A model strolls the catwalk in evening wear from Helen Lyall at the fundraiser’s fashion show.
More than 400 people attended the Orinda Woman’s Club’s Festival of Trees Nov. 21 and helped raise more than $41,000 for East Bay nonprofit organizations.
The event included lunch at the Marriott Hotel in San Ramon, followed by a fashion show presented by Helen Lyall of Helen Lyall Clothes for Women in Napa. Highlights included Star Wars-inspired winter and formal fashions, as well as stylish and daring men’s clothing from Scott Lyall Clothes for Men.
A silent auction offered more than 50 items, with the highest bid reaching $1,200 for a cooking class donated by Charles Vollmar of Epicurean Exchange. The most popular item, with 14 bids, was brunch at the Limewood Bar & Restaurant in the Claremont Club & Spa.
Locations for destination raffles included a Monterey golf get-away, Christmas week at Lake Tahoe and a two-night stay at the former Chicago Motor Club, now an Art Deco hotel in downtown Chicago. Other raffle prizes included money trees, wreaths, and baskets filled with gifts ranging from children’s art supplies to vintage wines.
Festival of Trees is the major fundraising event presented by the Orinda Woman’s Club, with this year’s proceeds going toward Monument Crisis Center, Renaissance Scholars of California State University East Bay, and the Community Services Committee of the Orinda Woman’s Club. Final numbers are not yet available, but are expected to exceed the 2018 total of $41,535.
Monument Crisis Center is a community-based nonprofit family resource center for Central and East Contra Costa County offering nutritious food, quality resources and referrals to low-income individuals and families. Renaissance Scholars of Cal State East Bay provides support services to students exiting the foster care system to accomplish their goal of obtaining a college degree.
The Orinda Woman’s Club Community Service Committee donates funds to nonprofit groups locally, nationally, and internationally and awards education grants to improve the lives of women, families and those aging out of the foster care
system.
For more information about the Orinda Woman’s Club, go to https://orindawomansclub.org.
(L-R) Sondra Landberg, Sheila Casazza, Patti Camras and Candy Kattenburg were among the attendees at Festival of Trees, an annual event hosted by the Orinda Woman’s Club.
