Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Volunteering is truly a joy! May Blog

....Volunteering is truly a joy. We can help others and think well of ourselves in so doing...

May 1, 2011
Good morning, Dear Members and Welcome to Spring:

First, I apologize for the late President’s Blog. Usually it is ready for you by the first of the month but since I returned from New York I have had unending computer problems. I am a dinosaur when it comes to computers and have had to wait for assistance from the computer gurus. Because of this I asked Joan Heye to email you all with this VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE which NEEDS YOUR TIMELY RESPONSE.

MAY 17, GENERAL MEETING WILL BE OUR TOUR AND LUNCHEON AT THE LUCILE PACKARD CHILDRENS HOSPITAL

By 10:30-11:00 am: PARK AT BLAKE WILBER PARKING GARAGE (You will have exit passes so parking will be free – carpooling is strongly encouraged.) PROCEED TO LPCH LOBBY FOR NAMETAGS AND TOUR SELECTION.

11:00 am: GATHER IN LPCH AUDITORIUM FOR SPEAKERS (Jill Sullivan: presenting an update on the incredibly beautiful Phase II then following will be Dr. Bernie Dannenberg, Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, LPCH)

11:45 amTOURS OF PACKARD HOSPITAL (Two tour groups will go to the NICU and the Forever Young Zone and one will go to the Ford Center for Surgical Services and the Chapel.)

12:30 pm: LUNCH IN BING DINING ROOM – third floor of Stanford Hospital
LUNCH WILL BE $22.00 for a lovely entrée salad, bread, drinks and gratuity and ending with an incredible White Chocolate Brioche Pudding with Black Maple Hill Bourbon Syrup!

WE NEED TO SEND SUE HNILO OUR LIST OF ATTENDEES BY MAY 9TH to give to the caterer and to print our nametags. NAMETAGS ARE NEEDED FOR US TO TOUR THE HOSPITAL.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CHECKS FOR $22.00 TO DALLAS MANNING AT 836 PINE HILL ROAD, STANFORD, CA 94305, BEFORE MAY 9TH.

VINTAGE GIRLS LUNCHEON was held on April 14th at the lovely University Club in Palo Alto, colorfully decorated with vintage memorabilia. Our members (many wearing hats) had a delightful afternoon, sharing fond memories with our Roving Reporter BJ SORENSON. The 48 members attending represented 1,653 years – yes, years, not hours - of volunteer time! Many thanks to GERRY NELSON and her committee for coordinating this annual event.

Here are a few photos from the event (click on photos to enlarge) --- make sure you view all the photos at Shirlee Stites' new photo gallery (see below for info):

click on photo to enlarge

click on photo to enlarge
click on photo to enlarge

One of our goals this year is to enhance our websites. SHIRLEE STITES is doing an incredible job as our private photographer giving us a grand addition to the website. Our Webmaster, BOB STEVENS has modified the photogallery page on the website to include Shirlee’s gallery, Smugmug! Our PAA home page will show the date the galleries and the blog are updated. If you have photos to share you may send them to Shirlee for possible future inclusion.

MOTHER’S DAY BOOK SALES: Our thanks to BECKY YUNG for arranging 6 venues where we can sell TASTES, TALES AND TRADITIONS. Offering their time to sell at the tables are MARAH BREHAUT, SARAH BEETEM, MARZETTE WOODS, MALKAH CAROTHERS SHARON BRUGOS, NORMA CANCE, MARY KOEPPEN, BETTY NG, BECKY HERSELF AND ME. These table sales are of particular importance since we will not be placing any ads in the newspapers for this Mother’s Day.

DIRECTORY UPDATE: Once again, many thanks to JOAN HEYE, SHARON BRUGOS and MARY KOEPPEN for their continued efforts to update our directory. Thank you to KAREN STEVENS and BETSY BULLARD for hours of proofreading. The membership will be notified of additions and corrections as they occur.

RESTAURANTS WITH HEART continues to enjoy great success. Photos of the evening at Iron Gate will be available on Shirlee Stites’ photo gallery. MARLENE BOLHOFFER and DEBORAH POTASH are working diligently to fine tune this delightful project. Several diners at the Iron Gate failed to leave a gratuity and the owner expressed concern. His suggestion to include the gratuity in the meal price seemed a good and simple solution. Thus, the new RWH prices of $24 for lunch and $35 for dinner will include an 18% gratuity. It is hoped that this change will clarify any confusion regarding gratuities.

MATINEE MAIDENS: I met with GERRY NELSON, our Special Events, chair, and she is very excited about this new fundraising project. The plan is to get special group rates to local live theater productions that would enable us to raise money. Those interested in working on this delightful project please contact Gerry or me.

NEWS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AUXILIARIES
Celebration events for LPCH’s 20th Anniversary began on April 7th, with a luncheon at the Los Altos Country Club for all current and past presidents since Packard Hospital opened in June 1991. PAA was well represented. Dr. Harvey Cohen was master of ceremonies and guest speakers were Dr. Elliott Krane, Director of the Pain Management Service and Sandy Sentivany-Collins, RN clinical nurse specialist. A special appearance was made buy Carly. Carly is a specially trained K-9 who works with the children to help them through their difficult days at the hospital.

JUNE 26TH marks another event for LPCH's 20th Birthday celebration - A grand outdoor community “Birthday party.” Of the 80 booths that will be on the Stanford campus, one large one is for the seven auxiliaries. This is our opportunity to publicize who we are, what we do and increase interest in people becoming members. We will need volunteers to make this a success. Please contact me if you would like to help on June 26th. All auxiliaries will have special responsibilities and will donate door prizes representing what they do. I will share more details in subsequent blogs and general meetings.

SARAH BEETEM and I have been attending the Steering Committee meetings and have offered two tickets to the American Girl event and a copy of “Tastes Tales and Traditions” for the drawings. It will also be PAA’s responsibility to provide 2000 Swedish Ginger Cookies for that day. San Mateo County requires that any food items distributed to the public must be made and packaged in a licensed kitchen. We have finally found a commercial kitchen where we will be able to bake them all in one day. MARY HICKS has agreed to chair this project. More detail on this later. For now, if you are interested in helping us bake and package the cookies please contact me (Mary will be out of town until the middle of June.) I look forward to hearing from our wonderful cooks!

ALLIED ARTS GUILD AUXILIARY is hosting its annual fundraiser, Tally Hoedown on Sept 10, 5:30-11:pm at the Menlo Circus Club in Menlo Park. They invite each auxiliary to have one model participate in the Kate Spade fashion show on that day. They will need to know who they will be as soon as possible. We have such a bevy of beauties in our membership, how are we going to choose just one!! If you are interested in representing PAA, please let me know by May 8.

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR (See events page for details)
May 3 – Pillow Sewing and Knitting at Thora’s
May 17 – Annual Tour and Luncheon at LPCH
May 23,24 – RWH at Spalti Ristorante 417 California Street in Palo Alto.
June 21 – general meeting (venue to be announced)

DID YOU KNOW?

- SUE HNILO’S son, Andy who lives in LA, was struck by a car and sustained serious injuries, including a broken jaw and a collapsed lung. His craniofacial surgeon actually trained at LPCH under one of their best reconstructive surgeons. Andy has been released from the hospital. He is facing a long period of recovery. but doing miraculously well.

- IRENE BELL’S husband, Phil, passed away in April. A gift of $50 was made to LPCH in his name. If you wish to write a personal note, Irene’s address is in the directory in the Associate Members section.

- Our May birthday ladies are ROSAMOND MARTIN, KATHY SQUELLATI AND MARGARET STAFFORD.

- MOLLY PAULSEN had her birthday party at The Restaurant when she was 16.

- All U.S. Children’s Hospitals were started by women.

STEPHANIE BEACH makes copies of our emails and mails them to all our ladies who do not have computers. Many thanks, Stephanie - this is so appreciated.

-Many Children’s Hospitals no longer allow public tours because of security reasons. It is such a privilege to have this private tour offered to us. Please invite spouses, and friends to share in this special luxury which comes but once a year. We have invited two perspective members to join us.

Thank you all for your emails and suggestions. Please remember that I always welcome your thoughts and desires for PAA.

See you all at the Children’s Hospital on May 17th.

Luisa