The RCEF is pleased to announce that we raised more than $127,000 at the Benefit for a Brighter Future (BBF) 2008 on April 25, 2008.

Close to 230 Redwood City parents, community members, and business leaders attended the sold-out event.

Colleen Cassity, Executive Director of the Oracle Education Foundation received the RCEF Investors Award on behalf of Oracle. As part of its BBF sponsorship, Oracle generously donated $20,000 to support math, science, and technology mini-grants at all 16 schools starting in the fall of 2008.

Participants enjoyed an entertaining and informative game, “Do You Know?” Created specifically for the event by BBF 2008 volunteers, the game used real questions from STAR tests mixed with questions about education funding. Our skillful game show host was Hoover principal, Greg Land, while middle-school students from seven Redwood City schools served as team captains. The students demonstrated exemplary classroom management skills in keeping the adults focused and on task.

The moderator for the evening was Ted Lempert, President of Children Now and a parent in the district. Mr. Lempert drew an interesting comparison between the top-quality, well-funded kindergarten he entered as a child several decades ago here in San Mateo County and the less-than-adequately supported kindergarten his youngest child entered just recently. Redwood City School District Superintendent Jan Christensen spoke on the power of community action and encouraged participants to continue their involvement in our district.

The desire of everyone in the room to return our schools to their former status as the top in the nation was made evident by the generous outpouring of contributions during the Fund-a-Program component of the event, which raised more than $26,000.

Earlier in the evening, Clifford School parent and RCEF board member Jo-Ann Sockolov and School Board President Shelly Masur displayed more than 15,000 letters asking the Governor and state legislators to stop the proposed education budget cuts. The letters, written by parents from 13 schools over the past six weeks, were delivered to State Senator Joe Simitian on Friday, May 9, 2008 at Hoover School.

A Special Thank You To:

Event Co-Chairpersons

Sheila Cepero and Georgia Solkov-Jack

Presenters

Hilary Paulson, Ted Lempert, Jan Christensen, Barry Schnur

Gameshow Host

Greg Land

BBF 2008 Committee

Patty Beekman Tager, Gail Blomstrom, Adam Borison, Lisa Carlos Queener, Sheila Cepero, Donna Collins Williams, Thea Henry-Hamilton, Jennifer Lamantia, Liz Olson, Elaine Park, Hilary Paulson, Susie Peyton, Barry Schnur, Jane Taylor, and Jean  Tyan.

Student Volunteers

Middle-school students from Adelante, Clifford, Hoover, Kennedy, North Star, Roy Cloud, and Selby Lane schools.

In-Kind Donors

Century 20 Downtown Redwood City
Kickers Soccer Shop
John Martin
Malibu Grand Prix
Pacific Athletic Club
Pixelbrew Studios
Sigona's Market
Young's Ice Cream
Zach Lewis, Photography

Raffle Donors

Amici's East Coast Pizzeria
Art-In-Action/Judy Sleeth
Ashfield Hansen Design Inc
Avenir Restaurant Group
DeCamp Designs
Family Vision Care
Kent Collectibles, Steve Hoskins
Little Fox
Redwood Massage and Sauna
Redwood City Parks, Recreation, and Community Services
Savvy Cellars
SNAP Fitness