Donate! Harvest for Habitat

 

Please join us September 15th at Harvest for Habitat “Small Bites for Big Dreams,” a fundraising event to support San Gabriel Valley (SGV) Habitat for Humanity. SGV Habitat for Humanity transforms lives and communities by bringing people together to build, renovate and repair affordable homes for families in need.  “Small Bites for Big Dreams” will feature a variety of foods from local restaurants.

In addition to “small bites” there will also be silent and live auctions, a wine and beer bar, and live entertainment featuring the Jennifer Dyer Jazz Band.  We hope you will join us at this wonderful event and in our efforts to provide families a stable home and community in which they can live, work and grow.

COURTESY OF YOUR NUMBER ONE ARCADIA REAL ESTATE AGENT

Fundraisers are in Bloom/Courtesy Mention Brettany Harrison

Around Town: The fundraisers are in bloom

By Anita S. BrennerApril 21, 2012 | 6:13 p.m.

Spring is here and the fundraisers are blooming.

In a down economy, we must be creative.

Last Sunday, we attended the most creative Hillsides Guild “Day at the Races.”

The Hillsides Guild supports the Hillsides center, which began in 1913 as an Episcopal orphanage. Today, Hillsides is a private, nonprofit children’s foster care and treatment center, with a focus on counseling and mental health.

Hillsides’ “Day at the Races” is the brainchild of La Cañadan Dee Fisher. Dee is a fellow member of the Thursday Club.

Each year, Dee rallies the guild members, assorted husbands and others. I’m not a member of the guild, but we always support Dee’s events, which, like their organizer, are a charming amalgam of fundraising, friend-raising and elegance.

This year, Dee partnered with an energetic co-chair named Astrid Fishbein. Their aides de camp, who each made mass purchases of raffle tickets, were Dee’s husband, a local viticulturist named Mark Martinez, and Astrid’s husband, a man of many talents named Michael Fishbein.

Martinez explained, “I started coming six years ago, when I first met Dee, and now I’m hooked. This is a wonderful cause. The guild is an all-volunteer organization. Their efforts allow the kids to have extra activities, like the annual picnic or a bowling night. These ladies are wonderful.”

The raffle baskets were assembled by La Cañadan Aline Kuhnle, who attended with her husband, Paul.

“This is the most fun we’ve had all year,” exclaimed Kuhnle.

At Santa Anita Racetrack, the mountains are gorgeous, the food is good and within minutes of arrival, even if you are a teetotaler, you totally mellow out.

Except for mixing up a trifecta with a trifecta box, this year I almost won a lot of money. Plus, there was a lot of chocolate, courtesy of Brettany Harrison, a charming young broker from Coldwell Banker.

Meanwhile, over at Flintridge Prep, the parents are beginning to gear up for the annual Flintridge Prep Parents and Alumni Golf Tournament and Dinner, scheduled for April 30 at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club. Kudos to Randy Dreyfuss for making our town’s only golf course available for so many charity events.

Prep now has a gender-neutral parents association. Back in the day we had the Mother’s Club that did all the work, and the Father’s Club, which had one guy who did all the work and other guys who watched.

The Flintridge Prep Father’s Club Blanket Sale was one of the most successful and price-variable development schemes in the history of any local school. The La Cañada Flintridge Educational Foundation should take note.

By the time this Valley Sun arrives on your doorstep, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Disco Divas of the ’80s will be arriving home from the 2012 Gala, held on Saturday at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.

The online auction includes a decrepit wheelbarrow aptly named, the Wheelbarrow of Booze. “Bring home this red wheelbarrow and your bar will be stocked for your next party, and much more,” read the description. The Wheelbarrow of Booze was valued at more than $1,000.

Now, that’s creative.

ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Email her at anitasusan.brenner@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter @anitabrenner.

Hillsides Charity Event/2012 Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championships

Complete the RSVP form and mail it to Hillsides, 940 Avenue 64, Pasadena, CA 91105. For more information contact Carrie Espinoza at (323) 255-9005, ext. 254 or emailcespinoza@hillsides.org

Mercedes-Benz Tennis Tournament RSVP Card