Foothill Brings In $48K to Go Toward School Programs

By Paul Truex

After a five-year hiatus from group fundraising at , Saturday's inaugural “Denim and Diamonds” event, coupled with another effort, brought in almost $50,000.

Money will also go toward athletics, band, graduation and other programs that have fallen victim to wide-ranging budget cuts.

Held at the in downtown Pleasanton and hosted by the Foothill Boosters, parents, alumni and Foothill High staff came together to enjoy music, socialize, and to of course foster community support the Falcon student programs.  

While the nationally acclaimed Foothill Jazz band provided the background music, Foothill supporters enjoyed the opportunity to share high school memories of their own, reconnect with old friends, and exchange ideas about future fundraising initiatives that would further enhance the student experience.

Periodically, music was interrupted while a live auctioneer and several sidekicks encouraged the crowd to up-the-bid on a variety of donated items — with all proceeds benefiting Foothill student programs.  

At the end of the evening, and true to the theme of the event, a large diamond donated by Jewelry by Design and sapphire necklace donated by were awarded to two lucky winners. 

Both jewelers are longtime supporters of the Falcon community.  

Also, a framed and personally autographed poster of the current number one hit movie “Think Like a Man” was snagged by an eager fan of Gabrielle Union.  Union, an award-nominated Hollywood actress (FHS ’91) donated the poster after hearing of the event from her Pleasanton friends.  

In only three short hours, the Foothill Boosters had grossed more than $20,000.

In addition, in the weeks prior to the Denim and Diamond event, an online auction collected an additional $25,000 in bids on items donated from community individuals, various Bay Area companies, and several Foothill graduate athletes — including Brandon Crawford, shortstop for the San Francisco Giants.  

Various Foothill Falcon student teams got involved by donating their time and labor for a good cause, adding just over $5,400 to the boosters' efforts.  

“We were very excited to see the results of the online auction after only scratching the surface of our community and alumni network” said Katrina Edwards, one of the parent volunteers responsible for coordinating the fundraising effort.  

“To see this type of outpouring for our initial ‘Denim and Diamond’ evening is truly wonderful and bodes well for the future of the Foothill Falcons.” 

Cuts to state education funding and recent decisions by the have eliminated funding sources for Foothill High School student athletics, band, and graduation. These decisions have led to a revitalized effort by parents, boosters, and staff to find creative opportunities to fill the gap. 

“Denim and Diamonds was a huge, first success for Foothill,” said Brenda McFarlane.

“The word is easily spreading about Foothill’s needs and what is required to provide the types of quality student programs that can no longer be sustained by state and city funding alone. This beautiful and fun evening allowed us to spread the word and get the community excited about our larger annual Gala event, ‘Falcon Royale’ in November.”   

The evening was capped off with a thank you to all the donors who provided support to the fundraising effort, including '', a new downtown start-up company founded by a Foothill alumnus who provided the decorations for the event.

Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story said that the graduation ceremony has been completely saved through fundraising. That is not the case; the Foothill ceremony is still in jeopardy and fundraising efforts are ongoing.