March 21, 2005

How many people do you think can consume 200 pounds of delicious, fresh, chilled cracked crab in 2 hours? Exactly 100! Little Brown Church members and friends of the community stuffed themselves on all-you-can eat crab, pasta, salad and bread and then danced the night away at the church's Crab Feed fundraiser and Silent Auction on March 12. The event was a huge success netting the church's youth and children's program approximately $4,250.

Although the event had been sold out in advance, hungry people stopped by the event all day and into the night to try to snag a seat in the beautifully decorated Sunol Event Center. Cindy Frillman and Bonnie Feltrop choose an under-the-sea theme and magically transformed the dining room into something that looked like a scene from a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon. The tables were adorned with sea-green tablecloths and lighted votives sat atop piles of sand in the middle of each table. The tables were adorned with childrens sand toys and colorful sand buckets were provided to collect the discarded crab shells.

A big thank you goes to the following persons and business' that made generous donations to this event; Cache Creek Casino Resort, Espirit de Vie Spa, Girasole Restaurant, Elliston Vineyards, Little Valley Vineyards, Fenestra Winery, Tenuta Vineyards, Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards. Lou and Peggy Cohen of West Coast Baking donated several different varieties of the delicious cheesecake served for dessert.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the band "Un...leashed", whose members came from far and wide to donate their time and talent to this fundraiser. Band members are: Ben and Sharon Hudson, Guitar and Vocals, who are longtime Pleasantonians who have recently retired to Aptos; Mike Gordon, Bass and Vocals, of Tracy; Patty Warwick, Vocals and Flute, of Tracy; Dr. Doug Soloman, Drums, of Stockton; Mark Simmons, Guitar and Vocals, of Tracy; and John Robertson, Guitar, Harmonica and Vocals, of Tracy. After dinner this talented group of musicians had the entire dining room cleared of people and on their feet dancing.

Several of the church's youth group members were on hand to assist in the evening's activities by dumping crab buckets, replenishing iced tea and water glasses, fetching bread, clearing tables and washing dishes. Appropriately dressed in crisp white aprons were; youth group leader, Rebecca Dogan, Danika Beard, Jovan Beard, Becca Brown, Jessica Christian and David, Nick and Julia Robertson.

With only one month to plan the entire event were the church's faithful committee members; Peggy Cohen, Rev. Mary Conant, Bonnie Feltrop, Cindy Frillman, Chris Huelfer, Doug Massagli, John Robertson and Robin Spindler; and a special thanks to those terrific helpers, John Beard, Wayne Couto, Bob Frillman, Caren Foster, Megan Huelfer, Rev. Ron and Lisa Hunt, Brenda Keogh, Landy White and Zouri Zale.

"Thanks to overwhelming community support, particularly Sunolian Skip Hinsley who sourced the crab and other food, and together with his partners Gerarda and Barney Stocking and Bill Speer provided the Sunol Event Center. The crab feed was a huge success for a very worthy cause - the future of our children", said John Robertson.

Given the great success of this event, church members are already currently planning next years Crab Feed fundraiser, so those of you who missed out this year will have the opportunity to attend this very fun get-together next year.

The Little Brown Church invites you to join them in celebrating Holy Week. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services will be held at 7:00 p.m. Easter Sunday service will be held at 10:30 a.m. with a good old-fashioned egg hunt immediately following the worship service.