Home Tour, Boutique and a Fond Farewell
Valley Weekly. She can be
reached at robin@cvweekly.com
or (818) 248-2740.
Coming into this week, my thoughts were on only one thing: the Prom Plus holiday home tour and boutique that is taking place this Saturday.
This is one of the biggest fundraisers for Prom Plus, the after prom event held for CVHS seniors and their guests. Prom Plus takes place at the Crescenta Cañada YMCA from midnight until 5 a.m. after prom (this year on May 24) and doesn’t cost prom attendees anything. Prom Plus fundraises throughout the year to raise the $25,000 to put on the expansive event. In addition to the tour and boutique, we hold on-campus barbecues and (my personal favorite) the Taste of Montrose on the first Sunday in May.
But the home tour has been around since the late ’90s and was very successful under the direction of then-president Marian Mirsky.
Marian was a tremendously focused, organized person. She lassoed me into Prom Plus in 1999 when my son was a senior. Little did I know that she was actually grooming me to take her place as president.
Under Marian’s guidance, I learned how to organize a bake sale (sounds easier than it is), work the campus back to school and open house events and head up the volunteers for the home tour and the main event Prom Plus. She bolstered my confidence to try other fundraisers, too. The Taste of Montrose was born in a year when the Prom Plus coffers were low and we needed to raise some money. Between Marian and her friend and fellow volunteer extraordinaire Jean Maluccio, we were able to launch what has become a highly anticipated event for our community and beyond.
Marian’s health deteriorated over the last year. She relocated to Mountview Retirement Home and was in a wheelchair most of the time. I stopped by and we chatted about everything Prom Plus was up to. When I left, she whispered, “I love you.”
That was the last time I spoke to Marian.
She suffered a massive stroke on Thanksgiving and died early yesterday morning.
As I turn my attention to this Saturday’s boutique and home tour (which I have never done as successfully as Marian), I will remember someone who placed her faith in me, who thought that investing in me would carry forward some of the good things that she had started.
The entire Prom Plus committee is grateful for what she has done for the organization and dedicates this year’s boutique and home tour to her memory.
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