By Sandi Gedeon, Business Manager
On a winter day in December 2015, Bing held its 27th Annual Harvest Moon Auction, “Winter Wonderland.” The event, held at the Arrillaga Alumni Center on the Stanford campus, raised over $300,000 for the Bing Scholarship Fund, which provides assistance to over 20 percent of the children who attend the nursery school. As in past years, Helen and Peter Bing were strong supporters, with a generous gift of $50,000.
Auction attendees arrived on Dec. 5 and were treated to a beautiful winter wonderland, filled with snow globes, snowflakes and blue and white décor and were serenaded by Bing parents Nova Jimenez, vocal, and Yara Sellin, on piano, with a medley of winter-themed songs. Guests enjoyed the holiday-inspired cocktail, Holiday Citrus Punch, and came dressed in their winter best.
Over 600 exciting items were up for bid, including an autographed basketball signed by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, a one-week getaway at the Palms in Costa Rica, a Maserati Ghibli for a weekend, donated by Ferrari Maserati of Silicon Valley and, for the third year in a row, a beautiful “Bing book crate” filled with books donated by the Bing teachers and staff and created by Bing carpenter Gene Aiken and teacher Jeanne Zuech. The live auction raised over $60,000. Items that were auctioned included two tickets to Elton John’s Annual Academy Awards Party; two VIP Golden State Warriors Courtside Tickets; and a birthday party with head teacher Peckie Peters and associate director Beth Wise. The ever-popular Fund a Scholarship, a live bidding item with straight cash donations going directly to the Bing Scholarship Fund, raised over $35,000 that evening, with an additional $110,000 raised prior to the auction.
More than 40 events for children, families and adults were also auctioned off, including an Evening Dinner and Cocktail Cruise, Cookie Decorating for the Holidays Party, 1001 Nights, Soccer in the Park, Chaat Party, Harley Goat Farm Tour, Dad’s Night Out Poker Tournament and the Bing Campout. We appreciate the work and donations of parents in each classroom, who put together over 50 class baskets with themes including “Snowy Day Fun,” “Holiday Baking,” “Choo! Choo! All Aboard,” “Frozen Wonderland!” “Polar Exploration,” “Cooking for Little Taste Buds,” “Picnic Paradise” and “Doll Delight.”
The food, catered again this year by Weir & Associates Catering, was served in keeping with our winter wonderland theme, and featured chilled prawns, butternut squash soup shots, warm baked French brie and a chili bar. SusieCakes, Tin Pot Creamery and Peet’s Coffee & Tea donated the dessert and coffee for the evening. Other generous donors for the evening included Hal Morris and Alyssa Rapp, TaskRabbit, Hengehold Trucks, Balsam Hill and Tableart.
A big thank you goes out to our auction co-chairs, Adriana Flores-Ragade, Brigette Lau and Meredith Zappert, for their vision, leadership and dedication. We couldn’t have done it without them. We are also extremely grateful to our parent volunteers—over 200 strong—who worked on over 20 committees. A special thank you to those who donated to the auction and to those who attended. The tremendous dedication of our parents, Bing teachers and staff made the auction what it was—a tremendous success!
Auction co-chairs, from left, Brigette Lau, Adriana Flores-Ragade and Meredith Zappert.
We look forward to seeing everyone again at this year’s auction, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016.