Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

To all the supporters and contributors of our two largest fundraisers of the year, we say…

October was a huge month for us at Hands4Hope.  Our two largest fundraisers of the year take place, our Haunted House as well as the Benefit Dinner and Costume Ball.  We couldn’t do them without the generosity of our community members and local businesses.   The funds raised through these events are key to making the programs we do possible.  Hands4Hope currently serves 1,250 young people through our after-school program, in addition to having a service learning program at fourteen schools from Sacramento to Placerville. Youth are coming out of our program more confident, more aware, and more willing to take on issues facing their community.

The Haunted House

The Hands4Hope Haunted House has been a two-year process in the making by a group of individuals and volunteers who gave their time and resources.  Thank you to our Haunted House Committee for planning, developing and executing this huge undertaking of creating our most elaborate haunted house yet, the Temple of Terror.  Thank you to Eric Zeps (Design Lead​) and team, H4H Board Member Doug Busch (Props and Engineering Lead)​, Kimberly​ Rumph (Cast & Costume Coordinator​), and Gen Walk (Project Coordinator)​, as well as adult volunteers Kristin Beal, Cindy Abraham, Mike Bassett, Rick Craine, Christy Leflar, and Dave Martinez.

Thank you to our youth volunteers who assisted in building, decorating, casting and running our Haunted House: Andrew Bassett, Jacob Bassett, Jordan Bui, Aiden Burrell, Mathew Cruz, Carson DeGeorge, Troy De La Cruz, Katie Ellis, Destry Fitzpatrick, Riley Fitzpatrick, Jack Fowler, Kaden Jeppsen, William Landry, Zoe Leflar, Paul Mahui, Marissa Marks, and Rick Morrill.  Nelson Madison, Laura Nepo, Jannat Randhawa, Laura Roberts, Marco Sanchez, Thomas Schmitt, Bailee Seo, and Caroline Shank.  Claire Snyder, Megan Sollenberger, Sydney Tamplin, Haley Tangen, Ryan VanOvereem, Nimi Virk and Camy Wilsom.  Tyler Francis, Haley Lehtola (H4H Youth Board Member), Jake Phillips, ​Sarah Reinhart, ​Thomas​ Schmitt, Austin Reynolds, LeAnna Ordanza, and Conner Bellinger.

Thank you also to the adults who supported these youth on a regular basis: Gen Walk, Tori Loba, Madeleine Vadenais, Page Phelan, Bev Ching, Inga & Todd Buckendorf, Dorcey Fitzpatrick, John Tamplin, Kristin Beal, Janine Wilson, Lisa Allen, Christy Leflar, Yoko Kono, Terese Ellis, Carol Misso, Ying Cole, Marcie Dalton, Mike Marks, Cheryl Kiyama, Cindy and T Abraham, Sarah and Stan Henjum.

Thank you to our Marketing Committee, who created our largest marketing campaign of community awareness of the haunted house.  Our Marketing Committee includes Becky Davis of Intel (H4H Board member), Rick Fergerson of Fergerson Financial (H4H Board Member), Page Phelan of Verizon (H4H Board Member), Sam Phelan (H4H Youth Board Member), and Samantha DeLeon (H4H Communications Coordinator).

Thank you to the El Dorado Hills Town Center a development by the Mansour Company for providing the location of the Haunted House.  To Kevin Mooney of Kinetic Design who created the Temple of Terror graphic as well as to local business Ink It for fast turnarounds on our posters, banners and other marketing collateral as well as to Grapevine Apparel for their assistance in printing our Haunted House volunteer shirts.

Thank you to our Haunted House sponsors, KERRY LEE Remarkable Jewelry, Datwyler Orthodontics, Fergerson Financial, ESI Builders & Remodelers, Tri-One Electric, Inc, and the El Dorado Hills Town Center A Development by Mansour Company.  As well as to Hop House for sponsoring our tickets.

Thank you to Union Mine High School, Folsom High School, Ponderosa High School, Camerado Middle School, Herbert Green Middle School, Marina Village Middle School, and Rolling Hills Middle School for promoting our Haunted House by hosting a school night.

The event was a great success, making over $12,000 to support our school based serving learning programs.

The Benefit Dinner and Costume Ball

The Benefit Dinner and Costume Ball is our is our most important annual fundraiser  and this year’s Intergalatic Shindig at Area 51 was out-of-this-world!  This event is planned months in advance and couldn’t be done without the time and effort of our Benefit Dinner Committee.  Thank you to this year’s committee, which included Committee Chair Debi Harlow (H4H Board member), Jessie Baratta of El Dorado Disposal, Leslie Fox (H4H Parent Advisory Committee member) and Shan Harkleroad (H4H Office Manager). 

Our Platinum Sponsors provide support to assist our programs all year long and they are a big part of funding the benefit dinner.  Thank you to these sponsors – El Dorado Disposal, Wells Fargo, Seafloor, Blue Shield of California, Fergerson Financial, US Bank, The Gift of Kids, Datwyler Orthodontics, El Dorado Hills Town Center a development by the Mansour Company.  Also, thank you to the dinner’s Table Sponsors AT&T, CBS13/CW31, Serrano El Dorado, Syblon Reid, TechShop, and Western Sign Company. 

The night of the event everything looked and sounded amazing.  Thank you to these local businesses and individuals who made that possible – Clarity Audio Video Lighting, Diane Wilkinson Catering, Madrona Vineyards, Menka Belgal Photography, Placerville Brewing Company, Deanna Santana, Eric Zeps and our Youth and Adult Volunteers who assisted in decorating and serving that night.

Thank you also to those who donated to our Live, Silent, and Dessert Auction.  And thank you to all who attended and supported Hands4Hope that evening!

The event was a wonderful success and because of all of the support, we were able to reach our goal of $30,000. These funds will be used to support our youth development and outreach programs that are life changing for the youth involved and those they serve.