You may think we have superpowers, but it takes more than The Taylor Family Foundation (TTFF) staff of five to pull off a fundraiser like Day in the Park (DITP). We couldn’t imagine setting a goal of raising over one million dollars in a six-hour window to fund TTFF’s programs without the gracious help of our ambassadors and volunteers.

Some, like Angie Coffee, have been around from the beginning. She and Elaine met when they both served on the board of Mount Diablo Hospital. They clicked immediately. A true believer in the foundation’s mission, Coffee has filled countless Day in the Park tables with philanthropically-minded guests, many of whom returned year after year to raise their paddles high to send kids to camp.

Others, like Kirk Reynolds, helped construct incredible Live Auction packages for us. Super Bowl tickets – no problem. Final Four – you got it. How about driving a race car, attending NFL Game Day, and dinner with Steve Mariucci? Each year Reynolds comes up with a handful of packages that attract some of the highest bids. 

Besides the assistance of our great Ambassadors, Day in the Park wouldn’t be possible without the labor of over 400 volunteers. From helping set up the day before, assisting with registration, check out, helping vendor tables, to the enormous clean-up effort, every volunteer’s work is needed and appreciated. How do you organize that many people and make sure everything goes smoothly? That’s where our seasoned supervisors come in. Each supervisor is put in charge of one aspect of DITP, whether it be getting people parked and on the shuttle bus, registration, Epicurean Ensemble set up or event breakdown. They are responsible for managing their set of volunteers and ensure the day runs as seamlessly as possible – even if it means sending people to downtown Livermore to get ice because a truck never made its way out to camp.

For many of our supervisors, volunteering became a family affair. Angie and Rich Cordero first attended Day in the Park at Barry and Elaine’s Lafayette home as fill-in guests for a couple who couldn’t make it at the last minute. When Elaine got up to speak, Cordero knew that TTFF was where she wanted her family to be. 

Although she has volunteered for the foundation in a myriad of ways, Cordero says it’s what her family received from TTFF that has touched her most. In addition to lifelong friendships, her children grew to be more compassionate people because of their exposure to the foundation. Her oldest learned from an early age that it’s ok for children to be different. Her middle child was a summer intern up at camp, and her youngest, inspired by mentor, Elaine Taylor, sat on the board of the organization Running With Love while she was a student at Carondelet High School. 

Ken Varallo has a similar story. He was working with a youth group and a mom recruited him to help out with parking at the Taylor’s home in Lafayette. He never looked back. Varallo took over the supervisor role and organized parking at Day in the Park for nearly two decades. When the fundraiser moved to camp, his wife Denise and sons Aidan and Noah joined the family volunteer team. In addition to parking, Varallo worked the bank, carts, manned the office, and VIP registration. He says, “For us, we took one look at the kids who had life-threatening and debilitating diseases, in an environment where they were allowed to forget their issues and just be kids, and knew we needed to be involved. The smiles on their faces, their ability to see other kids, their own ages, with similar issues and their laughter, is more than enough reward. It reminds us all how lucky we all are with our various issues, and the importance of paying goodness forward.”