Mount Shasta’s peak eludes fundraising team

It’s not quite the ending Caitlin Looney envisioned when she set out to reach Mount Shasta’s 14,000-foot-plus summit on a four-day trek she began July 10. After several months of training and preparation, the fundraising climb came to a halt when the Los Altos native pulled herself off the trail on the final push to the top of the peak.

In waist-high snow, with dwindling food and water supplies and an injured ankle, Looney, 25, gave up the goal a little more than 1,300 feet below Shasta’s peak. The summit might as well have been a world away.

Foothill summer gala benefits college programs

Bruce and Barb Swenson invited 40 friends in 2000 to the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hills to watch the annual Foothill musical theater production and enjoy a picnic dinner. What started as a small benefit has grown into a $100,000-a-year fundraiser for selected programs at the college.

The eighth annual Foothill Summer Benefit Gala, scheduled Sunday, offers an outdoor dinner, wine tasting and silent and live auctions to accompany the performance, Foothill Music Theatre’s “The Pajama Game.”

History museum offers art class

The Los Altos History Museum has scheduled an art class, “Painting and Sketching Historic Buildings,” 9:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the museum, 51 S. San Antonio Road.

The class is a companion program to the museum’s current exhibition, “Anna Knapp Fitz: Portrait of an Artist,” which runs through Oct. 12. Knapp Fitz, who died in 1995, sketched and painted many historical buildings, leaving a snapshot of life in Los Altos 50 years ago.

Dog days of summer

Photographer Heather Lussier, who opened her downtown Los Altos studio at 127 Main St. three months ago, held a fundraising pet portrait event last week that raised more than 600 pounds of pet food for local animal shelters, including the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.

Clients including Duke, right, trotted into the studio last week to pose for the good cause.

Hidden Villa announces Summer Concert Series

Hidden Villa has scheduled its third annual outdoor Summer Concert Series 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sundays at Hidden Villa’s Dana Center, 26870 Moody Road, Los Altos Hills.

The musical lineup ranges from bluegrass to classic rock.

Community Briefs

JustREAD seeks volunteers

Local non-profit JustREAD seeks volunteer tutors for junior high and high school students in the area struggling to keep up in their classes.