The children of South County have hearts for the afflicted, and
true to the action-oriented spirit of the valley, they do something
about it.
The children of South County have hearts for the afflicted, and true to the action-oriented spirit of the valley, they do something about it. Sarah Ellingson, a fifth-grader at Nordstrom School in Morgan Hill, felt sad for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but especially the children. According to her mom, Trish Ellingson, Sarah came up with an idea to send stuffed animals to the children and named the project “Hugs for Hope.” After her mother made some calls to the Red Cross, she found a shelter in Monroe, La., where more than 4,000 people were being housed with a large number of displaced children.

The Red Cross was very receptive to Sarah’s idea, and according to Trish, the Red Cross representative even cried over the phone when she thought about how the stuffed animals would provide some comfort to the grieving sheltered kids. Sarah soon realized she was going to need lots of stuffed animals and began making flyers to distribute at school, hoping to enlist the help of her schoolmates. Nordstrom students heeded the call and showed up Friday morning with beloved bears, dinosaurs and many other combinations of stuffed cuties. The dozen or so boxes were loaded up and sent via UPS (paid for by Trish’s office at American Home Mortgage) to the shelter in Monroe. The Ellingsons hope the project spurs other students to reach out, and they are quite willing to share the shelter’s address with any interested in participating.

As a primer to next week’s opening of the Milano Moda Donna Fashion show in Milan, Italy, an invitation from Shellie Fry to attend a local couture showing of San Francisco designer Azadeh’s fall collection was eagerly accepted. Viewing of the collection was in the picturesque patio of the Los Gatos Hotel. The models descended a tile-and-wrought-iron staircase to a catwalk full of friendly local faces, including South County’s Ramune Ambrozaitis and Ann Shipley. The show was a benefit for Count-Me-In, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping woman achieve economic independence by providing small business loans. By helping women who were born in other circumstances, CMI hopes to fulfill the adage, “you have money, you have power, you have a voice.” Nell Marino, the founder of the organization and the force behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day, attended the show.

Azadeh’s collection elicited some “ooohs” and “aaahs” from those viewing the catwalk fashions, especially her fall evening collection. The floor-length dresses in deep, rich colors of greens and blues moved fluid with sheer cutouts in the bodice and skirt. High necklines with embedded sparkling crystals appeared in many of the designs. Lunch in Los Gatos at a local bistro reminded me we were at lunch in Los Gatos. The food was scrumptious, the service prickly. Thank you, South County, for being friendly like the but with good weather! I think we’ve moved past wanting to be like Los Gatos and branded our own area as “so friendly.” Keep it up.

No September weekend would be complete without mentioning the crush of wine grapes occurring around the valley. One of the newest, up-and-coming vineyards had its debut party last Saturday, with picking and crushing in the morning and a swank soiree in the evening. Todd and Alexia Johnson have officially started Monte Verde Vineyards with the thousand or so vines in their own backyard (several acres of backyard). Back again was the paella man sautéing mounds of paella and guests sharing appetizers, including stuffed grape leaves, cheeses, mushrooms stuffed with portabella mushrooms, and enough wine to bury Bacchus. While fall has cooled the evenings, the Johnson gathering just moved in closer to the three outdoor fireplaces and continued their discussions of the good life and why we don’t live in Manhattan. Leading the discussion on Manhattan was California native Bridget McQueen, fresh from her year-long stint working P.R. in the Big Apple. “It’s hard to beat this,” she said as she waved her hand around the park like backyard.

Ciao for now.

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