Annabelle's Shark Tale!!

From Annabelle's recent trip to Cozumel: 

"In Cozumel, the whale sharks migrate all summer eating krill.  The ocean was rough, people throwing up on the boat as we spent 3 hours looking for the sharks.  We found a pod of 20 of them and we were all dumped right in the middle!  Surrounded with whale sharks doing figure s's all around us, feeding on the krill with mouths opened wide that could fit an entire person inside!  I moved out to watch 3 of them doing figure 8's around each other when all of a sudden I felt a big jolting bump underneath me and a huge whale shark caught me right on top of it, the dorsal fin between my legs and I'm not even supposed to be touching it, let alone riding it!  I am body planted on top of it!"

And believe it or not, Aleza caught it on film!! WOW!

VOENA Wows Pier 39!!!

Those tourists didn't know what hit them! A group of VOENA's finest gathered at Pier 39 to rustle up some London travel money and get the word out about VOENA! They were a hit!

First there was some fine beat-boxing from VOENA's own Austin:

Then joined by brother Addy, they showed off what the "men of VOENA" can do!





And to cap things off, a drum war!!

First VOENA Grandbaby!

With 18 years of VOENA, it was bound to happen sooner or later....VOENA's first "VOENA grandchild!" VOENA alumni Taylor's son Jaden! He looks like a singer!

And We Will Always Love VOENA!

Creavo paying tribute to the great Whitney Houston:


And later, in a sillier frame of mind, The Great Burp-Off Challenge between Seth and Ceilidh:

"'Send Noa to London' Sing-aThon!!"

WOW!! Noa's school community has rallied around her cause of going to the Olympics with VOENA! They planned a sing-a-thon to help raise funds for her trip!! They gathered pledges and sang for 60 minutes straight!

Here's what Noa posted on her blog:

In third grade I started attending Bill’s class at the Montessori School.  Bill was my first music mentor and I first met him in a summer program at the school.  We performed a musical about trout. There was always a lot of great music in his class, like “Camp Grenada” and “Yellow Taxi”.  We were always singing!

All the staff at the Montessori have always been so encouraging about my singing over the years, especially Bill.  Even though I graduated from the school last year, Bill still lets me come and sing with his class, “the lower el”, whenever I can.  Ever since hearing about VOENA going to the Olympics, he and all the other teachers and staff have been so supportive.  Yesterday, he hosted the All Elementary “Send Noa to London” Singathon!

OMG!  It was sooooo much fun.  The kids that participated were the upper el (with teachers Mari and Jamie) and the lower el (with teachers Bill and Nancy and Vicky).  Even the preschool kids came and sang along with the songs that they knew.  And Korey and Dana, of course! We sang for 60 minutes straight.  We started with Edelweiss and sang 19 songs, ending with my favorite Picnic of the World. Bill played the guitar along with three other parents.

A big huge THANK YOU to everyone that participated and everyone that watched, and everyone that sponsored the kids.   Not many kids ever get to go to a school as great as this.  I’m really grateful that I did.  And, yes Bill, I will be carrying all of you with me in my heart. I couldn’t do this without you.

VOENA is very proud of Noa and her efforts to get to London! Here's the link to her blog:

http://noak98.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/send-noa-to-london-singathon/

GO NOA!!!!

VOENA members, send us your fundraising stories, we will post them here!