January 8, 2009

Holiday drive lands on its feet; grants 54,000 wishes

The nonprofit Family Giving Tree finished the holiday season with a bang after a rocky start. “We were able to grant the gift wishes of 54,000 underprivileged children in the Bay area,” said a relieved Jennifer Cullenbine, FGT’s Queen Elf and CEO.

NBC-11 news anchor Lisa Kim (right) participated in the tricycle race after being auctioned off to participate on the NetApps team. Photo by Julie Davis Berry

“We started out 30 percent down in donations but the community really came through and helped all the children on our list.”

The Family Giving Tree (FGT) helps children served by 260 social service agencies in the greater Bay Area. The agencies send FGT the personalized wishes of the children they serve and each one is granted by ‘sponsors’ who choose their wish off of a tree at local companies, or pick a child’s wish online.

To thank those more than 1,000 host companies and get them in the holiday spirit the Tree holds an annual event called the Executive Elf Challenge. This year hundreds of executives, some with their CEO’s in tow, participated in the Dec. 19 event. There were three challenges: Gingerbread House making, a gift-wrapping competition and a tricycle race.

“It was so much fun to see these executives racing their tricycles with their elbows and knees pointing in all directions. At the end of the race the winner crashed through a giant wrapping paper finish. Everyone in the warehouse was laughing,” said Cullenbine. “And, the Gingerbread House contest was amazing…people really showed their creativity. There were candy canes bursting out of chimneys and even ‘solar panels’ on one house.”

NBC-11 television crews were on hand to shoot the action as news anchor Lisa Kim was auctioned off to compete with a team. NetApp placed the highest bid, at $10,000. Kim earned her keep by falling off a tricycle while she competed against other oversized contestants, many of whom also took a tumble.

Overall, the winner of the three events was the Wells Fargo Bank team, with Cisco coming in a close second. “It was definitely one of our best challenges ever,” said Cullenbine. “We love seeing our hard-working hosts enjoying themselves.”

A few days later the elves at the Tree hosted a children’s party where hundreds of recipients of the program played games, got their faces painted, ate cotton candy and even got a visit from a very tall Santa Claus, actually one of Santa’s helpers. The jolly old man in the Santa suit happened to be…shhhhh!....State Assemblymember Jim Beall.

Next up for the Family Giving Tree: a back-to-school backpack drive, the largest in California, which aims to provide 15,000 supply-filled backpacks to low-income children as they head back to school in late August.

For more information visit www.familygivingtree.org or call (408) 946-3111.

—By Carol Rosen