December News

Dear Members,

 With the American Girl Fashion Show now behind us, we know the end of 2014 is fast approaching!  

 Our next event is The Holiday Boutique at Allied Arts Guild's Christmas Market this Saturday, December 6th from 10 AM to 3PM, 75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park.

 Please join us at the Boutique to browse and buy some of the fabulous handmade items that our very talented members have made throughout the year. We know you are among our best customers so bring a friend or your whole family. Other shops and vendors will also be set up and a prize is often given to those who visit many stalls. It's a fun and lo-key way to start the holiday season.

 
The American Girl committee is about to wrap up for this year with a final meeting on Thursday the 4th. Despite lower ticket sales, we made a profit of about $30,000… which will greatly help our annual donation to LPCH.

 At our November general meeting at the Cibo Restaurant, members voted to donate to three favorite areas chosen from the LPCH Holiday Gift List: the Hospital School for games and books, the Packard Pantry for grocery bags and the Teen Van for gift cards and movie tickets for youths. 

 These Holiday gifts form only a part of our annual gift to LPCH.  Our much larger donation goes to unrestricted funds and will be sent by the Board in December. The ceremonial “presentation’ will be at our Annual Meeting & Luncheon on Wednesday, January 21 at the University Club, Palo Alto.

 Members also voted unanimously to approve the slate of officers for 2015 as presented by the nominating committee: President Nancy Larsson, Vice-President Stephanie Beach, Treasurer June Schiller, Recording Secretary Cathy Murphy, and Corresponding Secretary Mary Anne York.

Dallas Manning will remain as Social Chairman and Sarah Beetem will become Past President.

 Don't forget that you can buy Bear Grams from Gerry Nelson (dongerry3@att.net) for all your upcoming gift-giving events and throughout the year. They are perfect for a hostess gift or that difficult to buy for friend or relative. Gerry has members, teen groups and PAA children building bears and collecting new children's books for LPCH in patients at the holidays.

 

In other Association news, Charter Auxiliary will hold a rummage sale December 5 and 6 in Redwood City. Allied Arts Guild will hold a Children's Party on December 14th, and Roth Auxiliary has specials based on the 12 Days of Christmas and Letters to Santa. More information is available at www.supportLPCH.org/Association.

 
See you at the Boutique; we'll be the ones buying baby gifts.

Sarah and Nancy

November News

Dear Members,

November is full of activities to get us all into gear for the Holiday season. This weekend we will be holding our big fundraiser, the American Girl Fashion Show and Tea. Many of you have volunteered to help, starting with decorating at 1 PM on Friday, and serving and selling on Saturday and Sunday but more help would be great, particularly strong backs for cleanup both Saturday and Sunday nights at 6 PM. Call or email Sarah if you can come or send a husband, son or grandson.

The Sunday at 1:30 show is sold out and the others are doing well but we will have room for some walkup patrons at the other shows if anyone asks. We also have many souvenirs unique to the show which make great holiday and birthday gifts. Photos are available at our website at www.paloaltoauxiliary.com.

Many of our members have donated tickets that we are giving to Operation Care and Comfort, a support group for families of active servicemen. They were delighted to receive tickets for many girls and their moms.

The November General Meeting will be held at Cibo Restaurant, 3398 El Camino Real, Palo Alto where we met in June. We’ll have lunch at 12 with a choice of salads or sandwiches for $20. Members may also come at 1 for the meeting and a coffee. We will need to vote to ratify our Holiday gift to LPCH and on our slate of officers for next year.

Coming in December on Saturday the 6^th  from 10 to 3:30 is the annual Holiday Boutique at Allied Arts. We have several very talented ladies who have made an amazing number of handmade items to sell. We will also sell our cookbooks, wrapped and unwrapped.  Sharon Brugos our chairman could use more help for the afternoon shift from 12:30 to 3:30.  If you have made things, please get them to Sharon by November 30^th. Tell your friends to stop by and get a start on gifts and decorations.

Gerry Nelson reports that Bears and Books has been greatly enlarged with her Bear-Grams. Beargrams make great hostess and easy to mail gifts. Or your group can go to make bears and have lunch, too. We could also each ask our book clubs or other groups to donate new children’s books to go with those darling bears.

Check on your January calendars that you have written down our annual meeting which will be held on WEDNESDAY, January 21^st at the University Club. (All Tuesdays were full so this has been moved to Wednesday.)

October was our month to honor members, especially those who have worked for PAA for many years. This year at a lovely garden party in Nancy’s back yard, we presented roses to those who attended from our list of Carole Goldie, Donna Jones and Nancy Larsson for 15 years of service; Marie Ferrero and Mary Koeppen for 20 years; Kay Morris and Barbara Stark for 25 years; Lauren Bailard, Ellen Latour and Elizabeth Modena for 30 years; Fritzie Andrews, Pam Castle, Carolee Petterson, Sue Gates and Norma Cance for 35 years. Truly amazing service has been given by Betsy Bullard, Helen Ernst, Janet Ross, Elizabeth Wiggins, Pat Davis, Pat Ogle and Joanne Rutter for 40 years; Barbara Cole and Molly Meschke for 45 years, Janet Miller and Shirley Steele for 50 years; Marilyn Ellis and Louise Thursby for 55 years and our amazing Margaret Robinson for 60 years.  At the tea we welcomed Dr. Neville Golden from the LPCH Center for Adolescent Health.  The Board has received some comments about our Tea in the Garden and you are welcome to forward others to Sarah or Nancy.

In news from other Auxiliaries: Charter’s next rummage sales are November 21 and  22^nd, and a special holiday Boutique and sale will be held on December 5^th in Redwood City. Roth offers free personalization of gifts at the LPC Hospital gift shop on November 20^th and don’t forget our table at the Holiday Boutique at Allied Arts on December 6^th. See more information at www.supportLPCH.org/Association

Happy thanksgiving to all, see you soon!

Sarah

October News

As the native grape vines out in front turn to red and gold, we think of fall. For PAA that always brings the October Tea. This year we will celebrate our many long-time members and our twenty-three newest members with an outdoor tea party in Nancy’s back yard. If you haven’t replied to Dallas yet, please do so immediately.  We will also announce the board member nominees for next year and hear from our featured speaker, Dr. Neville Golden, Chairman of the Department of Adolescent Medicine at Packard. Dr Golden is active with the teen van as well as Packard at El Camino, right up the street from Nancy’s.

Remember the annual Membership Tea is Tuesday, October 21^st at 2 PM.  We will be parking diagonally along the street on Richardson. If you need a ride, please call Sarah.

Restaurants with Heart had a good showing at Sakura Teppanyaki in Redwood City in September and those of us who went were treated to a great show!  We will celebrate this month with dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday the 28^th and 29^th of October at Creola in San Carlos for the delicious cuisine of New Orleans.  As the RwH team will take a break for November and December, don’t miss out on the October event.

Planning for the American Girl Fashion Show on November 15^th and 16^th is well underway. You can sign up to help during the tea or by calling Sarah. Probably because of the new store at Stanford Mall, ticket orders have been very slow coming in. We would love to have every member come and bring a young relative or neighbor. If you don’t know anyone, we are looking for generous souls to sponsor some tickets for the children of active military families. They were thrilled last year to be able to attend and we would be thrilled to fill the seats.

Many of our new members are hardworking moms from the American Girl project. Some have already spent hours working, especially with publicity and model assignments. We think that they will be the future of PAA so please welcome them graciously and help introduce them to others.

Our November general meeting will be held at the Cibo Restaurant in Palo Alto, which proved very popular in June. It’s located at 3398 El Camino in Palo Alto. As in June, we’ll have lunch at 12 and a meeting at 1. You can come for lunch and the meeting or just the meeting. The cost for the set menu with choices is $20 but reservations are not necessary. We will vote on the slate of officers for next year and on our holiday gift to LPCH

Once we survive American Girl, our next big event is the Holiday Boutique on Saturday, December 6^th from 11 AM to 4 PM in the Sunset Room at Allied Arts in Menlo Park.. If you are making treasures to sell, please get them to Sharon Brugos by November 30^th.  Also please let Sharon know if you can help sell at the boutique and don’t forget to come and shop.

Gerry Nelson reports tremendous interest in her Bears and Books project as she has sold many Beargrams. Some former restaurant days are forming groups to make bears but she has also used teens to help and set up a Kids for Packard group.  We’re hoping some of you with book clubs might also like to donate new children’s books to go into the tote bags with the bears. Dallas and friends have completed 100 tote bags for the inpatients during the holidays.

Our sister auxiliaries have many activities, too.  San Francisco will hold their Jewel Ball on Saturday November 1^st at the Four Seasons. See sfjewellball.org.   Charter has their monthly Rummage Sale in Redwood City including this Friday and Saturday.

Affiliates are busy, too. Our Luisa Pliska requests a few more volunteers for Packard Pantry which usually works on Thursdays but will change to Tuesday on some holiday weeks. Reading Buddies could use a few more volunteers and Teen Van needs body wash, hand sanitizer, tissues, and movie tickets.

We hope to see many of you at the tea on Tuesday.

Sarah and Nancy

Don't Forget (like we did):

Books and Bears, lead by Gerry Nelson is recruiting "Bear Builders" or "Kids for Packard"...grandchildren, neighbors, scout troops, teenagers who need community service hours to build the bears. She will give each group a gift card to take to Build-a-Bear (at Hillsdale, Stoneridge or Valley Fair) to make at least 10 bears and return them to her to store for Christmas at LPCH. It's a fun activity for the teens and helps us get them made...call Gerry for details.

September 2014

Dear Members,

Suddenly it's September.  Life has become busy again as we prepare for several big events this fall.

First our general meeting on Tuesday, September 16th at the Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto, will consist of a short meeting and a workshop to help prepare the 30 table centerpieces and 1500 popcorn bag ties for the upcoming American Girl Fashion Show in November.  Everyone can participate as we'll have a variety of jobs.   We'll see you there at One PM.

At the same time we hope to announce the Nominating Committee and have them meet next door perhaps saving them from attending one more meeting.

Have you signed on to Amazon Smile? If you or members of your family order from Amazon, it's very easy to sign on via Amazon Smile and sign up for Palo Alto Auxiliary for Children to receive a percentage and it doesn't cost you a thing. Also the eScript that supports the Association of Auxiliaries now is accepted by Safeway!

On Tuesday, please welcome new members: Nancy Bess, Elizabeth (Betsy) Scroggs, Melissa Riley and Laura Whitman. Betsy is a long time Palo Alto resident;  Nancy, Melissa and Laura  come to us via the American Girl show. Our membership form is now available on line at our website and we will be actively recruiting from the moms who volunteer at American Girl.

We've lost a few members, too. We were notified this week of the death of former Wednesday morning cook, Neilda Sussman. In July we learned of the death of Barbara Trainer, who had been a Tuesday server.

Restaurants with Heart had four successful events this summer; in June at Sultana, July at California Pizza Kitchen and at the Iron Gate Restaurant and in August at Scott's Seafood Restaurant. Marlene proudly reports that the profits are ahead of schedule.

Please help support  RwH at their next venue, Sakura Teppanyaki and Sushi in Redwood City on September 22 and 23 for lunch or dinner. It's our first time at this restaurant and it sounds like a fun adventure.

October will bring our traditional Member Tea to be held this year in the garden of Nancy Larsson's home in Los Altos on Tuesday the 21st at 2 PM. Invitations will be sent later this month.

The American Girl committee is now selling tickets, contacting models and generally very busy planning the events for November 15 and 16. We are looking for a volunteer coordinator to help organize the staff needed that weekend. Call Sarah or Nancy if you can help.  

Luisa reported on the Association of Auxiliaries project, Packard Pantry. They pack food for families at Packard and McDonald House two Thursdays a month. She would love to have you sign up to help.

A head's up to all members, Our annual luncheon and meeting in January will be on WEDNESDAY, January 21, 2015 not on a Tuesday as the University Club is very popular.

In other Association news: Charter's Rummage Sale is September 19 and 20.  The new Men's Affiliate is celebrating on October 4th with Beer and Brats (sausages not children), San Jose's Pumpkin Patch Boutique will be held October 11 and we will sell cookbooks there. More information on all of these can be found at www.supportLPCH.org/Association.

Thanks for all your support for LPCH.
Sarah and Nancy

July News

Dear Members,

The very hot weather this week lets us know that summer is here with a vengeance. Vacations do, too; Sarah was away for a couple of weeks and Nancy is leaving soon. In between we’ve been working steadily to launch the American Girl Fashion Show ticket sales by the beginning of August. We’re hoping that by starting earlier and by using more electronic communication, we can earn more for our contribution to LPCH. Our website will be up later this week and yesterday we launched our Facebook page. Please visit www.facebook.com/agfashionshow  and “Like” it and “Share” it with friends and relations. Information spreads geometrically on Facebook as each friend shares with her friends.

We have had several committee meetings at Nancy’s and have women working in many areas. We’re hoping that many of our members will come to the September General Meeting at Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto on Tuesday, September 16^th at 1 PM and help with some of the AG projects like labeling and cutting the centerpiece skirts. We will have something for everyone to help with.

Before that, on Saturday, August 23^rd, we have been invited to participate in a special day at Allied Arts. We will have tables with our cookbooks, pillows, Restaurant with Heart information, Beargrams and  tickets for AGFS. We’ll need several shifts of helpers so please call us if you can help. Many other guilds will participate and it will be fun to see what they are doing.

This week Restaurants is at the Iron Gate in Belmont, a favorite and great supporter of LPCH. As it’s today and tomorrow, check our website for more details. While you are on the website, look for the wonderful photos that Erika Crowley has posted. It’s fun to see all of our friends and activities. Also under membership, we finally have a new form for new members and have already recruited some from the American Girl project.

See you in August!

Sarah and Nancy

Late breaking news:
 Our 2014 directories have been printed. (We owe a huge thanks to Joan Heye and to Stephanie for taking care of them.)  Please call Stephanie after June 30th to arrange a time to pick yours up at her home and possibly pick up several for neighboring members. (650-856-0278) We'd like to avoid the cost of mailing as many as possible.

June Newsletter

June 21, 2014

The first day of summer is here and despite the water shortage our gardens are blooming: roses and lavenders, sunflowers and poppies intermingle and sway with the wind.  The natural world seems very resilient and reminds us of the bravery of the ill children that our group so ardently supports.

Activities are continuing in PAA. The Restaurants with Heart project had a good turnout for Iron Gate in May and are offering lunch and dinner at Sultana in Menlo Park on this next Monday,  June 23^rd. See our website for menus and details. Remember that RwH restaurants give us 50% of the meal price as a donation to LPCH. What a fun way to enjoy a meal with a friend and raise money, too!

In addition, the California Pizza Kitchen in Palo Alto invited us to hold a second fundraiser from July 21^st to July 24^th. With a flyer in hand, we will receive 20% from dine-in or take-out on pizzas, salads, pasta and desserts.

The Restaurants with Heart group is also looking for a kind soul to help with design and electronic distribution of their flyers. Please contact Sarah or Nancy if you can help.  Training is available.

We enjoyed the June general meeting last week at Cibo, the local restaurant in Palo Alto where we met for lunch and were joined by several more for a short meeting. It was great to see some faces that we hadn’t seen since January. New directories were handed out to those who came and some to be hand delivered.

One of the announcements at the June meeting was about Beargrams. Gerry Nelson has graciously volunteered to take over Shirley Stites’ job of organizing the Bears and Books project for children who are spending December holidays as inpatients. She has invented a new way to pay for the bears which we make at the Build-a-Bear store. This year, you can buy a Beargram for only $15. You receive a blue card to send to your friend notifying them of the bear given in their honor and we will recruit young people to go to the store and make the bears which are then donated to LPCH.

We can also go in groups or with friends and several former restaurant day groups will be scheduling trips in the fall.  As long as the store knows they are for PAA, we receive a special price and an extra bear for every $100 spent. Beargrams are a perfect way to honor someone who is celebrating an event like a birthday or anniversary and doesn’t need yet another scarf or tie. Beargrams are currently available from Gerry or Luisa.

On a somber note, we received notices that member Martha Deacon and former members Phyllis Austin, Jean Groswith, Patricia Phillips and Elizabeth Allen have passed away recently. Call Sarah for details.

Coming in July: Our web page will be updated with details on the American Girl Fashion Show as soon as the graphics are received. The dates will be Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16^th, 2014.

Coming in August: We have been invited to join Allied Arts Guild at their celebration of ten years since the reopening after the 1989 earthquake on August 23rd. We’ll have a couple of tables to promote our activities including Restaurants with Heart, Beargrams, Thora’s Thimbles and the American Girl Fashion Show.
Please call or email Sarah if you are able to help out that day. Please come and see what our sister auxiliaries are presenting.

Fun in September: Our general meeting at Lucie Stern Center will feature a workshop to help make decorations for AGFS, items for the Holiday Boutique or possibly Thimbles. We’ll have something everyone can do even if it’s munching cookies, so do come, we’d love to see you.

Wishing you a great summer,

Sarah and Nancy

May 17,2014

Dear Palo Alto Auxiliary Members,

Here it is May already and one of the busiest months for many families. At school it was always the big-push-to-finish-curriculum month and why-are-there-all-these-extra-activities month rolled into one. For PAA it’s also a busy month. We’ve already attended a meeting of Auxiliary Presidents, held a PAA Board Meeting and Tuesday the 20th will be our May General Membership Meeting at Lucie Stern Center at 1 PM.

We hope to see many of you on Tuesday at our General Meeting. We’ve invited a speaker from the Child and Adolescent Psychology Clinic at LPCH; Grace Gengoux, PhD, will tell us about her practice with Autistic children and their families. Please come and bring a friend. We have invited sister auxiliary members; so if any come, please help us make them feel welcome. To stir things up a bit, we’ll serve lemonade and cookies and share the raffle rickets with everyone who attends.

In June, because we know that Lucie Stern Center is not available and because we are still trying to enliven our meetings, we are planning a luncheon at a restaurant in Palo Alto on Tuesday, June 17^th. You can come for lunch and the meeting or just for the meeting. Details for signing up and the menu will follow shortly in an email.

Restaurants –with-Heart has been extra busy this month. The California Pizza Kitchen fundraiser last week appeared to be very well attended. Sarah and Nancy can vouch that  lunch was delicious and that the pasta Sarah took home for supper was very well received. The regular lunch and dinner event at The Iron Gate in Belmont will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27 and 28^th. Make your reservations now on our website or phoning the PAA number or mailing to our post office box.

From our sister auxiliaries come news of another Rummage Sale by Charter June 20-21. San Mateo-Burlingame is sponsoring a Game Day on June 18^th. Check the LPCH website at www.supportlpch.org/association   for more details.

Did you know that our members individually donated more than twice the $75,000 that PAA as a group donated last year?  Consider making a direct donation to LPCH by sending it through our treasurer (and get two thank you notes.) However you donate, in cash or in volunteer time, the children of LPCH thank you.

See you on Tuesday,

Sarah and Nancy

 

April News

Dear Palo Alto Auxiliary Members,

 

Even though we don't traditionally hold a general meeting in April, we still have many members working on PAA Projects.  Our board met this week and reviewed the ongoing projects as well as the recent meeting of the Association of Auxiliaries . Treasurer June Schiller has offered to update the calendar on our website so that will be a great place to look for event dates, times and locations.

 

Our next general meeting will be Tuesday, May 20th at Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto at 1 PM. Our guest speaker will be Grace Gengoux, PhD, BCBA on the subject of Autism in children. Dr. Gengoux is an  assistant professor with the Child and Adolescent Psychology Clinic at LPCH. As Autism is something about which we hear much but know little, it should be a fascinating subject.  We would love to have a good turnout so please come and bring a friend. Guests are always welcome!

 

Membership continues to rise as dues are paid. We now have 149 paid members. Mary Koeppen will attempt to contact those missing from last year. Welcome back to Carolyn Roland, a former member. 

 

Our most important current and  an ongoing project is Restaurants with Heart ably directed by Marlene Bollhoffer. With the help of Deborah and Roger Potash, Karen Stevens, Audrey Polster and others, they continue to find restaurants and convince them to let us share in their profits. This month the site will be Kabul Afghan Cuisine in San Carlos on Monday and Wednesday, April 28th and 30th.  Please look at our website page for the times and menu and how to sign up. It's easy and very profitable to PAA. Why not invite a friend or neighbor to join you for lunch or dinner?

 

The RwH gang have also started a new trend: the California Pizza Kitchen in Palo Alto is offering to give us 20% of all checks of patrons who come with the flyer naming PAA as the beneficiary from May 12th to May 15th. Just download a flyer (paper color doesn't matter) or pick up one from Marlene and have a pizza for lunch or dinner. Take-out is possible, too, but don't forget the flyer.

 

Thora's Thimbles and the American Girl Fashion Show committee are not meeting in April but will start up again in May.

 

Cookbook impresario Luisa Pliska reports a special price for Mother's and Father's Days of $18 a book.  We have just under 700 more to sell from the 10,000 published. If you'd like to help Luisa, please let her know.  Let's get this job finished!

 

On a somber note, we were all very sad to hear of the death of our longtime member, Shirlee Stites. We'll miss her willing help in so many areas and her ever cheerful smile very much. Her family is holding a memorial service on May 24th at 12 PM.  Gerry Nelson has graciously offered to take over the Bears and Books project next fall. Erika Crowley and Ginny Wilson will take over the photography jobs.

In Affiliate news, Luisa reports that helping with Packard Pantry is now easier as there are helpers to lift boxes at the pick up station at Second Harvest Food Bank and at LPCH  where the valets will lift boxes between their regular duties. Packers are needed at LPCH for a short time every second and fourth Thursday morning. The Teen Van group would like help writing grants as well as toiletries. Hearts and Hands continues to coordinate donations.

 

We have been asked to list events of our sister auxiliaries:

     Allied Arts has a new vintage gift area if you have any treasures   you'd   like to donate or purchase.

     Charter's next sale is this weekend: April 18 and 19th

     San Francisco has sent a save the date for their Jewel Ball next November 1st.

     San Jose has Half-Price Days on April 24 and 25 and new window displays with LPCH patient photos.

     San Mateo-Burlingame has a Game Day scheduled for June 18th.

In Association news: Nancy, Sarah and Luisa attended the April 7 meeting of the Association of Auxiliaries, we heard about new "branding" for LPCH - logo and symbolic colors, a new special project proposal and endowment updates and proposals. We can explain these much better in person so come to the general meeting.  LPCH has a new website at www.stanfordchildrens.org.

 

Please remember to check our own website at www.paloaltoauxiliary.com. It has everything from  news in the President's Blog, Restaurants- with-Heart menus,  to event dates and times and great photos.

We wish each of you a happy and healthy spring,

Sarah and Nancy 

March News

Spring is here! We are halfway through March and it feels like summer. Our gardens are blooming and we are busy planning a new year for PAA.

 

This week is our March general meeting and as we don’t meet in April, we’re hoping that many of you will attend. We’ll be at Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto on Tuesday, March 18^th at 1:00 PM.

 

 We’ve invited several members of our sister auxiliaries to tell us about the Affiliates program and show us what they do. Anna Henderson will explain the current Teen Van program and the Beads of Courage project. Louise Scott will talk about the several Hearts and Hands projects and Reading Buddies. Our own Luisa Pliska will describe Packard Pantry.

 

While some of you have already participated in these projects, we’d like to present an overview of all of them and what they mean to the hospital.

 

Last month we had a delightful talk by Kristen Beckler from Child Life Services on how children are helped through the traumatic experiences in Emergency.  Unfortunately only fourteen of us were able to hear her talk. Let’s aim for a better turn out this month!

 

We did have a great turnout at the Association of Auxiliaries annual luncheon on March 3^rd. We filled four tables with members and enjoyed the delightful lunch and inspiring speakers, especially a four year old patient and his grateful mother.

 

Remember to sign up for lunch or dinner at Quinto Sol in Redwood City next week on March 24^th and 25^th. The Restaurants with Heart group could  use help both prior to the events and by you coming and bringing a friend.  We all like to eat, so why not try this distinctive cuisine in a charming restaurant? See our website for more details.

 

Also, if you are on Facebook, on your own page go to the box at the top (with the words “search for people, places and things”)and type in PAA and hit the space bar. Go to our page and “like” it….the more ‘likes’ the more viral our information goes. It’s all free advertising!

 

Our fall fundraiser, the American Girl Fashion Show, has already started with a committee meeting of old and new volunteers. Several minor changes are being considered but the dates are settled for the weekend of November 15 and 16, 2014 so mark your calendars.

 

Luisa has reactivated the cookbook project and hopes to sell the last ones this year. If you have stored any and have not been contacted by her, please let her know. If you’d like to help out, let her know that, too!!

 

Please watch this space for updates on events both for PAA and for our sister auxiliaries. We won’t be sending out a paper calendar soon as so many dates are in flux.

 

We hope to see everyone on Tuesday! Happy Spring.

 

Sarah and Nancy

February News for PAA

February, 9, 2014

 

Welcome to the New Year from your new PAA Presidents! We will be serving as co-presidents this year, a new idea for PAA but one used by other auxiliaries. We hope to share the burden and share the number of meetings we attend so you won’t always see us together.

 We welcome back several former members, Stephanie Beach as Vice-President, June Schiller as treasurer, Susan Kirtley now as Corresponding Secretary, Dallas Manning as Social Chair and our not quite yet retiring president, Luisa Pliska as Parliamentarian. New on the board is Ellen Smith as Recording Secretary. Ellen is a long time member who took over the coordination of Thora’s Thimbles last year.

 You can read more about the board members on our PAA website, www.paloaltoauxiliary.com.  Our blogs, newsletters and events will also be listed on the website and updated frequently.

 
Together we hope to carry on PAA’s fine tradition of service to LPCH, but we would also like to look to the future in hopes of increasing contributions from our auxiliary in both time and money probably by increasing events and membership.
 
Our general meetings will be listed on the website but are planned as in the past on the third Tuesdays. The next is February 18^th at 1 PM at Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto.  We will welcome Kristen Beckler, a Child Life Specialist at LPCH as our speaker. If you haven’t been in a while why not come and hear what she has to say. Bring a friend, all are welcome.

 We want to welcome new members but also to welcome new ideas as our auxiliary changes and grows. We are proud of the long tradition but know that pride is not enough to carry us forward. Let’s see if all of us can find a spirit of renewal and make this a year to remember.

 
Sarah and Nancy

We have embraced and enhanced the art of giving....

January 13, 2014

Good morning, Dear Members,

Because the flu and subsequent illness had taken "the wind out of my sails" I was unable to post a blog for awhile.  However, I would like to share some news with you all in this my last blog as your president and report on how we have met our goals for 2013.

First, I must tell you how thrilled I am that we will have two young, extremely talented and capable women as our co-presidents in 2014, Nancy Larssen and Sarah Beetem. It will be a grand year!

I don't have words adequate enough to thank my incredible Board.  Each one has joyfully given so much time and energy not only in their duties as Board members but in taking on major roles in our fund raising efforts and our hearts and hands projects.    Some have been on my Board for the past three years and I can't thank them enough.

Also, thank you, dear members, for the fine work you have done.  3 years ago I said we were an ageless, vibrant, undaunted and fun group.  We still are - even more so.  Often I have told you what an outstanding group of women you are and how I wish you could see yourselves through my eyes.  Yes, I am a positive thinker but I am not a Pollyanna.  I know our strengths and weaknesses.  And our skills and abilities in so many areas along with our work ethic and true dedication far outweigh our weaknesses.

As I review this past year and the accomplishments, changes and transitions we have made you will see how we, although small in number, have grown and continue to be a strong and dedicated PAA.

RECRUIT MEMBERS:  Cathy Murphy, Haydee Navarro-Marshall and Ginger Wilson have joined us this past year. We are so fortunate to have them.
SELL REMAINING COOKBOOKS:  We have sold and will continue to sell.
SUPPORT EXISTING FUND RAISING PROJECTS: We did this and despite higher expenses  had success in each endeavor.
WORK TOGETHER WITH SISTER AUXILIARIES ON AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:
- Our pilot program with the Teen Van Kits was so successful it has become the Teen Health Van Affiliate supported by all auxiliaries.
- We have become involved with the:
- Beads of Courage Affiliate,
- the Reach Out and Read Affiliate (now known as Reading Buddies) and
- the Packard Pantry Affiliate of which I am co-chair.
SCHEDULE SPEAKERS & SPECIAL EVENTS FOR GENERAL MEETINGS:
- The Tour of the outstanding Medical Mock up building
- Dr. Ammerman from the Teen Health Van
- Kevin Danie from the Hospital School
- Jack Komejan from the Transplant Camp (unfortunately, he had to cancel at the last minute)
- Social Services representative to speak about Packard Pantry's service to families (we ran out of meeting days to schedule him. Perhaps next year)
POST BLOG TWICE A MONTH:  This I did not accomplish - Could only find time to do once a month.
COMPLETE REVISIONS OF BYLAWS AND STANDING RULES:
This we did complete and they are now in the hands of the Association for review.

You know it's a poor sort of memory that only looks backward.  We have taken the best of our memories to build a strong presence and ensure a grand future.  With our new younger members this year we developed a cross-generational panorama of exceptional women and I am so proud to have been your president these past three years.

When all is said and done, you have embraced and enhanced the art of giving and I thank you for that. 

Luisa
P.S.

Because I have a plethora of delightful photos from several of our recent meetings- more than enough photos to fill several blogs, I will have in this blog only some from our Tea. Over these past three years, we have had talented paparazzi.  Many thank you's to Erika Crowley, Stephanie Beach, Shirlee Stites and Deborah Potash.  Photos will be organized and placed in Shirlee's photo gallery to become part of our archives.

Our lovely buffet                   Roger Potash (aka) Mr. Deborah Potash & Nancy Bronstein      Cathy Murphy - new member

                

                                              Luisa Pliska with Ginger Wilson & Audrey Polster

Dr. Alexander                                 Victoria Applegate & Tara Quinn       Betty Plemons,Stephanie Beach & June Schiller

                                                              Deborah Potash
 Barbara McCall & Erika Crowley     
Erika Crowley & Mary Hicks                                                                                           Acle Hicks (aka Mr. Mary Hicks)

 
                                                            David Squellati  (aka Mr. Kathy Squellati)

                                                Margaret Robinson celebrating 49 years of Service