Presentation at Healdsburg City Hall on April 20th, 2015
I’m Carol Noack and this is Denny Drowty. We’re fortunate to call ourselves volunteers. And tonight we’re fortunate also to honor our mentor and one of the most prolific Healdsburg volunteers you are ever likely to encounter.
Tonight Elise Bulger receives the annual Marie Sparks Memorial Award, which recognizes outstanding volunteerism benefitting the residents and community of Healdsburg.
Elise has been supporting this community through volunteerism for more than a quarter century. 25 years ago she helped launch Healdsburg Little League. Her kids, who have gathered here tonight, recall her early work while they were students at Cardinal Newman. Wherever she saw a need, she stepped in to fill it. Other parents considered her a Supermom. One simple story we heard is that on a very hot day at Alexander Valley School, she showed up with popsicles for every single one of them. Students can’t learn if they’re too hot to pay attention, right?
Either as a board member or committee head, no detail or need is beyond her grasp. Elise believes that volunteering is not only good for the community, but it’s tons of fun, and a great place to develop lifelong friendships with good people. And she inspires so many more of us, with her enthusiasm and strong work ethic.
She’s not only contributing to our community on an individual level, she is teaching more of us how to help, and showing us how we can enrich our own lives and those of our neighbors by following in her footsteps.
But her main focus, and where she has the most fun, is developing fundraiser events. Not only does she create them and manage them, but she does much of the detail work herself, even testing processes so that when her volunteer crew shows up she can walk them through each chore.
A decade or two ago, those events were for Kid Street Learning Center, Alexander Valley Ladies Aid, and the local schools. Charlie Siebert, who worked closely with her at the Healthcare Foundation, believes our hospital would not be open today if it weren’t for Elise; he believes she’s responsible for raising close to $1 million in revenue for the Foundation.
In fact, that’s where we first met Elise, when Denny and I volunteered to help out at the extravagant Vines & Wines fundraiser for the Foundation. She also created events for the Alliance Center.
For years, she was one of the most active members of the board of our animal shelter, developing memorable events and making sure she gathered unique auction packages. But she didn’t just create those big events. Every week she’d go around town gathering the coins that pile up in the little donation boxes you see on the counters of various local businesses – no chore is unimportant to her.
And as an animal lover, Elise also helped create the Cioppino feed and auction that funded the launch of the large dog park at the Villa.
Today her work continues. Elise didn’t sleep much then and she doesn’t sleep much now, staying up all hours making thank-you gifts for donors and event guests, stuffing envelopes, and gluing inventive auction signs.
At Christmastime, she oversees Giving Trees at the local banks and other sites.
She composes gift bags of childrens’ books for all of the families participating in the annual Presents Project, so that the kids will have educational tools along with the
many other gifts that the Presents Project provides for needy families during the holidays.
Elise sits on the board of the Raven Performing Arts Theater, making many things possible with her can-do spirit. Any time you step in the lobby of them Raven and feel like you’ve arrived at the best party ever, that’s because Elise has taken charge of decorating the lobby. You see her handiwork at the Mr. Healdsburg Pageant, Dancing with the Stars, Cocktails & Characters, the Raven Players Gala, and Stage Door Club events – she doesn’t miss a moment.
And many of you probably attended her latest event last Saturday, the Knight at the Villa dinner and auction for the Boys & Girls Club. She spent the last year working up this year’s medieval experience for the guests and donors, and she’s already formulating fantasy experiences for the next 3 years’ worth of fundraisers.
For the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County, Elise was board chair for 3 years, a board member for 8 years, and a community council member for 7 years. Through her events, she’s raised almost a half a million dollars for the organization. She’s even tackled chores to improve the building, including painting, basic plumbing, and more. She was a driving force in the merger of the clubs in Healdsburg, Windsor, Rohnert Park and Cloverdale resulting in 35 locations across the County serving 6000 young people every year.
Tonight this room is filled with people who have been fortunate to work with and be inspired by Elise. Would you all stand up and join me in applauding this exceptional woman?
Tonight Elise Bulger receives the annual Marie Sparks Memorial Award, which recognizes outstanding volunteerism benefitting the residents and community of Healdsburg.
Elise has been supporting this community through volunteerism for more than a quarter century. 25 years ago she helped launch Healdsburg Little League. Her kids, who have gathered here tonight, recall her early work while they were students at Cardinal Newman. Wherever she saw a need, she stepped in to fill it. Other parents considered her a Supermom. One simple story we heard is that on a very hot day at Alexander Valley School, she showed up with popsicles for every single one of them. Students can’t learn if they’re too hot to pay attention, right?
Either as a board member or committee head, no detail or need is beyond her grasp. Elise believes that volunteering is not only good for the community, but it’s tons of fun, and a great place to develop lifelong friendships with good people. And she inspires so many more of us, with her enthusiasm and strong work ethic.
She’s not only contributing to our community on an individual level, she is teaching more of us how to help, and showing us how we can enrich our own lives and those of our neighbors by following in her footsteps.
But her main focus, and where she has the most fun, is developing fundraiser events. Not only does she create them and manage them, but she does much of the detail work herself, even testing processes so that when her volunteer crew shows up she can walk them through each chore.
A decade or two ago, those events were for Kid Street Learning Center, Alexander Valley Ladies Aid, and the local schools. Charlie Siebert, who worked closely with her at the Healthcare Foundation, believes our hospital would not be open today if it weren’t for Elise; he believes she’s responsible for raising close to $1 million in revenue for the Foundation.
In fact, that’s where we first met Elise, when Denny and I volunteered to help out at the extravagant Vines & Wines fundraiser for the Foundation. She also created events for the Alliance Center.
For years, she was one of the most active members of the board of our animal shelter, developing memorable events and making sure she gathered unique auction packages. But she didn’t just create those big events. Every week she’d go around town gathering the coins that pile up in the little donation boxes you see on the counters of various local businesses – no chore is unimportant to her.
And as an animal lover, Elise also helped create the Cioppino feed and auction that funded the launch of the large dog park at the Villa.
Today her work continues. Elise didn’t sleep much then and she doesn’t sleep much now, staying up all hours making thank-you gifts for donors and event guests, stuffing envelopes, and gluing inventive auction signs.
At Christmastime, she oversees Giving Trees at the local banks and other sites.
She composes gift bags of childrens’ books for all of the families participating in the annual Presents Project, so that the kids will have educational tools along with the
many other gifts that the Presents Project provides for needy families during the holidays.
Elise sits on the board of the Raven Performing Arts Theater, making many things possible with her can-do spirit. Any time you step in the lobby of them Raven and feel like you’ve arrived at the best party ever, that’s because Elise has taken charge of decorating the lobby. You see her handiwork at the Mr. Healdsburg Pageant, Dancing with the Stars, Cocktails & Characters, the Raven Players Gala, and Stage Door Club events – she doesn’t miss a moment.
And many of you probably attended her latest event last Saturday, the Knight at the Villa dinner and auction for the Boys & Girls Club. She spent the last year working up this year’s medieval experience for the guests and donors, and she’s already formulating fantasy experiences for the next 3 years’ worth of fundraisers.
For the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County, Elise was board chair for 3 years, a board member for 8 years, and a community council member for 7 years. Through her events, she’s raised almost a half a million dollars for the organization. She’s even tackled chores to improve the building, including painting, basic plumbing, and more. She was a driving force in the merger of the clubs in Healdsburg, Windsor, Rohnert Park and Cloverdale resulting in 35 locations across the County serving 6000 young people every year.
Tonight this room is filled with people who have been fortunate to work with and be inspired by Elise. Would you all stand up and join me in applauding this exceptional woman?