Normally at this time of year, high-fives would be shared as camp sessions wrap up for the summer and our attention would be laser-focused on last-minute preparations for Day in the Park (DITP). Then 2020 came along, and like everyone else, we were forced to hit the pause button. For the first time, we canceled an entire season of camp programs because of state and local health orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the second time ever, the first occurring in 2009 during the recession, we are not holding our only fundraiser, Day in the Park.
From the early days of The Taylor Family Foundation (TTFF), back when Barry and Elaine hosted everyone in their Lafayette yard, Day in the Park was a family affair. An astute business owner, Barry would calendar the Taylor Made Business Systems national sales meetings so that his managers could support the fundraiser. Throughout the years, many members of the Taylor Made family would help out during the day, acting as live-auction spotters, photographers, and preparing desserts and serving food to live auction tables.
In 1999, once the initial build out of Camp Arroyo was completed, TTFF moved the fundraiser to the meadow at camp. Now with room to expand, DITP became the East Bay’s premier food and wine fundraiser. People from all nine Bay Area counties flocked to Livermore on the last Sunday in August to enjoy gourmet bites from 4-star restaurants and wines from all over Northern and Central California.
Day in the Park became known as a great place to bid on one-of-a-kind silent and live auction lifestyle packages. Local sports teams donated signed jerseys, team balls, and helmets, which raised tens of thousands of dollars. Besides memorabilia, guests rushed to outbid each other on VIP event tickets, luxury boxes, wine flights, chef dinners at local restaurants, weekend getaways and more. And that was just the silent auction! When those tables closed for the day, guests would move to the live auction tables where the real frenzy would occur.
From private jet getaways, luxury cruises, tickets to Wimbledon, cooking school in Italy, to in-home chef dinners and signed guitars, the live auction which at its height included 60 packages, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Throughout the years, we pared down the number of packages, not only so guests could get home at a reasonable hour but also to accommodate the addition of a live band that would get people on their feet to wrap up the day on a high note. Due to the generosity of everyone involved, TTFF has been able to take Day in the Park from a $56,000 backyard fundraiser in 1990 to consistently raising over $1 million since 2000.
One of the unexpected benefits of the moving DITP from Barry & Elaine’s Lafayette home to Camp Arroyo was the bond it forged between TTFF’s supporters and the children we serve. Guests toured the facility, and for the first time, many donors had the opportunity to see what their contributions helped create. After a couple of seasons under our belt, we launched the “camper parade.” Guests love seeing the kids and the kids appreciated the carnival-like day
we planned for them up in the main part of camp as well as the chance to come down
to meet all their friends who helped to build camp.