Stone Ranch Foundation’s Spring Fling Gala coming March 14

It’s time to put on your dancing shoes for Stone Ranch Elementary’s inaugural Spring Fling Gala, open to all adults in the community.

The cocktail-attire fundraiser will feature dinner, dancing, auctions and more starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 14 at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road.

Tickets are $50 per person or $100 per couple, available for purchase until March 12 at www.stoneranchfoundation.org. There is also an option to sponsor a teacher to attend the gala by making a $25 donation.

The gala is the Stone Ranch Foundation’s new fundraiser, replacing its previous Girls Night Out and golf tournament, the latter primarily attracting men.

“This is the first year we’re doing a couples event,” said foundation Treasurer Jill Engen, who is co-chairing the gala with Carol Ware. “We’re trying to make this big, having a photo booth, auctioneer who is supposed to be amazing, big ticket and small auction items, and gift cards to mostly local businesses.

She said it is open to anybody in the community, not just Stone Ranch parents. Engen said their goal is 200 attendees and sponsoring all of the 17 teachers who have said they would like to attend. As of last Friday, around 80 tickets had been sold and 15 teachers had sponsors.

Gala proceeds will go toward creating a third computer lab on the 4S Ranch campus. Engen said they hope to raise at least $25,000 to fully-fund the endeavor of creating a lab with 33 computers and paying for a computer technician to staff it by the end of this school year.

Engen said the lab is needed because the school only has two computer labs, which are insufficient to handle all the students during Common Core testing, which will be done on computers.

As for the big-ticket items available for the live auction, they are accommodations in a condo for a four day, three night Mammoth ski trip valued at $3,000; a full comprehensive orthodontic treatment for life, including braces provided by Dr. David Li and San Diego Orthodontic Specialists ($6,000 value); two chances for a student to be principal for a day (each valued at $1,000) and a reserved front row parking space for the entire 2015-16 school year ($1,000 value).

Some of the silent auction items include restaurant gift cards, Padres game tickets, fitness classes, professional photography sessions, pampering baskets, jewelry, camping and beach baskets, a surfboard, autographed professional sports memorabilia, theme park tickets, Sony digital cameras, handbags and tote bags, veterinarian for a day experience, Maui Jim sunglasses, wine and wine accessories, a wine refrigerator, Legos gift basket, books, artist supplies, movie tickets, a pizza party, staycation packages and hotel nights downtown.

For more information, contact Engen at 949-463-4445 or jillengen@yahoo.com.