We are thrilled to report that our 10th Annual Tricky Tray and Auction was our most successful ever. Thanks to the generosity of the Clinton community we were able to raise $32,000 on Saturday night, all of which will be used to directly benefit the students of Clinton. There were approximately 320 people in attendance: current Clinton parents, former Clinton parents, future Clinton parents, and four tables of our fabulous teachers and staff. It was a wonderful evening.

It takes a very big village to put this event together and there are many people to thank. Since this is my last year as a Clinton parent, I want to be sure I thank everyone properly. I am incredibly fortunate to have been a part of this community for the last eight years. Clinton is a very special place.

Thanks to my co-chair, Leah Gomberg, whose dedication to Clinton is boundless. Her work on the Tricky Tray and her vision for how things should look and run is beyond compare. I will really miss working with her on this event. Thanks to the PTA Executive Board for their support in all things related to Tricky Tray year in and year out and for donating money to buy a fabulous prize. Thanks to our amazing PTA leadership this year for their constant support. Keli Tianga and Maureen Jones are true professionals and I’ve loved working with them. Thanks to Elizabeth Aaron, Patty O’Connell, Jung Lee Masters, and Sharon Geraghty for going above and beyond all of the time and for stepping in throughout this process to be sure it would be as successful as it was. The Tricky Tray Committee was more amazing than ever: Karen Betheil, Mary Callahan (a rock star who secured many of our most valuable prizes), Eileen Campos, Shama Diegnan, Shanta Bryan Gyan, April Heeren, Amy Janay, Ilena Kasdan, Robin Leonard (another rock star in terms of prize gathering who made some great improvements to the event this year for which we are grateful), Jenny Lindstrom, Christy McElynn, Marie Todd and Janet Trzaska.

Thank you to Linda Brady, a proud Clinton parent and Keller Williams Realtor who generously donated a portion of the wine for the evening, and to Dan Dandin/DFD Consulting for generously donating beer.

Thanks to Heather Kern who designs our program every year and who does so on a very tight deadline. Her creativity, patience, and skill are much appreciated. Melissa Van Varick designed some gorgeous posters for us, again on short notice, and they were beautiful. Jeremy Moss was, as always, our fantastic DJ, and our new emcee Brad Schenker stepped in and took on this massive job with grace, skill, and a great sense of humor. He was amazing. We had an awesome group of bakers who baked and plated the beautiful dessert platters that were on each table: Leah Gomberg, John Hatton-Henigan, Shama Diegnan, Jackie Lahey, Keli Tianga, and Elizabeth Aaron. The desserts were better than ever and we even had custom-made Clinton cookies (thanks John!). And thanks to the partners of many on our Tricky Tray committee who pitched in big time including Mike Aaron, Jay O’Connell, Eric Zinner, David Gomberg and Tony McElynn.

Thanks to the local businesses, corporations, and parents who donated so many amazing prizes.
And of course thank you to our amazing teachers (who supported the event in so many ways, including collecting money for a mini iPad prize and donating countless prizes that involve spending even more time with our children than they already do). Lastly, a big thank you to Patty O’Neill and Ann Bodnar. We could not ask for more wonderful administrators. They have created an environment in which our children feel safe, happy, valued, and able to learn and do just about anything. Their commitment inspires the warmth and generosity that filled the room on Saturday night.

Cecelia Cancellaro, Co-Chair

Despite the weather, the Tricky Tray team has been hard at work, and the set up is nearly complete!

Tricky Tray takes place, rain, snow or shine!

St. Joe’s is at 767 Prospect Street, in Maplewood. The event is located in the church hall (basement). Follow the path along the left side of the church and proceed down the stairs. We will have red balloons and signs to help guide you to the entrance.

Please carpool! Parking is limited and Saturday night mass will be finishing up when Tricky Tray doors open at 6 pm. Please follow street parking regulations, or use the parking lots nearby. (There is a church parking lot around the corner and there are several municipal lots within walking distance.)

Remember we take cash and checks only! We’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night to celebrate Clinton School.

Be safe!
Clinton PTA

Apologies for an additional post but the program for Saturday’s Tricky Tray and Auction has an error on the instructions page and mentions The Woman’s Club.
The Tricky Tray/Auction is at St. Joe’s Church Hall, 767 Prospect Street, Maplewood.

The Woman’s Club was our old venue and somehow slipped by us in the program.

See you Saturday!

Lastly, we are at full capacity so it is likely that we will not have enough space to take walk-in attendees the night of the event. If you have a question about reservations, you can contact Patty O’Connell.

We have now uploaded the entire program for our 10th Tricky Tray and Auction on our website so you can browse through the amazing prizes we have in so many categories! Here is the program.

The event takes place, rain, snow or shine and it sounds like things should be cleared up by Saturday afternoon anyway. St. Joe’s is at 767 Prospect Street, in Maplewood. The event is located in the church hall which is actually behind the church building so you will enter the church grounds around the corner from the actual church building.

Doors open at 6 pm.

Remember we take cash and checks only!

Looking forward to a fabulous evening!

Hope you are joining us Saturday, February 9th, at 6pm at St. Joseph’s Church Hall for the 10th Annual Clinton Tricky Tray and Auction.

We have amazing prizes. In the past few days we’ve sent out a preview of our Live Auction and Dinner Party prizes. And in the next day or two we will upload the program to the Clinton website so you can see everything. Some highlights include VIP tickets to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Conan, tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, an iPad Mini (donated by the Clinton School Faculty and Staff), a Kindle Fire (donated by the Clinton PTA Executive Board), amazing jewelry, museum memberships, a two-week session at Camp Cody in New Hampshire (www.campcody.com) which is valued at $2,900 and has a minimum bid of $1400, a weekend overnight getaway to the lovely Dorral Arrowwood Hotel in Rye Brook, NY, a new client package for the wildly popular Bar Method program in Summit, an American Girl doll (Saige) and her dog, and much, much more.

Since it’s our 10th anniversary, we will also have a photo booth with a special Clinton School background so guests can document this always fun night and help us celebrate our 10th year which promises to be the biggest and best ever (close to 300 attendees).

Some important reminders:
1. We provide beer, wine, and dessert and you are free to bring whatever food you like. And don’t forget utensils and plates if you’ll need them.

2. We accept cash and checks only.

3. We do clean up on our own and it is a HUGE undertaking (like everything else about this event). Please be sure to clear your own table. Trash bags will be on hand and it will be a great help. If you are willing to do a bit more cleaning, we can use extra hands. Please contact Elizabeth Aaron.

4. We always try to improve our process and this year we will hang posters indicating the winners of the silent auction prizes so the emcee will not have to read through all of them. Our new emcee, Brad Schenker, will tell you when silent auction categories are closing and once they do, we will record the information on a receipt (that will be waiting for you at check-out table) and on a poster that we will hang on the wall for you to check. Be sure to check the posters before you leave to see if you won the prizes you bid on, then visit the checkout table to pay and pick up your prize.

5. The yellow and red prize winning numbers will be called out as always, and we will have our very popular Live Auction as well. Additionally, we’ll have a 50/50 cash raffle and we are selling raffle tickets to win an iPad (winner to be announced at end of night).

We are looking forward to Saturday.

Cecelia Cancellaro and Leah Gomberg
Chairs

Hi All,

Just a few more days until our 10th Annual Tricky Tray and Auction! We will make the whole program available on our website shortly but for now we wanted you to have a preview of the fabulous Live Auction prizes we have for this year.

Take a look at the linked document. Amazing prizes! Lots of great tickets, a wonderful cabin in the North Carolina mountains for a week, your child as Principal for the Day at Clinton School, a handyman for a day…and more!

This is going to be our biggest Tricky Tray/Auction ever and we’re sure it will be the best.

Remember, we can only take cash and checks and this is an adults-only evening.

If you have questions about reservations contact Patty O’Connell.

All best,
Cecelia Cancellaro and Leah Gomberg, Co-chairs