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

The luxury residential tower Millennium Tower in San Francisco presented a designer showcase entitled Icons of Design, that featured more than 25 of the Bay Area’s most prestigious designers. The designers’ work was showcased in the four Grand Residences (usually not open to the general public) that occupy the building’s entire 52^nd floor.   Each of four charities benefited from the ticket sales on each of the last four weekends of the showcase.  The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation benefit weekend was October 31st/November 1st.

We were asked to manage the two day events and as one of the volunteers I must say that it was a pleasure to spend my time in truly wonderful design.  Special thanks to those who volunteered their time to help us staff the event.  They include Janet Ortiz-Ogao, Anne Davis, Karen Croteau, Isabel Schneider, Petra Kubler, Jim Duncan, Micki Cooper, Clarie Wolfe, Florence Tam and Petrina James.  Also thanks to my colleagues at JDRF (Vicki, Lisa, Cory, Jack, Caroline and Eric) who volunteered part of their weekends to be sure we had a full complement of volunteers on hand to manage expected crowds.   I am sure everyone joins me in thanking Mavie and Frank, who in addition to volunteering, did most of the coordination on behalf of JDRF.

On the JDRF Halloween weekend, 242 people attended the Icons of Design. JDRF collections totaled an impressive $6050.

Very special thanks to Diana Nelson of the Millennium Tower for bringing this opportunity to JDRF.  We so much appreciate it.  Finally, to the 242 fortunate people who donated $25 to JDRF for the privilege of seeing the Icons of Design showcase, thank you, once again.

GREAT NEWS!  Purchase a Yubo lunchbox at www.getyubo.com by October 31, 2009, and Yubo will donate 40% of the sales to JDRF.   Just use the coupon entry code:  JDRF-EB.

Created by two parents-frustrated with traditional lunchboxes which are tough to clean and require so many plastic baggies–that they set out the re-invent the lunchbox. They succeeded.

No more plastic bags.  Each lunchbox features three sizes of custom containers.  Change the look of your lunchbox as often as you like.  You can even upload a personal photo to use as the faceplate.

Dishwasher safe.  Antimicrobial.  Recyclable. BPA free.