The 22nd annual Festival of Trees returned once again to the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in Morgan Hill on November 22nd. This is the premier fundraiser for Rebekah Childrens Services of Gilroy, and the gala is always a veritable who’s who of the business and political leaders of the area. Local Morgan Hill business owner Jayson Stebbins reprised his role as emcee once more. The VIP’s this year included speaker of the California State Assembly, Robert Rivas, who was pleased to recount his experience presenting Rebekah Children’s Services with an award last year as non-profit of the year for California, and there were plenty of stories about the good work that’s been done in our county by this organization. Two of our district lodges were specifically thanked for their donations: Mountain View 244 and True Fellowship 52 each brought checks to present. Plus, both Saratoga 428 and Cupertino 70 showed their support by each purchasing entire tables (each one a $2000 donation in its own right).
The headline sponsor was none other than Rebekah Gayle Joslin from Stella #22, who also won a beautiful gift basket by turning in the most gaming chips from the casino portion of the event (she didn’t even play the casino games herself – she just asked people for their chips!).
The meal was excellent, as usual, including a juicy and tender pork loin stuffed with asparagus tips. The vegetarians enjoyed a pasta dish that smelled amazing, but this writer didn’t taste it.
Most of the attendees were employees and owners of the different businesses that supported RCS’s mission, many of them honored in the program as sponsors, but there were a lot of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs as well. It was enjoyable being able to meet the other attendees, and several of them were curious about the Odd Fellows, and even asked for information on how to contact lodges in their area in order to find out more about them.
Throughout the evening, the various auctions raised tens of thousands of dollars for RCS, and the celebrants had a wonderful time.
Next year’s Festival of Trees will be on Saturday, November 21st 2026.
— by Mason Wolf