Festival of Trees helps raise funds so nonprofit can help more than 350 needy families daily
Published in the December 11-25 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Kimberly Ewertz
Photo courtesy Rebekah Children’s Services
Tracy Carpena, a planning committee member for the RCS event and a Morgan Hill branch Heritage Bank employee, shows off her decorated tree “A Backyard BBQ.”
The holiday spirit infused the crisp autumn air as more than 200 guests gathered at the Corinthian Event Center in downtown San Jose to attend Rebekah Children’s Services 11th Annual Festival of Trees fundraiser auction Nov. 22.
With champagne glasses in hand, guests strolled through the center’s banquet room where they admired a forest-like collection of elaborately decorated Christmas trees which cast a magical glow throughout the spacious dining hall. The yuletide garnish and ornaments set a fun and festive mood for guests as they started the holiday season early. The Festival of Trees event is an important fundraiser for RCS, a Gilroy-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the social, emotional and physical well being of children and families in the South Valley.
Jorges Montes, RCS’s interim CEO, said he felt hopeful that this year’s event would reach the nonprofit organization’s fund-raising goal of $100,000. “Rebekah Children’s Services now helps support 350 families daily, and the projections for next year are to add an additional 200 families,” he said. “We’re constantly looking for community support to reach out to those who need us most.”
Tracy Carpena, a planning committee member for the event and employee at the Morgan Hill branch of Heritage Bank of Commerce, said that since her volunteer involvement with RCS started in 2008, she has seen each year the event make increasingly more money for the nonprofit’s programs. “This is the first year they sold out the tickets for the fundraiser,” she said.
Holding the fundraiser the week before Thanksgiving this year helped instill the holiday spirit among the guests, Carpena said. “They get a jump on raising funds for the organization before all the other charities begin their fundraising,” she said. “It’s Christmas in November.”
Throughout the evening, guests eagerly took part in raffles and silent auctions of holiday gift baskets and ornamental door wreaths.
Capping the evening, auctioneer Mark Alman enticed the crowd with his humor and his energy to bid generously on the dozen lavishly decorated trees. Proceeds from the auction alone raised more than $20,000 and the event total was more than $90,000.
Of the 12 trees auctioned, two bids stood out. “A Little Tipsy,” decorated by Christie Balancier, included a wine refrigerator and more than 35 bottles of wine from local South Valley wineries. The winning bid was $4,500.
At $3,400, the second highest bid tree was “The Man Cave,” decorated by Deborah Frazen, a Heritage Bank employee and Festival of Trees decorator donor for the past five years. The masculine-themed holiday tree showcased cigar and dartboard ornaments, a handcrafted foosball table, hardware tools, cigars, and an array of sports related items.
Margareut Oleson, a RCS board of directors member and organizer of the fundraiser every year since its inception, summed up the reason for the success of the annual event. “It’s Christmas,” she said. “It gets to people’s hearts. It’s for the children. It all goes back to the children.”
Over the past 115 years, RCS has transitioned from an orphanage housing five children to an eight-acre, nonprofit campus in Gilroy offering family-centered mental health services, education, and training. Its mission is to promote the healing, healthy development, and future long-term success of those people it serves.
For more information about Rebekah Children’s Services, visit www.rcskids.org.
