By Sandi Gedeon, Administrative Director
On November 12, 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic had suspended our in-person auction for two years, we gathered for “Bing Goes to Bollywood,” our 33rd annual Bing Harvest Moon Auction, at the beautiful Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center on the Stanford University campus. It was a time to celebrate Bollywood style, and mingle with current, alumni, and prospective families. The event supports the Bing Nursery School Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance for families in need. As in past years, Helen and Peter Bing were major benefactors with their gift of $50,000, and in total the auction raised over $370,000.
Guests arrived in Bollywood-themed garb, entering a tent that had been transformed into an exotic bazaar-like setting decorated with colorful scarves, flowers, elephant statues, and a beautiful gold backdrop on the stage. They were greeted with entertainment by Stanford Raagapella and enjoyed a special Tamarind Twist cocktail and a delicious Indian buffet, including tandoori chicken sliders, samosas with tamarind-date chutney, and spiced shrimp. Desserts were donated by Cocola Bakery & Pastry, Little Sky Bakery, and the Slamkowski family, and coffee by Konditorei. Beverages were a gift of the Hilderbrandt family, J. Lohr Vineyards, and Guayaki Yerba Mate, and some of the festive decorations were donated by GN Event Rental.
Once the bazaar opened, guests perused over 300 silent auction items. As in years past, family-sponsored buy-a-spot events were highly coveted. Attendees rushed to purchase spots at events that ranged from a springtime hike and picnic with teacher Brianna Kirby to a sushi-making class and sake tasting, a children’s cooking class, a champagne tasting with Moët Hennessy, salsa dancing with teacher Paloma Moreno, a make-your-own clay piece, and our first-ever “Bing Under the Stars” campout! We were so grateful to parents in each classroom for their hard work and donations that resulted in over 35 auction baskets with themes including “Children Can Cook,” “Animals from Around the World,” and “Music and Dance.”
Moments before the live auction began, Stanford Basmati Raas performed a traditional Indian dance, and then, dressed in sherwanis, Bing head teacher Todd Erickson and his co-auctioneer and former Bing parent, Adam Tobin, kicked things off. Bollywood partygoers enthusiastically bid on a host of exciting live auction items, including a one-week stay at an oceanfront home in Carmel, California; Golden State Warriors floor seats and autographed jerseys; a story/song by Bing’s own music and movement specialist, Mara Beckerman; and childcare for a parents’ night out provided by teachers Vanessa Ortega and Melissa Gier. This last item started a bidding war that ended with two nights of childcare, each raising $13,500. As is tradition, Bing’s resident carpenter, Gene Aiken, made a beautiful hand-crafted table and chairs—a set that sold for $11,000. The live auction raised over $110,000, with another $230,000 in cash donations made online prior to the auction for the ever-popular Fund-a-Scholarship.
In addition to our longtime donors Helen and Peter Bing, we would like to extend our gratitude to our generous Platinum and Gold family sponsors: the Acton Family, Charlotte and Peter Deng, Ilya and Ewa Fushman, Zubin and Marita Irani, Christina and Jay Kang, Christopher and Mikel Ré, and Laura Yip and Perry Tam. We would also like to thank alumni parent Virginia Gutiérrez-Porter for her beautiful design work, and our very own teacher Mischa Rosenberg for putting together the auction catalog.
A big thank-you to our parent auction co-chairs, Sonia Chang and Shara Watkins, for their vision, leadership, creativity, and dedication. We are also extremely grateful to all of our parent volunteers who devoted time and energy as members of 16 committees. A special thank-you to everyone who donated to the auction and to those who attended. The tremendous dedication of our parents, Bing teachers, and staff made the auction a stunning success! We look forward to seeing everyone at next year’s celebration and auction, which will be held back at Bing Nursery School, on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
AUCTION Co-chairs: Sonia Chang and Shara Watkins
COMMITTEE chairs: Check-In: Carrie Friedberg, Justin Snapp • Class Gifts: Yan Yu • Cleanup: Nick Mangini, Jeffrey Nagashima • Closing Auction Tables: Zhen Fang, Joey Klein • Creative Writing: Stephanie Bravo, Rebecca Brown • Data Entry: Keri Brenner, Dani Chammas • Decorations: Sangeeta Das, Gayathri Lakshminarayan • Display and Setup: Robert Luo, Aabed Meer, Sharada Sundaram • Events and Parties: Stephanie Lau, Sabah Mansoor • Food and Beverage: Charlotte Fuller, Laura Slamkowski • Graphic Design: Virginia Gutiérrez-Porter, Mischa Rosenberg • Inventory: Susan Klein • Online Auction: Siddhartha Singh • Packers and Movers: Rodrigo Gorgazzi, Ricardo Maldonado • Runners: Ping Li, Garry Sotnik • Solicitations/Scholarhips: Mayank Girdhar, Carolyn Kiang, Vu Van • Ticket Trackers: Tim Nguyen