Diana Penna's Blog

Sac Town in National Mag

Wed, 12 May 2010 21:15:41 GMT

Check it out...I like reading Woman's Day for Mommie Time and some Sac hot spots made it! Very Cool! Sorry it's been awhile on the blogging front ....we have lots going on at the television stations too...Marianne is emceeing Sac Tree Foundations Hero Awards this week! Tomorrow night we sponsor the United Cerebral Palsy Humanitarian of the Year Award! Sam and Pallas emcee that one and our great commerical production crew (Jeff Bloch and Mike Erickson) put together a terrific Gala video for it! And Friday night is the Child Abuse Prevention Center's BoogieWoogie Bugle Night Gala! All wonderful causes! Hope your week has been goin' well! The link to Woman's Day Sac feature is below!

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Family-Lifestyle/Travel/Take-a-Trip-to-Sacramento.html

Saving Sofia Update

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:36:52 GMT

Wow! What a weekend it has been for the Sanchez Family, adopting a little girl named Sofia from an Eastern European orphanage! Despite incredible odds getting there due to ashes from Iceland volcano, Mom and Dad made it and have visited with this little angel. Again, I can't do the story justice with my blog because I am not living it! If you want to read really what could make for a heartwarming movie, check out www.savingsofia.blogspot.com for the details. All weekend I checked the blog for updates, cried, smiled...so you can imagine the emotional roller coaster the Sanchez' have been on!

I went to the special fundraiser last week and bought some neat stuff from Mona Mia (personalized monogrammed items) . I can't say what I bought because it was a few Father's Day presents! So cool! Sometimes my hubby checks out my blog so I can't go into details! I also got a beautiful handmade hair clip and personalized stationary for my Mom. Finally, I am ahead of the game for presents! Part of proceeds went to Saving Sofia fund and it was a neat girl's night out which I never do! A few thoughts I will share with you about this incredible story. Little Sofia has Down Syndrome. She is 14 months old and during her time at the orphange, has never had a visitor. She also was never outside! If you check out the Sanchzez family blog you will see links to other folks who have adopted overseas with similar stories. It truly is amazing. Lots of praying taking place from friends and family in Northern California, praying for the rest of this family's journey to be smooth so they can give Sofia a forever family.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT FOR GREAT CAUSE

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:34:38 GMT

You are probably aware of the wonderful things the Sacramento Children Home does. It offers residential , community based and educational programs that serve more than 2200 families and 3600 children of the Greater Sacramento region each year! It's been around 142 years! Well, to benefit the Sacramento Crisis Nurseries, there's a great event on Sunday April 25th from 6- 8:30pm with shopping, refreshments and appetizers! It's at the White House Black Market in the Fountains Shopping Center in Roseville! Whether you’re looking for a stunning party dress or a classic ensemble for a weekend event let their fashion experts be your personal stylist at this private shopping event…LOVE THAT! A percentage of the evening’s sales will be donated to the Sacramento Crisis Nurseries. For more on the Sac Children's Home log onto www.kidshome.org. You will read about how they help and change lives of local children for the better!

RSVP the Girl's Night Out at ceweske@aol.com .

CUSTOMER SERVICE KUDOS+OTHER STUFF

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:57:25 GMT

Oops I went a whole week without blogging ..but I have a bunch of sticky notes around my desk and home reminding me of what I want to share with ya! First the fun Customer Service Kudos: Z Pies in Placerville! Yum..they have a variety of the delicious meals and are pretty cheap considering each one (think chicken pot pie but yummier with different fillings...Jambalya is my favorite) averages about 5-6 bucks! Anywho, recently went and bought a dozen to make dinner easy and dessert ones look yummy too...haven't eatne them yet! Service was great by the young gal behind the counter. I just know this girl was not the owner but felt like she was because you could tell she took pride in what she told me and how she carried herself. Awesome! Customer Servie Kudos #2-Hey Day restaurant on Main Street in downtown Placerville...yum! Yes I was up in Placerville recently if ya haven't figured that one out! Great menu...cool different things to choose from. Anywho, my other thought which I should have told ya about uh a week and a half ago.....we raised $4000 during that Dough for Dough special day April 3rd! If you recall, Papa Murphy's donated sales of their delicious cookie dough that day and wow what a response! That was the day before Easter....I got a lasagna for Easter dinner that day and a pizza for dinner that night so instead of having to go grocery shopping, I did my food shopping at Papa Murphy that day! Their new lasagna was a perfect Easter treat! Ok I think that is it for now! We are wrapping up the wonderful Change for Change for campaign but ya can still donate until April 19th at Wells Fargo, Grocery Outlet and Pap Murphy locations! Also, Wells Fargo is starting a special ATM donation program so you'll be able to donate at the ATM machines too..check out Good Day tomorrow when we talk about that!

DONATIONS ARE COMIN' IN!

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:41:39 GMT

As you know, we have a wonderful campaign taking place benefitting Shriners right here in Sacramento! It's called Change for Change! More than 160 locations are collecting change for this amazing facility that helps kids free of charge with burns, spinal cord injuries and orthopedics. The pic is at Shriners at the special tube structure...don't know what else to call it but it looks great! You know when we do our community campaigns truly everybody at the station gets involved and our own Steve Reinaldo from our Engineering Department built the entire structure!! You should see the work this guy does! Pic shows me along with Levi Swindel (Supervisor Engineer at Shriners), Mike Ball, the great guy running Change for Change campaign and our Sales Promotion Director on the CW side and Alan Anderson, the high energy Director of Development at Shriners! Gotta point our, Mike is this ultra creative guy a the station and came up with the entire concept! Awesome! Anywho, we got to dump $90.08 worth of change collected from the Watt Avenue Grocery Outlet store! You can donate, by the way, at particpating Grocery Outlet stores, Papa Murphy's Pizza places (yum!) and Wells Fargo branches online or in person! This campaign is so neat! Look for some amazing stories on CBS 13 newscasts about the life changing work done at Shriners as well as fun live shots on Good Day Sacramento. Campaign ends April 19th so get to one of our locations and give your spare change.....a little goes a long way and you can make a difference! Thanks!

HD DINNER CELEBRATION OF HOPE PICTURES

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:18:53 GMT

Here’s a look at some more pictures from the wonderful HD Dinner last week. Thanks to Alex Arnold Photography ( www.alexarnold.printroom.com) who graciously took the pictures at the evening’s festivities!

SAVING SOFIA EVENT A SUCCESS!

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:41:50 GMT

I just wanted to follow up from a few blogs ago! The crab feed to save the beautiful little orphan, Sofia, a few weeks ago raised more than $15,000 according to the famiy's blog! Check out www.savingsofia.blogspot.com for details of this amazing journey. Oh my goodness, I can't even read the updates because I tear up..happy tears! The outpouring of support from the community, families of children with Down Syndrome, everyone has been amazing! In about two weeks the family will need to be on Sofia's country to officially begin the adoption process and they might be there as soon as April 12th! Check out the blogspot I mentioned for updates! They will warm your heart! I will keep yopu posted too!

HD Celebration of Hope/Bowling and Bocce

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:26:14 GMT

Wow...what a neat couple of nights I've had...last night emceed Culinary Clash in Modesto...more on that in next blog! Picture is from Huntington's Disease (HD) Society Dinner I emceed 2 nights ago! I will have more pics too! That's me and RN Terry Tempkin and her date! Terry (along with Dr. Vicki Wheelock) does such wonderful things for families with HD at the Center for Excellence at UC Davis Medical Center. HD is a hereditary brain disorder that slowly robs the effected individual of the ability to walk, talk, think and reason. What a wonderful group once again! It's the 8th year and this year's honorees were The Honorable Mervyn M. Dynally, Dr. Frederick Meyers (Exec. Associate Dean at UC Davis Health System and Steven Oren, VP and Commercial Loan Officer for First Northern Bank. The Heyn Family was also honored. Paul Heyn actually now cares for his son and daughter both affected by HD. What an amazing man! I will have more pics from the nice photographer who was there in a bit!

While I have you there are two neat events coming up if ya like Bowling and / or Bocce Ball! Strike Out HD Bowl-A-Thon is April 10th at Fireside Lanes located at 7901 Auburn Boulevard in Citrus Heights . Call 916-927-4400 or email the wonderful Madalyn Kruger at mhkruger@sundt.com. She is organizing all the teams and fun! There will also be cool raffles, Winning Team Prizes, lunch and of course bowling fun!

The 6th Annual Bocce Party will be Sunday April 25th at the Italian Club located at 3541 Cherryland Avenue in Stockton! Contact Madalyn as well to sign up! They also welcome folks of all levels of experience...even if ya have none! And there will be live music and entertainment along with a family style Italian Luncheon!

MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE KUDOS

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:11:44 GMT

Well thanks to my Mother-in-law's generosity we had a wonderful party for my 3 year old cutie at Incredible John's Piza in Roseville. Thank you to Alex, our party hostess who made it terrific! And I have to say, everybody there is great! Fun time! Also, a great experience was a birthday party for a 4 year old at My Gym in Folsom! Love parties now that I'm a Mom!Anywho, Kyle was the party leader assisted by Caprice and it was also fun! And keeping in the party spirit, the station got JR's Texas Barbecue to feed us today! YUM! JR is a great fun guy who really does a great job. Love that cornbread! Bring on your comments re: your terrific customer service experience!

Thanks Top Hand Ranch/An amazing story!

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:30:16 GMT

Did you see Courtney Dempsey live on Good Day this AM traveling in her cowgirl outfit from a Wells Fargo bank to Shriners Hospital in Sacramento? What a neat way to kick off Change for Change, our most recent community project benefitting Shriners! Wells Fargo's Foundation donated $20,000 to help kick off this amazing campaign! Did you see the cool Western type horse and carriage that transported Miss Courtney? Thanks to Diane and her staff of people and horses at Top Hand Ranch! The horse, by the way, was actually hit by a car last month in Old Sac and ran 5 blocks! We covered that terrible story...so sad...but this morning thehorse was in tip top shape! Top Hand Ranch also does weddings with a formal carriage...call Diane at 916-655-3444 for details! One of my co-workers used them for his wedding and loved it! You can donate your spare change to help Shriners continue their wonderful, life-saving work. Donate at any Papa Murphy's Pizza, Grocery Outlet stores and Wells Fargo locations until APril 19th!