Last night a small but industrious group of JDRF volunteers and JDRF staff gathered for holiday cheer and to trim a 16 foot tree at Davies Symphony Hall. JDRF has been provided with the tree as part of the Symphony’s Community Deck the Hall program. Davies Symphony Hall will be transformed into an evergreen wonderland with towering trees, uniquely decorated by local schools, community groups and charities. This is JDRF’s second year in the Deck the Hall program.
JDRF tree in progress
Vickie Mallon and Carolyn Eisen coordinated the decorations for the JDRF tree. Our tree would be decorated in silver and blue coordinating nicely with JDRF colors. Everyone in the office pitched in this week to make the decorations so we were ready to decorate as everyone arrived last night.
Our tree trimming volunteers included: Priscilla & Byron Essert; Larry & Margaret Lum; Bill & Heather Marks; Connie, Nick & Mei Mei McComb & their dog, Colton; Mara Bonelli and Rachel Rosenfeld. Tree trimming staff included Carolyn Eisen, Caroline Kinsey and me. Not a big group but we got the job done in about 90 minutes. We listened to holiday music, laughed a lot, and enjoyed wonderful food, sodas and wine all provided compliments of Roche — which was very much appreciated. Thanks, Jennifer McFarland!
The thing about a 16 foot tree is that all 16 feet must be decorated or it just looks silly. This requires a 16 foot ladder which was provided by the symphony. It also requires that someone climb the ladder to hang the decorations.
Byron Essert was first up the ladder.
Byron was the first to take a turn on the a ladder. Without anyone else willing to climb the big ladder, Priscilla ventured up the ladder and settled in at her personal comfort level. Priscilla managed to get most of the tree decorated. Nice work Priscilla!
Then it was my turn. I argued that I had my turn last year. It does no good. I start to climb and then I climb higher and slowly I find myself closer to the top than I care to remember. Sixteen feet is really high when on a ladder. And a wobbly ladder at that.
Holding the Ladder
I think we hung our crowning star on a branch at about 15 feet. No way am I going any higher on a ladder. No Way I can make it to the top of 16 foot tree!
At the end of the evening, we admire our tree and we think the tree looks beautiful complete with a foil tree skirt. We hung blue ribbons, silver and blue ornaments of large and small sizes and blue wreaths. For splash of color, we included a few JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes Sneakers. Best of all, the tree features 50 silver stars with 50 unique photographs of local children affixed to the star’s center and the date the child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Colton
The San Francisco Symphony’s annual Deck the Hall event, on December 6th, celebrates the holiday season with a magical stage show designed for children and it is the first time the public will see the decorated trees.
The concert includes performances by the Orchestra, dancers from San Francisco Ballet School, the San Francisco Boys Chorus, Chhandam Youth Dance Co., and Stephen Saxon and the New Klezmorim. The post-show party in the lobbies includes entertainment, arts and craft activities and refreshments.
Margaret decorating
These concerts are presented in conjunction with San Francisco Arts Commission. It is estimated that 40,000 concert-goers will view the trees during the month of December.
This means that 40,000 people may see the JDRF tree which helps to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and to keep diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.
Decorators until the end
And we had a great time. So if you have a chance to stop by Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue) check out the JDRF tree on the 1st Tier. Let us know what you think by responding to this message. Don’t forget to check for the the star 15 feet up, front and center.
So now we have the holiday spirit and we raised awareness of type 1 diabetes. What about you? What are your plans for the holidays this year? If you have been able to raise diabetes awareness, we would love to hear about it.
Just in case you don’t get a chance to see the JDRF tree, you can view it now. Happy Holidays.
The JDRF Tree at Symphony Hall
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I submitted my sons photo, is there a way to find out if his picture is on the tree?
We hung all fifty photos but the only way to know for sure that his photo is still on the tree is to see for yourself. So stop by Davies Symphony Hall at 201 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. It is open to the public when it is not concert time. You will find the tree one flight up on the 1st Tier. You will see that next to our tree there is signage that includes the name of tree sponsor: Jennifer & Sean Jeffries and the tree decorated by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.