February Message from your PAA President
My daffodils are blooming in large yellow bursts and my
native manzanita in tiny pale pink drops so I know it is early Spring in my
yard even in the soggy rain. It was also
Spring on Monday when the PAA board met in the home of Marilyn Anderson, our
new treasurer. She hosted a lovely lunch for the board and showed us her
wonderful collection of whimsical teapots.
Marilyn also works with Charter Auxiliary on their rummage
sales and reminded us to save treasures or look for more at their bi-monthly
sales, which are now held the first and third weekends in East Palo Alto near
the IKEA. You can see their information on the Association of Auxiliaries
website at www.supportlpch.org.
The only other current activity on the Association calendar
is our very own Restaurants with Heart. Their
next dates are February 27 and 28 at Divino in Belmont, so please think of them
when you want to get out for lunch or dinner. Gerry Nelson reports that she
could use more sales of Beargrams so remember them for spring events, hostess
gifts, and birthdays.
The PAA Board adopted a budget for 2017 showing about half
the income as last year. While we look for new events, please remember to save
or find things for the Summer Garden Party Auction. We would love to increase
both the attendance and the number of
items offered for auction this year. We already have promises of sports tickets
and original watercolors. Tickets to plays, museums or sports were very popular
so if you have contact with a company or team please ask them now for donated tickets.
Waiting until summer usually means that the donations are already given out and
it’s too late. Other ideas include lunches or dinners, vacation rental
properties, wine, baskets for hobbyists or treasures. We will also need large
baskets and small items to complete combined baskets. You can bring items to
any meeting or call me for pick up.
Our General Membership meeting in March (March 21 at 1 PM in
the Foundation Board Room, 3rd floor) will feature a short talk by
Dr. Lisa Chamberlain on the new program, “Talk, Read, Sing” which is part of
the national Too Small to Fail
campaign. The purpose is to promote early brain and language development by
empowering parents especially during the critical first 3 years of life.
Packard will be distributing information through their Well Baby clinics primarily
to low income families. Early vocabulary development has been shown to be
critical to later school success.
As a former teacher and current grandmother of toddlers,
this is a topic dear to my heart. I do hope we will have a good turnout to hear
Dr. Chamberlain. If you need a ride,
please call me and I will try to arrange one for you. We have members driving
in from all directions and while we can no longer park under the building, we
can park nearby in lots for 3 hours or on the street for 2 hours. (I promise to
have you out by 2:50.) Meeting at the Foundation allows us to save on rent and
give more to the hospital.
Our board is still lacking a Second VP for Membership to
deal with the traditional functions like Vintage Girls or the October Tea. If
you would be willing to help out, please let me know. We do have Melissa to
work with more recent members.
I hope to see you all in March. If you have questions please
try our website which will be updated soon, or email or phone me.
Sarah
