Dear Friends,
Last Call to Donate to Our Toy Drive!
Please help us stock up the Holiday Toy Shop for the Postpartum Support Center in Marin, a non-profit organization in San Rafael that provides a comprehensive support system and safe place for mothers/parents and families in need, and that promotes awareness and prevention of Perinatal Mental Health Disorders.
There are 2 ways to donate:
1) Bring NEW, UNWRAPPED toys for a 4-10 year old to class this Tuesday or Thanksgiving Thursday, November 27th.
Thank you to Jennifer Lee, Karin Conn and Leslie Dinham for bringing toys to class last week!
2) If you do not have time to shop or drop off a gift, another easy way to help is to donate to our shopping spree until Saturday, November 29th.
Thank you to Terri Feinberg, Laura Riley, Sandy Aley, Molly Maloney and Lisa Butcher for donating financially to our shopping spree!
The next day on Sunday, November 30th, we will use all the funds we raise to buy as many gifts as possible and then on Monday, December 1st, we will deliver all the gifts we purchase to the Postpartum Support Center Holiday Toy Shop!
Thank you for helping families who use the Postpartum Support Center Diaper Bank select gifts for their children and ease the financial burden of the holidays.
Click here to donate to our Holiday Toy Drive shopping spree!
Who's Dancing on Thanksgiving?
It has become such a fun tradition the past few years to dance together on Thanksgiving morning before the feasting and long weekend begins! Please join us from 9:30am-10:45am at UUMarin (240 Channing Way in San Rafael) in your comfortable workout clothes and shoes, bring your water bottle, and invite your kids, friends and family who don't usually get to come on a Thursday morning!
Thanksgiving Thursday also happens to be Veronique Besfamille's birthday, and she has shyly, but willingly, agreed to let us spotlight her for the first time! Veronique has picked her favorite Stop Drop and Dance songs and she will be coming with her daughter to dance.
Let's celebrate Thanksgiving and Veronique's birthday together on Thursday!
Please note there is no class the next 2 Saturdays: November 29th or December 6th!
Click here to join us in-person or on Zoom this week!
$28,000 and Rising for the Coleman Tigers!
Last Friday morning, the Coleman Elementary School PTO organized our 2nd DANCE-A-THON and it was a huge success that got all the kids singing, all the teachers on stage, all the parents dancing, and even a few people crying happy tears of joy from the incredible atmosphere! They also put together an amazing reel (click on the image below).
The Coleman Tigers community really brought the energy, the enthusiasm and the excitement, and best of all, their dancing raised over $28,000! Donations are still being accepted through Thanksgiving so we can’t wait to find out the final total in another week!
A big thank you goes out to Tracy Peck Holcomb and Amber Cameron, who both came last year and this year to a regular Saturday Stop Drop and Dance class the week before their fundraiser, to learn some routines and to experience the joy we try to create from our usual classes dancing together. They both were backup dancers on stage, along with some awesome and brave 5th graders!
Congratulations Coleman Elementary School on a successful Dance-A-Thon to fund your school programs!
"Because I knew you,
I have been changed,
For good."
- Wicked
For all the die-hard fans like me of Wicked the Musical since the San Francisco Orpheum days, just reading that sentence above has the power of bringing tears to my eyes. It is a unique story of good vs evil, fake vs real, selfish vs selfless, limited vs. limitless, enemies vs friends... and Wicked challenges us to stand up for what is right, to let our voice be heard, and to embrace exactly who we are.
Wicked has always been my absolute favorite musical and I cannot wait to watch the sequel this Thanksgiving weekend with my family. I already can feel it is going to be SO good, and so powerful. I think I need to bring tissues.
I give thanks to all of you...
who take the time each week to read these newsletters
who root for a world that acts from kindness and love
who celebrate differences and lift others up
who give compassionately and generously to help others
who choose an outlook of positivity and joy...
Thank you for inspiring me to be brave, to be vulnerable, and to become a better person each and every day.
Who has changed you "for good?" I encourage you this Thanksgiving to reach out and let them know you are thankful for them. A phone call, a hand-written card or even a quick text or email is enough. But don't let the moment pass...
Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!
Grace
Dancers in the Wild
Top Left: Congratulations to Alison Williams and Shel Saxon for finishing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk in San Diego!
Top Right: Their Tremendous Tatas team raised almost $25,000!
Bottom Left: Laura Briggs, Sara Rainbolt, Eliza Desch and Sunny St. Germain at Sweetwater Music Hall!
Bottom Right: Congratulations to Eliza Desch for singing 3 songs at the Crossroads Music Festival!
