Just one year old this week, the Morgan Hill Community and
Cultural Center was the scene Friday of still another successful
fundraiser, gathering more than 150 people with open
checkbooks.
Just one year old this week, the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center was the scene Friday of still another successful fundraiser, gathering more than 150 people with open checkbooks.
Rebekah Children’s Services auctioned off Christmas trees decorated in themes, plus tables of other appealing holiday items, and made, possibly, more than $22,000 in the inaugural Festival of Trees.
The Rebekahs run the IOOF children’s home in Gilroy and a variety of other protective services for children in Santa Clara County.
Eleanor Villarreal, chief development officer, proclaimed the auction/dinner a wild success, though the final figures won’t be known for a few days.
“I don’t know how much money we actually made,” Villarreal said Tuesday, “but we definitely made money – probably about $22,000.”
Before the event the group had collected almost $37,000 from sponsors including $10,000 from Home Depot, $5,000 from Shappell Industries and Wal-Mart plus $2,000 from Heritage Bank.
Villarreal was especially pleased with the range of theme trees, from a Fantasy Tea Party to one called “Raider Claus.”
New Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro was the highest bidder for a single tree, offering up $1,800. Home Depot bid for five trees and three wreaths to the tune of $5,000 – over and above the store’s sponsorship.
But it was Charles Agnew who was the children’s Santa Claus Friday night. Agnew bought, not only “Raider Claus,” but a print of Thomas Kinkade’s “Hometown Christmas,” one of the “Painter of Light’s” more popular pictures.
“Chuck was very generous,” Villarreal said. He also brought heaps of stocking stuffers for the home’s children. Agnew lived at the children’s home when he was a boy.
Thirty children currently live at the IOOF home in Gilroy and the Rebekahs watch over 34 more in foster care.
“We work with 62 families and have 400 kids in prevention all over Santa Clara County,” Villarreal said.
www.rcskids.org/fot
