Holidays with the Whole Family
Hello blogland! Katie (writing director) here again. A few Fridays ago the VOICES staff, board, volunteers and funders met for our First-Annual Volunteer and Funder Appreciation Holiday Party. Many of you already know that we are in the process of merging with another Tucson storytelling organization, SharMoore Children’s Productions/Stories that Soar (STS). We have been in the process of merging our two organizations for nearly a year now, and our co-holiday party was an important step: we met each others’ families (!!).
Board member Pat Tuller and her very gracious husband Howard were our hosts for the night, and their house was such a treat to invade. It was beautiful! They have an outside fireplace, a lap pool (too cold to use, but pretty to look at), and tons of cool gadgets from the 1950s and ‘60s. The basic plan for the evening was to introduce SharMoore’s volunteers and funders to VOICES’ volunteers and funders and to thank them for all of the work they do.
At around 5pm, Krista, Stephanie and I arrived at Pat’s to start preparing. We set out plates and helped Pat arrange the catering (chimis!!!!), but most of the work was already done. So we took a VIP tour of Pat’s sewing studio, which is incredible (she is a professional seamstress. She puts your craft room to shame, I promise you.). Friends started arriving soon after, and we watched quick videos about VOICES, courtesy of VOICES board member Ray Frieders and Cox Communications, and about Stories that Soar. We also heard from Tiana Velez, who told us that her favorite part of being a mentor is helping youth through the same writing problems that she faces everyday as an editorial assistant at the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Tucson.
Highlights of the evening included: one VERY SERIOUS ping-pong game between our former Associate Director Rachel Villarreal and current AmeriCorps Project Assistant and Video Instructor Donny Tran (Donny won, after lots of whining from Rachel, just in case you were curious); Ben Truman (AmeriCorps Project Assistant and Magazine mentor) tending bar in Pat’s backyard; and of course, seeing all of the VOICES and STS volunteers and funders hanging out and enjoying each other. I’m a sucker for holiday parties, and I loved it. I think we should have one for Valentine’s Day.
Photo Captions:
1: Supporters of the soon-to-be-merged VOICES and SharMoore Children’s Productions attend the 2009 Holiday Party to celebrate the past year’s accomplishments. Party guests include (standing row) SharMoore Children’s Productions Artistic Director Sharon O’Brien, VOICES Board member Ray Frieders, VOICES Volunteer Tiana Velez, Marie-Claire Strang, VOICES Board Member Kirk Strang, SharMoore Children’s Productions Board member Andres Cano, VOICES Volunteers Jill Torrance and Mamta Popat, (seated row) VOICES AmeriCorps Project Assistant Ashley Raasch, Erika Korowin and VOICES Writing Mentor Josh Garcia.
2: VOICES Executive Director Stephanie Balzer (center) welcomes guests with VOICES Board of Directors President Amanda Kraus and SharMoore Children’s Productions Artistic Director Sharon O’Brien.
3: VOICES AmeriCoprs Project Assistant Webster Truman (right) pours VOICES Volunteer Jill Torrance a glass of wine.
4: VOICES Volunteer writing mentor Tiana Velez speaks about how much she enjoys mentoring VOICES Youth Apprentice writers through the writing and editing processes.
5: VOICES AmeriCorps Project Assistant Donny Tran (left) plays an impromptu game of ping-pong with former VOICES Associate Director Rachel K. Villarreal, PhD.
