Mar 10, 2008

007 event raises funds Bond style

By Janet Duca Norton / Society Columnist

The Parent Teacher Guild of St. Joseph Catholic School in Mountain View created a fun James Bond fantasy theme for its annual dinner auction fundraiser, "License to Learn." About 150 parents and guests, dressed as spies and Bond girls, attended the sold-out March 1 night of high-bidding and dinner by the bite.

The 14th annual benefit exceeded its financial goal. "We raised over $50,000 for the school," event chairwoman Sandi Gedeon Ganjavi said. "As in the words of our parent auctioneer Marcelo Marquez, 'It's all for the children.'"

Guests experienced the sophisticated world of James Bond when they spotted the silver Maserati Quattroporte (courtesy of Ferrari Maserati Silicon Valley) parked beside the red-carpet entrance.

Decorations chairwoman Kim Greeny and her committee converted the auditorium into a James Bond-themed club with a large crystal chandelier, a martini bar and black draped tables with large martini glass centerpieces filled with faux diamonds and floating candles. Solicitations chairwoman Vicki Metsers named the silent auction tables after Bond movies, such as "From Russia with Love," "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball."

And of course, there were diamonds. Giovanna Salcedo, owner of Giovanna's Fine Jewelry, donated a yellow gold, citrine and diamond necklace and matching earrings for the grand raffle prize. Everyone wanted to purchase little black "007" boxes in the hopes of winning the jewels. At the stroke of 8:30 p.m. everyone simultaneously opened their packages.

Auctioneer Marquez set a perfect pace and generated excitement and high bids. Babbi and Tony Puig made the winning bid on the big ticket item, an afternoon at the Ferrari Maserati Silicon Valley dealership, which included a tour, lunch at the dealership's F1 Bistro and a test drive for eight friends. Tanya and Michael Andrade won a VIP package with reserved seats at graduation and were also generous donors to the "Wish List," which will fund beautification efforts at the school.

Guests included secret agents for the evening, parents Bill and Polina Rathbone, previous chairwomen Lori Magana, and Rose Norona and Shannon Greene. Principal Stephanie Mirenda-Knight was not only at the top of the guest list, she made a generous donation to the beautification "Wish List" auction item.

For 50 years, St. Joseph Catholic School has been recognized for providing exemplary educational programs to children grades kindergarten through eight in the Mountain View community.


CASTILLEJA CENTENNIAL TEA AND TABLE SETTING

Known to be at the top of their respective fields, Castilleja, the Palo Alto independent school for girls grades sixth to 12th, and Neiman Marcus, the luxury fashion store at Stanford Shopping Center, are celebrating their centennials. On Feb. 28 they partnered to present a celebratory Centennial Tea, and also revived the signature Castilleja table setting event.

Dating back to 1954 as a Mothers' Club holiday tea, the table setting fundraising event showcased many elegantly themed tabletops by designers, businesses, alumnae and parents. The 21st-century version of the event, coordinated by chairwoman Margo Ritter, featured the single theme of the Castilleja centennial and reached out to include nine merchants in the Stanford Shopping Center, with tabletop displays in their stores from Feb. 24 to March 1.

"I loved how the stores incorporated the red and white (school colors) into their themes," Ritter said. "For example, Crate & Barrel placed small red packages tied with white ribbon at each place, which was really fun."

Women designers were saluted at Macy's, which featured the new Martha Stewart china pattern, and at Bloomingdale's, which displayed serving pieces by local artist and founder of Annieglass Co., Ann Morhauser.

Part of the fun was taking a walking tour of the shopping center to view the varied collection of tables at Andronico's, Bloomingdale's, Crate and Barrel, Frette, Macy's, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co. and Tomy Bahama.

Neiman Marcus' visual merchandise manager Ken Cross created three tabletops that depicted spring fashion trends: femininity, artistry and a global outlook. The femininity table, with its floral patterned French china, was a salute to Castilleja featuring the school's centennial book and a bouquet of red roses.

About 100 alumnae, parents, current students and teachers attended the tea. The guest list spanned the generations and all were talking about the upcoming March 1 Red Tie Centennial Gala, dubbed the "event of the century."

Seen admiring the displays were mother-daughter duos freshman Abby Belani and her mother Vinita Belani, and sophomore Taisa Goodnature and her mother Marta Kosarchyn, co-president of the Castilleja Association. Also in attendance were alumnae Virginia Lee and Donna Lee Master, as well as Pat Hunter Gregory, whose mother Lilla Hunter was one of the originators of the table-setting fundraiser, and her daughters Diana Horner and Lilla Gregory.

One of the founders of the first table-setting event in 1954, Dorothy Roberts, and her daughter Beth Leathers reminisced with Caroline Trotter, whose mother Jean Trotter designed several table settings in the '60s.

Enjoying the tea and sharing smiles were Constance Richardson, current chair of Classical Languages department, and retired language teachers Christiane Andreopoulos, Ann Criswell and Michele Grundmann, whom posed for a souvenir photograph with a figurine depicting "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."