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