Events
Family Connections holds two major fundraisers each year: "An Evening with Children's Authors" in the fall, and the "Car Raffle" in the spring. Our families and local volunteers work together at these events to raise money for Family Connections. These fundraising events provide valuable experience for our families on how to raise funds for our school and give our over 100 volunteers the satisfaction of working side by side with our families. And every cent of proceeds from our fundraising ticket sales goes toward providing our free preschool program to low income families.
An Evening with Children’s Authors
An Evening with Children’s Authors is an annual benefit hosted by Family Connections each year in November. The event features renowned children’s authors and illustrators who in the past have included Mollie Katzan, Peggy Rathman, T. A Barron, Marissa Moss, Todd Parr, David Schwartz and Michael Emberley. In addition to delicious food and refreshments the authors give short presentations on their craft, often sharing information about their latest projects, how they came into the profession and even illustrating or reading from their works on stage. The event is rounded out with opportunities to purchase books and have them custom signed by the authors. This adult and young adult event is a popular one for Family Connections and remains one of our primary fundraisers for the year.
12th Annual “An Evening with Children’s Authors” Coming on November 3, 2010
Our 12th Annual “An Evening with Children’s Authors” benefit event is a special evening with three award winning authors/illustrators scheduled to speak and personally sign books. The event will be held at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Our 2010 Authors Night Chair, Kim Hartman, would be thrilled to see you there so mark your calendars now for this exciting annual event.
ELISA KLEVEN grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley. After teaching for several years, Kleven turned her attention to illustrating children’s books. Of her over thirty published books, she is both author and illustrator of fourteen including The Paper Princess, A Carousel Tale and most recently Welcome Home Mouse. Readers can explore world cultures through her illustrations for De Colores and Other Latin-American Folk Songs for Children edited by Jose-Luis Orozco and Wish: Wishing Traditions From Around the World by Roseanne Thong. Kleven has earned many accolades for her work including a New York Times Best Illustrated Book for Sun Bread in 2001.
Illustrator LEUYEN PHAM escaped from Vietnam in the final days of the war and settled with her family in Southern California. She attended UCLA but left to pursue art at The Art Center College of Design. She has illustrated over thirty-five books- including the well-received Freckleface Strawberry and Big Sister, Little Sister which she both wrote and illustrated. Her many successful books include God’s Dream by Desmond Tutu, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things written by Lenore Look and a young adult graphic novel, Prince of Persia illustrated with her husband Alex Puvilland.
Award-winning writer ROBERT SAN SOUCI knew from a young age that he wanted to be a writer. He studied creative writing and world literature in college and worked in bookstores before publishing The Legend of Scarface: A Blackfeet Indian Tale, illustrated by his brother Daniel in 1978. Since this first award-winning picture book, he has brought tales from around the world to our bookshelves in over 65 published works. Both The Talking Eggs and The Faithful Friend were named Caldecott Honor Awards and his books have been repeatedly selected as Notable Books by the American Library Association and as winners of state book awards.
To purchase event tickets and/or make a donation via credit card please go to: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/FamilyConnectionsCA/AuthorsNight.html
You will receive an email confirmation from us.
Spring Car Raffle
We are participating in the 2010 car raffle, thanks to the incredible support of the Rotary Club of Redwood City. Tickets on-sale now. Download the flier here.
For more information, please see our FAQs or email us at aswanson@familyconnections.org .
“I love attending Family Connections’ family night. I try to get as much information as possible to take home to help myself and even network with my family and friends if they need support too.”