Owed to Volunteers!

By C.J. Hirschfield

Finding caterpillar eggs. Helping kids make fairy houses. Handing out treats on Halloween. Making popcorn for a family sleepover. Pulling weeds. Leading a Toddler Storytime.

These are just a handful of the many volunteer opportunities that Fairyland offers.

As we enter the new year, I want to take a moment to thank the 540 awesome Fairyland volunteers who contributed a total of 3,700 service hours in 2018. I’d like to reflect on the amazing work they helped us accomplish — without them, we simply would not have been able to serve as many happy kids as we did.

26 volunteers recently helped us take down our Fairy Winterland lights. This helper came to us from One Brick.

Who are these fairy godparents? A snapshot:

4 volunteers contributed more than 85 hours each
7 new inspiring Toddler Storytime readers were trained
10 Monarch Magicians saved more than 500 monarch butterflies
 

All Keyed Up

By C.J. Hirschfield

“I’m a sane person,” Lela McKenna assures me. “I just have a singular obsession with Fairyland’s Magic Key.”

No kidding.

Lela – one of Fairyland’s most active volunteers – still has her very first key, which she believes she acquired in 1968. “It’s yellow, and it has the original tag,” she says.

Children’s Fairyland’s iconic Magic Key made its debut a decade earlier, in 1958. It unlocks the many storybook boxes in our park, releasing musical stories tied to our fanciful sets. For generations of Bay Area kids, the Magic Key has represented positive memories of time spent with loved ones in our little urban oasis.

Lela McKenna, volunteer extraordinaire.

There's a New Santa in Town!

By C.J. Hirschfield

A security guard for the Raiders. A longtime home healthcare attendant for a senior with Altzheimer’s. A volunteer at Children’s Fairyland for 14 years.

Eric Martin is all of the above, and we could not be more excited about his debut this Friday, the first day of our Fairy Winterland, as the park’s official St. Nick. His life experiences have taught him what it takes to excel in the position.

Eric Martin as Santa.

We ❤ Our Volunteers

By C.J. Hirschfield

As a small, local nonprofit, Children’s Fairyland depends on volunteers for many of our activities. We work with many local organizations and corporations, but individual volunteers are hugely important to us. How important? Well, this year 400 individual volunteers donated 1,600 hours of time to Fairyland, helping to ensure that our 67-year-old jewel of a park continues to shine.

Two weeks ago, we held a special event – food, drink, toasts – to honor and thank these dedicated people, whose work is matched to their varied interests and talents. Many have found a second home at Fairyland, where we shower them with fairy love. Here are a few of their stories.

Help Make a Butterfly

By C.J. Hirschfield

Around this time last year, it felt like Fairyland was running a drug operation. Dozens of people would come to our door and say that Jackie sent them; they were here to pick up the plants. 

The plants weren’t marijuana, they were milkweed – the food that monarch caterpillars need to undergo their dramatic transformation into butterflies.

Success!

Our scores of volunteers helped us find and treat monarch eggs and milkweed to prevent against disease, fostered the caterpillars at home (1,200 last year), and then released them near our park.

Well, it’s that time again, and Fairyland horticulturist Jackie Salas is sending out the word: Lake Merritt monarchs need your help! Do you have what it takes?

The Night of the Magical Popcorn

By C.J. Hirschfield

Fairyland’s final sleepover of the summer season on Aug. 19 was a sell-out. By sunset, 164 happy guests had arrived, set up their tents in our meadow, and prepared for an evening of family fun. Dinner was served, the rides were all operating, and my team was setting up for the 8 p.m. puppet show and 9 p.m. live performance. Our volunteers had rolled out the popcorn machine and were preparing to make popcorn for the shows. All was going well.

And then, the unthinkable: The popcorn machine failed. No popping kernels. No irresistible aroma of freshly popped corn.

Imagine it: You’re responsible for 164 guests who expected to be treated to one of life’s great pleasures – enjoying popcorn during a show. We’d made a promise, and it looked like we wouldn’t be able to keep it.

But this is Fairyland, after all. Magic happens here on a regular basis, and magic is what occurred that night.