31/07/2023
Before we reveal the next feature family, we want to make sure you all get to read about our family from the July Issue! You will love learning about this sweet family as much as we did.
🌟By Leslie Darwin🌟
📸Photos by Heather Scharf Photography 📸
Things have gone swimmingly!
Brad and Emily Allen met in the fall of 2012 during the Master's Swim Program at Orinda Park Pool. That particular fall, Emily's daughters' babysitter, who was also a coach at the pool, was in charge of the adult swim program and encouraged Emily to come to swim. The coach/babysitter placed swimmers in lanes according to ability and Emily was thoroughly confused as to why she kept moving her up in lanes. Emily laughs, "When I landed in the same lane as OPP's Head Coach without having the swimming skills to be in that lane, I realized that our coach knew exactly what she was doing! Brad and I became swim friends and then at the end of the swim program, he asked me out on a date to a Warriors game. He asked for my girls' blessing and proposed to me on Christmas Eve in 2014.
We were married at the end of May 2015 at the Schnugg Family home in Stinson Beach with the girls by our side. On our five-year anniversary, Vivi said. 'It's pretty much all our anniversary because that's when we became a family."
The family lives in the Glorietta area of Orinda. Emily says, "We love this neighborhood. It's a short commute to OIS and Miramonte. It's great to take our dog Winnie for walks and run into neighbors walking their own dogs or playing with their kids in their yards. We can walk to friends' houses. With the windows open, we can hear recess at Glorietta during the school year, and on the rare occasions when we aren't at a swim meet during the summer, we can hear the cheers from a Meadow swim meet."
Emily, who serves as the Executive Director of Orinda Network for Education, (ONE) comes from a long line of generosity. She says, "I truly believe fundraising and community work are in my blood. I remember being a small child when my dad founded the Family House at Children's Hospital Oakland. He instilled in me a commitment to always give back to the community. I watched my parents do this on a personal and professional level for decades and it truly stuck with me. I started my career fundraising, and over time, my expertise in relationship-building and partnerships became more impactful when the mission was community-focused, which also coincided with my personal mission to give back to the community."
Emily's fundraising career started at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where she raised money for the annual fund, as well as the capital campaign for the rebuilding of the de Young Museum. She took a short break from fundraising after she left her position as VP of Development at Special Olympics, Northern California to focus on recovering from Lyme disease. Once healed from Lyme disease, she found herself in the world of wine education and working for a French Château during COVID. Emily explains, "As fabulous as that job was, and while it was exciting to work on a global scale, watching Brad continue his own work with the Orinda community with his math tutoring business and as Head Coach of OPP, I realized how much I missed this community. With our girls getting older, I knew I wanted to focus in and not out. When the Executive Director position at Orinda Network for Education (ONE) opened up, I knew this was exactly what I was looking for."
She continues, "As a parent of two Orinda students, I've seen the positive impact that their educational experience has had on our lives. Because our school districts are among the lowest funded in the state and the funding gap continues to grow, the support from our community ensures the continuation of the key academic programs and services that our schools are known for. I know that the opportunities my children have had are due to this extra funding from the community as a whole. I am thrilled to now give back to our community and serve our schools in this capacity. When people think of public school funding, they don't necessarily think about the community as a whole. One of the most inspiring aspects of my first year at ONE has been watching the entire community come together to support our schools. Our superintendents, our school district board members, school principals, ONE Board members, Parents' Club members from all six schools, school families, city council members, alumni families, and Orinda's business and community members...it's truly a community effort. And that is what makes our community so special.
I am proud that our Orinda schools truly bring the entire community together."
She further clarifies the impact of ONE, "While Orinda's parcel tax revenue is used toward attracting and maintaining quality teachers, and bond measures are reserved for the upgrade of our buildings to keep them modern and safe, ONE raises funds to advance the academic experience beyond what is possible with public dollars alone. ONE impacts every student from Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade. Donations to ONE fund the arts, music, science, library, technology, enrichment programs, wellness, PE, smaller class sizes, middle school electives, as well as high school classes and programs."
HOBBY JOB/JOB HOBBY?
Emily says that sometimes it's hard for her to define the line between a job and a hobby when it comes to community support.
"Whether I was professionally fundraising or not, I still found myself immersed within this community, volunteering as the Board President at TOPS, running the fundraising and volunteer programs for our pool, or managing the office at St. Mark's Nursery School."
FAMILY FIRST
"A lively conversation over a good meal is my favorite way to spend time with people," she says. Her hobbies have changed slightly as her daughters have gotten older. She reflects,
"Seeing how quickly time moves, I try to be mindful of my time away from home. The four of us love watching movies together and while we were able to have Friday Family Movie Nights every week during Covid, it's a bit harder now with high school social schedules, but we still try to get a couple of movie nights on the books each month."
Emily enjoys going on walks with Brad and the dog, saying, "It's one of the only chances we get to focus on ourselves and conversation due to our opposite schedules. No phones, just chatting."
Emily and Brad are huge Warriors fans. They both grew up in families who loved the Warriors no matter what their standing. She says, "It's been fun to watch the girls become fans over the years. Brad goes to one game a season and while he used to ask me to go with him, he now takes one of the girls. I love that they are able to experience the games in person with him."
Brad grew up in Orinda, and attended Sleepy Hollow, OlS, and Miramonte. Vivi and Gemma have had a few of the same teachers that Brad and his siblings had!
Emily's eyes twinkle, "The four of us love to laugh and make each other laugh. We argue over who is the funniest in the family.
Brad likes to think he's won the title but it's definitely split between us gals."
GREAT GALS -- GEMMA AND VIVI
Gemma just graduated from Miramonte and is heading to Washington, DC where she'll attend American University and be a participant in its Politics, Policy, and Law Scholars Program. A natural-born leader, Gemma would like to attend law school and pursue a career that will allow her to fight for people's legislative rights or amplify people's stories. During the summer of 2020, she saw a need within her student community and founded a social justice group that was committed to curriculum reform. During her time at Miramonte, she was the Head of the Curriculum Commission and was involved in Leadership and Peer Tutoring.
Vivi is a rising sophomore at Miramonte. During her first year at MHS, she discovered her interest in history. Vivi joined the Stunt Cheer team this past spring and found a wonderful and supportive group of friends on the team. She will be cheering on the Varsity Sideline Cheer team this fall.
Vivi is a compassionate friend and family member, always checking in on people. A social butterfly, Vivi loves spending time with her friends. She is great with little kids (She learned at a young age with all of her cousins!) and enjoys coaching the Mini-Stingers at Park Pool and babysitting.
ORINDA PARK POOL
When Brad and Emily lived in the Claremont area of Orinda, they joined Orinda Park Pool. Emily shares, "It's been great fun not only watching the girls spend their summers at the pool, making lifelong friends, but seeing other kids grow up over the years and come back to visit after they've long graduated and started their adult lives. It's been a joy being part of this special community. Brad started swimming at Park Pool when he was 4 years old. Last summer the pool community, past and present, celebrated his 25th anniversary of coaching there. Our summer family is at the pool." FAMILYMOON - MAIS, OUI!
When Brad and Emily got engaged, the girls asked where they were going to honeymoon. Emily says, "We decided to take a "Familymoon" to Disnevland before going on our honeymoon to Paris, which we ended up taking a couple of years later. We missed the girls so much while we were on our honeymoon that we decided we needed a Parisian trip with them. In December 2019, the four of us landed in Paris. That was a fabulous trip altogether!"
Emily shares, "We don't take a vacation every year so when we do, we try to make them as special as possible. The last couple of vacations we have taken have been to tour colleges, so we were happy to spend our Spring Break in Mexico with no itinerary. We spent the week with Brad's family. there were 18 of us in total (6 kids under the age of 7) in one house! While most of the cousins live in the Orinda area, it was great to have everyone together, especially for Gemma who is trying to soak up as much cousin time as possible before she leaves for DC. We are looking forward to our family trips to DC to visit Gemma!"
EMILY'S LIST OF FAVORITES
She says, "I don't necessarily have a favorite one of anything but more of the top five favorites for categories (I actually have a Pinterest board of top fives!). It's a dynamic list and fun to revisit. A new top five favorite book for me that I read earlier this year is Still Life by Sarah Winman. As an art history major, I was immediately interested but it was the stories of the individual characters who, through their kindness and humanity toward one another, became a family that captured me. I haven't read a book like this in a long time and it was so refreshing for the heart and soul and left me filled with hope. One I'll reread over the years."
ORINDA IS A ONE-DERFUL TOWN
Finally, Emily wants to shout out, "Thank your Parents' Club volunteers!
Our work at ONE is a true collaboration with the Parents' Clubs at each school site. These volunteers are our boots on the ground and I am so grateful for everything they do for our schools!
As someone who is very familiar with the amount of support given by our local small businesses and the effect that has on the community as a whole, I say thank you!!"
