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Published on 01/19/1998 All articles from this issue

Auction offers a chance to skate with celebrity skater Rudy Galindo

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Some of the world's best-known celebrities have helped provide Los Altos- area children the opportunity to receive educational scholarships over the past 15 years to the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, just across the Los Altos Hills border.

Figures such as Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, Paul Newman and members of the Grateful Dead have donated their personal belongings in past years to the center's annual auction.

This fundraiser provides scholarship money for families in need so children from all backgrounds and faiths can attend the Center's nationally accredited nursery school, child-care center and summer camp programs.

Los Altos residents will have a chance this month to ice skate with gold medal figure skating champion Rudy Galindo, who donated a private skating lesson to this year's Annual Auction Scholarship benefit this Saturday.

Norma Slavit, who helps organize the annual event, said she has always had a "unanimous" response from community members and superstars alike.

"Our background is well established. I think people recognize the quality of our programs and how they improve the quality of each child's life," Slavit said.

Slavit said the center typically raises about $80,000 from the event.

She expects about 200 to 400 community members to attend, she said.

Sandy Blovad, who has served as executive director at the center for the past 15 years, describes the center as "a very diverse and welcoming organization."

Blovad said the center gives out about 100 scholarships a year to families in "various circumstances, who want quality child care," including single parents, families in transition, families where one parent has been laid off, families needing temporary help or families with medical problems who can't afford the additional expense of day care.

Blovad said the center provides after-school programs for about 860 children, ages 9 months to 19 years. About 40 percent of the students are from Los Altos, he said.

Programs range from fencing and fitness to music and wind surfing. Blovad said the older children also participate in community service projects.

The annual Auction/Children's Benefit Gala will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight this Saturday at the Palo Hills Golf and Country Club.

Tickets cost $100 per person and include a winter floral exhibit, wine, hors d' oeuvres and a gourmet dinner, a live and silent auction and music by a 12-piece orchestra. Among the items to be auctioned will be an autographed poster of Jackie Chan, the world's "most perfectly cut" diamond, five nights in Hawaii, a jetcopter ride with a KGO traffic reporter and a vacation in New York that includes a Broadway show.

For more information call 493-9400.