Wishing all of you Happy Springtime! Since March came in “like a lamb”, we are enjoying all the early blossoms!

Some PAA dates to mark on your calendars:

March 17 Membership Meeting, 1 pm at Lucie Stern Community Center, Palo Alto

March 23-24 Restaurants With Heart at Quinto Sol, Redwood City (attachment)

November 7-8 American Girl Fashion Show

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This past Monday’s Association of Auxiliaries Annual Meeting and Luncheon was well attended by PAA members. We found it inspiring to hear all of the wonderful accomplishments of our 1000-member organization this past year.

·      $5,052,500 total financial impact from the Auxiliaries (Auxiliary gifts, member gifts, payouts from endowment funds)

·      2035 cough pillows, blankets, quilts, stuffed animals, christening gowns

·      8062 pounds of food distributed through Packard Pantry

·      1244 toiletry kits and backpacks to the Teen Van

Architect Robin Guenther walked us through the plans for the new hospital. One goal is to continue the “outdoors brought in to the patients” feeling by designing gardens, walkways and window boxes of greenery viewable from just about every perspective. The building will a leader in energy and water conservation, as well as being comforting and entertaining to the young patients and their families.

On the medical front, we learned from Dr. Marlene Rabinovitch of the advances made at Stanford to help those newborns, babies and children with Pulmonary Hypertension. Great strides have been accomplished in the last 40 years, and Stanford is working to continue that trend.

And lastly we gave Victoria Applegate a warm send-off. After 38 years of dedication, she is taking her well-deserved  “retirement”. (First order of business is a trip to Italy with her husband!). To honor her, the Auxiliaries have begun funding a perpetual endowment to the hospital in her name. We will miss her!

Just last week some of our newer members took a tour of the hospital. We were lucky to have Dr. Dan Bernstein, Pediatric Cardiologist give us a tour of the center.  We visited the hospital school and the Forever Young (Rec) room as well. We all walked away grateful for the healthy children in our lives and renewed in our desire to help those families who are less fortunate.

This month’s Membership Meeting will be Tuesday March 17, 1 pm at the Lucie Stern Community Center in Palo Alto. The Thora’s Thimbles volunteers will be sharing with us their creations and showing us how those of us non-sewers can help out.  If you are able to come, we will use your talents to help sort a large donation of fabric that will be used by the Thora’s Thimbles volunteers to make cough pillows, emergency room owls, respirator covers, tote bags and, and, and…Bring your scissors if you would like to help by cutting out owl eyes etc.!

At the meeting we will also discuss the success of Beargrams, Restaurants With Heart, the Holiday Boutique, Cookbooks and The American Girl Fashion Show. As well as plans for the future. Hope to see you there!

And now…back to the garden! I’m expecting March to “roar” out with lots of rain!!