The Valley Line: Preschool looks for its pot o’ gold
The Lighted Window Preschool celebrated its annual fundraiser on St. Patrick’s Day. The Thursday Club served as the party’s venue and was decorated for the holiday. About 150 guests turned out for the event, most of them wearing a different shade of green. Just in case nothing in a guest’s wardrobe was green, the hosts handed out cute shamrock headbands to wear.
Greeting arriving party-goers was Catherine Sabourin Sanders, who co-chaired the event. Also saying hello was Suzie Johnson, director of the school.
The St. Paddy’s day theme was carried out with the table decor. Guests crowded around the silent auction tables to bid on a wide array of items, which ranged from spa packages, kids summer camps, concert tickets, restaurant gift cards and handmade gifts by each classroom to sporting event tickets to Laker, Clipper and Dodger games.
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Mark Fortier the DJ from What a Party provided the music while guests played casino games such as blackjack, roulette and craps. The only departure from the “green theme” was the buffet menu from Zo’s Catering that was a Mexican feast of tacos, rice, refried beans, guacamole, chips and salad — all delicious. Desserts were donated by Gio’s Bakery.
There was also a host of thirst-quenching beverages to sip and most were served up with a sparkly shamrock on the top.
It was such a fun party. Best of all, funds were raised to keep this community preschool great.
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Mary Pinola was just about the busiest woman in town in recent weeks. Not only did she chair the recent 29th annual Smart-A-Thon fundraiser for the education fund, which is invested with the Community Foundation of the Verdugos, but she also walked in the Los Angeles Marathon the same week.
When I last spoke to her, Mary was nursing some sore muscles from her seven-hour, one-minute trek from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Pier.
In reference to that week she said, “OK, so maybe it was a little stressful, but I powered through by just putting one foot in front of the other, over, over and over again.”
She said it was a bit dicey when her husband, Charlie Kenny, couldn’t find her amid the 25,000 other athletes when he arrived to pick her up after the race.
Their La Cañada Flintridge neighbor, Kathy Kovalcik, had a grand post-marathon celebration awaiting Mary, who was excited just at the thought of sitting down and putting her feet up.
Circling back to the topic of the Smart-A-Thon, this is a great event that just celebrated its 29th year — every single one of them chaired by Pinola.
This year there were 88 teams of four or more that competed in the event. A huge presence was the YMCA, with eight teams that arrived in matching T-shirts with “Smart-A-Thon” written on the front.
So, this is how it goes: the teams are given a set of 58 questions with multiple-choice answers and they are to pick the best answer. My first question was, where in the heck did they get these questions? A sample: “You have flown into Dallas, have rented a car and are driving on your way to West, Texas. You are on Interstate 35 between Dallas and Waco and have been warned to brake for — a) kolaches, b) snakes, c) potholes, d) cows or e) chickens.” If you want to know the correct answer get in touch with me.
Taking away top honors at this year’s event was the team from Rep. Adam Schiff’s office that included Mary Hovagiminian, Ann Peifer, Michael Aguilera, Colleen Oinuma. They unseated last year’s winners from USC Verdugo Hills Hospital team.
The fundraiser was held at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. After we each found our team table, we could select items for a buffet lunch and bid on silent auction items. My team was representing Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and my teammates included Alexandria Blank and Kimberly Puentes from the center’s pro shop and Eric Elliot, head dive coach.
Rick Dinger acted as master of ceremonies for the day. Helping to make this a great event were Warren Boehm, Jo Loomis, Jean Maluccio, Roberta Parker, Julia Rabago, Teri Rice, Renee Riendeau, Patty Steur, Eleanor Wacker and Chris Waldheim.
Pinola has already clued me on the date for next year’s Smart-A-Thon: March 7, 2018. The L.A. Marathon will take place 11 days later, on Sunday, March 18.
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JANE NAPIER NEELY covers the La Cañada Flintridge social scene. Email her at jnvalleysun@aol.com with news of your special event.