Volunteers with Heart

You might wonder how the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic became such a time-honored tradition at Harker, celebrating sixty years and still so much fun. Well, the reason is simple. It’s the people! There are so many individuals to thank, who genuinely love the picnic – the hard-working, talented, dedicated, fun-loving people who support this event year after year.

At its core, the picnic is nurtured by a group of parent volunteer committee chairs who give it their all to create a unique and fun-filled day for the entire Harker community. With a team like this you just can’t miss!

Peace and Lots of Love to our 2010 Committee:

Ken Azebu, artfully and skillfully producing our colorful picnic publications and printed materials; Debbie Buss, tirelessly coordinating and creating amazing picnic décor (especially in the auction area); Fred Carr, serving for many years as master builder and booth setup king; and Nancy Claunch, acting as picnic historian and photo coordinator extraordinaire, along with making cameo appearances as one of the original Curbside Crazies;

Becky Cox, leading us to new heights in sponsor recruitment while offering her expertise in auction setup; Kelly Delepine, kindly stocking and creating the plant booth display along with all the table centerpieces throughout the picnic; Sandhya Jagadeesh, singlehandedly and remarkably handling all pre-picnic admission ticket sales; and Shalini Jain, taking on the coordination of the Adult Wheel of Fortune display with style and grace;

Lalitha Kumar, happily co-chairing T-shirt sales and offering invaluable assistance with raffle ticket accounting; Mary Malysz, serving as our super positive and innovative “wine wizard” as she acquires donated wine and sets up our wine game year after year; Greg Martin, again creatively and efficiently taking charge of the ever popular MPR Bar (what fun!); and Melody Moyer, proving once again that creativity is alive and well at Harker as she adds her special magic to décor and costumed Curbside Crazy appearances;

Mark Peetz, offering his many artistic talents as our resident painter extraordinaire; Robyn Peetz, coordinating setup and cleanup duties in addition to the awesome Child’s Wheel of Fortune display and cheerfully assisting with anything and everything related to event setup;

Kim Pellissier, tirelessly helping with everything imaginable, organizing T-shirt sales, assisting with general event setup, coordinating sponsor check-in and seating, and more; and Janet Rohrer, serving as our fearless team meeting manager with wit and wisdom and offering guidance and help with anything and everything, including Adult Wheel of Fortune setup;

Lori and Ron Saxon, graciously returning to lend their expertise to auction setup; Alice Schwartz, displaying her amazing creative talents wherever needed; Ingrid Semenza, enjoying and excelling at being a first-time Teen Wheel coordinator; and Carol Underwood, happily assisting with the creative setup of our favorite MPR Bar;

Shankari Sundar and Jane Villadsen, serving as our silent heroes of the picnic, as they graciously organize a huge team of volunteers to tally thousands of raffle tickets and distribute a wealth of student incentive prizes, even working tirelessly throughout picnic Sunday.

These are the people who make it happen, with the help of many, many more!

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to the nearly 700 loyal parent volunteers who worked the booths and served on committees, along with our amazing administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni. Your help as sponsors and donors is deeply appreciated, too! It’s so gratifying to be able to come together year after year as a truly dynamic community. We can’t thank you enough!