelson, Luisa Pliska and Sarah Beetem. Erika Crowley and Shirlee Stites were our paparazzi. Be sure to click on sstitesphotos.smugmug.com to view the beautiful photos in Shirlee’s gallery celebrating this event.

It was truly a very special LPCH celebration and an incredible community outreach event. Waves of warmth, welcoming smiles and thank you’s flowed throughout the day. Ever so many parents and families shared with us their stories and gratitude for what we do. Many who had received our tote bags, bears and quilts at Christmas spoke of how much that meant to them at such a difficult time in their lives. It was a privilege and an honor for PAA to be part of so special a day. Thank you again to all who participated.

IMPORTANT DATES - PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR (See website for details)

July 26 and 27 – Restaurants with Heart – at Mythos in San Carlos

August 2 – Pillow sewing and knitting at Thora’s

August 22 and 23 – Restaurants with Heart – at Scotts Seafood in Palo Alto

September 20 – General meeting at 1:00 at our new venue – Lucie Stern Center,P.A.

We will have 4 new potential members. Please come to welcome

them as well as hear important news on summer goings on and Fall plans

Always check the events page and the calendar on our website for important dates and details.

Please remember that even though it is "vacation time" we can still work to raise money for the children at LPCH: Bring friends to the RwH restaurants, work on your crafts for our December 3 boutique and sell our few remaining cookbooks. Soon we will be needed to work on our Membership Tea and American Girl Event .

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

Erika Crowley and Lori Walton, 20 years ago at the opening of the children's hospital

• 20 years ago, Erika Crowley greeted people at the front door of the children’s hospital on opening day. One of the “guests” was Tom Campbell.
• Adrienne Bennett attended the gala opening day banquet. She remembers Barbara Bush was one of the many dignitaries at the event.
• Jackie Clark gave tours on that opening day. The guides were thoroughly rehearsed as to the tour route. The morning of the big day, they changed the route. Being directionally challenged, Jackie was a bit anxious when she learned Governor Pete Wilson and his wife were in her group and feared she would mess up!! Jackie recalls the sharp contrast between the warmth of the Children’s hospital to the gray, sterile halls of the main hospital. Apparently, Lucile Salter Packard traveled far and wide speaking with not only physicians but especially with the nursing staff. She was determined to have a children’s hospital that was child friendly and child oriented. Lo and behold the beautiful legacy she left us.
• There is a lovely photo of Marilyn Anderson in the May 27th Palo Alto Weekly’s cover story of LPCH’s celebration. She is at the bedside of a mom-to-be instructing her on how to knit.
• WAR HORSE, the incredible drama (for which my son, Greg, was the music director) won the Tony Award for best Drama. It actually won 4 other awards as well. It premiered in New York this year and is coming to San Francisco in August of 2012. I suggest you get your tickets as soon as they are available. It is theater at it’s best!
• Nancy Larssen’s daughter’s weddingin June was held in Scandinavia. Sarah Beetem flew out for it.

There is more important news to share but I have "talked" much too long. All will be covered in the August Blog and at the Sept. 20th meeting at Lucie Stern but now....

JULY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Nancy Dusthimer

Joanne Rutter

Barbara Sheldon

Marzette Woods

Shirlee Stites

Marlene Bolhoffer

Thank you to all who send me these delightful tidbits of news. Please remember, dear members – I always welcome your thoughts about and ideas for PAA.

Luisa

LPCH 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

...For 20 years LPCH has given thousands of children a chance at life and we have been working side by side with them raising funds since May, 1931.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Good Morning, Dear Members,

There's a great deal of news but let's begin with our calendar of events. Please, always check the Events page of the website to keep abreast of what is going on.

June 7 Pillow sewing and knitting at Thora's House rsvp

June 20 Cookie making at Kathy's Kreative Kitchens

June 21 GENERAL MEETING AT SCOTTS RESTAURANT, P.A. 1:00-3:00PM

June 26 LPCH 20th Anniversary Day-long, Community Celebration

June 28 & 29 Restaurants with Heart at Divino's Restaurant, Belmont

December 3 Holiday Boutique

In the 20 years that LPCH opened, it has delivered hope to families and given thousands of children a chance at life they might not have had if not for the care they get at Packard Hospital. And the Palo Alto Auxiliary has been working for them raising funds since May 1931.

The Hospital is having a 20th birthday party on June 26. LPCH is sponsoring a free celebration open to the community, which will take place at the intersection of Welch and Quarry Roads, Palo Alto, from 10am-4pm.

75 interactive booths will feature Packard services and staff as well as community programs for all ages. Come and:

• Kick a a soccer ball with the San Jose Earthquakes
• Take a picture with a SF 49er
• Have your face painted
• Climb inside a real fire truck and ambulance
• Hone your surgical skills using a real surgical simulator
• Sing-along during musical story time
• Express your creativity with numerous arts and crafts
• Dance to live performances from the PapaHugs Band, the Chinese Lion Dancers Troupe and the Uforia Hoop Stars
• Enjoy treats from California Cafe, Andronico's Market, Fraiche Yogurt, Tootsies, Hint Water and more.
• Participate in the SummerScamper's 5K. 10K run/walk and Kids' Fun Run

Summer Scamper, sponsored by the Foundation, will take place in the Stanford Campus immediately before the celebration. There will be a 5K, 10K run/walk and Kids' Fun Run for 3-10 yr olds. Some Auxiliaries will have teams. Any and all of our runners/walkers are interested, sign up at www.summerscamper.org

The Auxiliaries' big booth will have face painting for kids, a drawing with incredible prizes from all the Auxiliaries and free Swedish ginger cookies from our "Tastes, Tales and Traditions". Posters from each Auxiliary depicting what they do will be hung and some of the wonderful gifts members make for the Packard families will be displayed. All Auxiliary members will receive the invitation pictured below.

(This logo will also be on the navy blue t-shirts that the volunteers

in the booths will be wearing.)

Palo Alto Auxiliary has offered to bake cookies for this party. On June 20th we will be at Kathy's Kreative Kitchen in San Mateo baking 2000 Swedish Ginger cookies (recipe from Tastes, Tales and Traditions. Those baking and stuffing 1000 individual packages of 2 cookies each will be: Pat Ogle, Barbara McCall, Sue Becker, Laurie Bailard, Jane Andrews, Catharine McMahon, Deborah Potash, Joanne Rutter, Becky Yung, Luisa Pliska and Margie Ambrumm from the San Mateo/Burlingame Auxiliary has offered to come help. Mary Hicks has been helping from Tuscaloosa - in her travels she has taken the time to expand our recipe times 10 and times 13. If you would like to join us please contact me.

At the Auxiliaries' booth we will be handing out our PAA brochure, the cookbook brochure, selling our cookbook and just talking with people about our Auxiliary. The look and feel there will be child-friendly, warm and vibrant.

The Palo Alto Auxiliary members working at the booth will be: Sarah Beetem, Kathy Squellati, Susan Kirtley, Gerry Nelson, Deborah Potash, Erika Crowley and me, Luisa Pliska.

Plan to stop by with your family, friends and co-workers. It will be an incredibly delightful day!

June 21st is our last general meeting before the summer break. There is a packed agenda of important topics to discuss before our next meeting in September. Scotts Restaurant in Town and Country shopping center, Palo Alto has given us a private room for our meeting from 1-3. If you like, plan to have lunch in the dining room prior to the meeting.

December 3 - Saturday. We will again participate in the Holiday Sale at Allied Arts Guild from 10-5. We were very successful selling the cookbook there last year. This year we will also sell hand made boutique items at a second table in the Sunset Room. Sharon Brugos is chairing this project and she asks that our talented and crafty members will donate items.

Knitted scarves, hats, and baby items as well as pretty sachets, bags, and other hand made and decorated things will sell well. You can help by making items, working on Dec. 3 or helping arrange and price items. You may drop off items before Thanksgiving at Sharon Brugos's, Luisa Pliska's or Marzette Wood's homes. Sharon welcomes any ideas to make this effort a successful money maker.

June 28 and 29th Divino's Restaurant in Belmont is our Restaurant with Heart this month. Details on the Website. This project has been very successful - thanks to all who invite friends, families and co-workers to participate. If we continue working hard publicising this it has the potential to make money for years and years.

It also has recruited some new members. Last month at Spalti's I was speaking with a table of three woman one of whom works at Oracle and was very interested in PAA. It would be wonderful if we could get some of those working at Oracle interested in volunteering with us.

As it always is, our tour and luncheon at LPCH on May 17 was informative and so inspirational. Dr. Alexander, President and CEO of LP Foundation graciously took time from his schedule to warmly welcome us and tell us how wonderful we are! Many thanks to Dr. Bernard Dannenberg, Dir. of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at LPCH. for an energizing and informative presentation and to Jill Sullivan, RN, VP for Hospital Transformation on a brief but awesome update on Phase II Planning.

Tours of the NICU and the Forever Young Zone are always so inspiring. Two other tours included a visit with the Chaplain in the little Chapel and a complete tour of the emergency department. It becomes so event why LPCH has a national presence and has been awarded prestigious national rankings. I've said it before, you cannot walk away from these tours and presentations without a great deal of pride in what we do.

DID YOU KNOW:

• That the work being done on the 20th anniversary celebration is the first time in the history of the Association of Auxiliaries that all seven Auxiliaries are working together on the same project. It has been quite an experience.

• The Foundation is asking all auxiliaries for our list of email addresses. Some of our members might not want to be on another email list. Of course, those who do not wish to give their email address to the Foundation are free to not give it.

A great deal is happening with the Hospital, partly as a result of the planned expansion but also because it has established such a national presence. Because of this the Foundation is creating a new lovely webpage, complete with photos and timely information. They will be sending out a bimonthly newsletter to all Association members directly.

Initially, the plan was to send the electronic newsletter to each auxiliary president and ask us to distribute to our own memberships. However, that will not work because the format is highly designed, with photos and nice graphics. If it is sent to one e-mail address and forwarded on to others, the formatting gets changed and often words become illegible, and photos become separated from text, etc. The newsletter would be sent four times a year.

This is one of the many topics we need to discuss at the June 21st general meeting at Scotts. If you do not want your email given out please let me know. This electronic emailing is in an effort to defray mailing costs and expedite important information in a timely fashion.

• The children's library at LPCH can use books in foreign languages. Now that our summer travels begin - think about picking up a book or two in the country you are visiting and give it to Shirlee Stites
• The San Jose Auxiliary is planning to do the 5K walk on Jiune 26th. Their team is called the Thrift Boxers. (I wonder what they will be wearing?)
• If you stop in at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos from June 1 to July 2, you will see our Carolyn Hofsetter's exhibit of her new Plein Air Oil Paintings, one of which is a scene from the Guild.

JUNE BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:

Jane Andrews (her 90th)

Ruth Wood

Dallas Manning

Dearest Everyone - the summer will come - won't it??? and although we will not have formal general meetings in July and August, plans are always being made and projects will always need our attention and help. I will continue the monthly Blog throughout the summer and keep you apprised of new plans in the making and delightful membership news. Please send me your news and I'll share it with all of us.

As always, you know I welcome your thoughts and ideas for PAA.

See you all on June 21st at Scotts.

Luisa