Diana Penna's Blog

If you remember back in June, we did a Dream Giveaway to help Saint Jude Children’s Hospital. During one of the Good Day Sacramento live shots, I was honored to meet a wonderful little boy named Gavin from Sacramento (pictured).  He is 2 ½ years old and at the age of seven months, underwent a life saving stem cell transplant. Due to the condition he is blind, but his life was saved as a result of St. Jude’s. His wonderful family is now trying to help Saint Jude’s continue their great work! 

On Sunday, November 22 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., if you go to the Chili’s Grill & Bar restaurant at 5303 Sunrise Boulevard in Fair Oaks and dine in or take out and say you're there for Gavin's foundation, they will donate 10% of what you pay for your meal to the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Gavin’s honor! The restaurant’s phone number is 916-962-0404! If you would like to make a donation, or would like to sponsor Gavin, visit www.mystjudeheroes.org/herogavin.

Well as I told you, I emceed the second Geweke Fashion Show in Yuba City with all the models of course, breast cancer survivors.  I did tear up this time while reading their bios. These ladies , like the ones at the Lodi Fashion Show, are so inspiring and wonderful, words can't describe.  The pictures say it all. Thanks to John Hollis/digital photography!  One constant message from many of them....EARLY DETECTION SAVED THEIR LIFE. Please schedule your mammogram, do your breast self exams and take charge of your health!  Oh and once again firefighters from Sutter County and Yuba City served as escorts!  Great night!  See you next time!

The Sacramento SPCA held its annual Reigning Cats and Dogs Gala Saturday. I truly think it was the most successful one yet...so many people. This year I not only emceed with KFBK's Kitty Oneal but our own Dave Bender. He also did the live auction part...he's really good! Kitty is such a terrific gal too!  She looked great in 60's outfit...the theme for the evening!  Next year the venue is actually changing to a formal setting :Arden Hills Country club!

Check out www.sspca.org for details about the Sac SPCA. (Thanks Howard Gold of PawPrint Productions for the pic of me and David...Howard looked great too in his sixties suit-hysterical! The other group pic if ya haven't figured it out is of me, Dave, Kitty and Rick Johnson as a 60's guy!)

Also, from Christa Trinchera, Marketing and Special Events gal extraordinaire, a wonderful event to tell you about for a very important cause.  Christa tells me The Elk Grove Police Department K9 Unit/Association will host their first Annual Holiday Fundraiser,a  Food and Wine Event for People and Dogs on November 20th at 6:30 p.m. It will be at the Franklin Ranch Pet Hospital and Hotel (10207 Frnaklin Boulevard in Elk Grove).  There will be pet photos with Santa, special hors d'oevres and wine for people and dogs! Yeah  a special wine for dogs!  Funny!  Raffles, music and demos by the Elk Grove Police Department K9 Unit will also be part of this great night!  You can even go with your dog but keep the furry friends on a leash during the party or get this-check them into the Franklin Ranch Pet Hotel for some off leash "play time" at no additional charge! 

Proceeds benefit the Elk Grove Police Department K9 Association. It's a 501c# non-profit and provides financial support for the care and maintenance of aging and retired police dogs in addition to, assisting with the purchase of equipment like Kevlar vests for current patrol dogs. The officers and these animals are heroes so if you can go, try to make it and make a difference!

Event is open to the public for people ages 21 and older and well behaved dogs...with owner  :) Gte tickets at www.EGPDK9Event.com or go to the Franklin Ranch Pet Hospital and Hotel. Also doggies must have vaccinations verified *prior* to the event!

Check out lucky me…last Monday I was at Wine and Roses for Geweke’s Pink October Fashion Show featuring wonderful breast cancer survivors and tonight I am headed to Yuba City for their other big Fashion show!  Pics are of me and special ladies Rene and Jaime who volunteer for the awesome events; me and survivors relaxing before the show; me up on cool stage and me with some handsome Lodi Firefighters who served as escorts for our beautiful models!  Well sorry for the “me, me, me” usually not my style but they are the only pics sent to me by Jen Howell, the terrific gal who took the pictures. She does great work. Check out her website at www.newvintagephotographybyjen.com.  She sent even more of me …hahaha but I didn’t want to bore ya too much and hello……still need to lose the belly! Yeah good luck!  I have a 2 and ½ month old boy and 4 month old girl…I know…no excuses but dang finding time to exercise very tough.  I am eating healthier but it’s the portions that get me!

Oh and DJ , Dennis Bloom of Spinning Tunes did a fabulous job. Ya need upbeat music for a fashion show and he supplied it!  I didn’t cry this year…..when I read the models description of outfit there is also a bio of how the model beat breast cancer and their outlook on life, etc.  So inspiring let me tell you and despite my crazy hormones (after having a baby 4 months ago…it is my constant excuse hahaha)

Well as usual I’m a day late and dollar short with my blog!  CBS13 and CW31 sponsored the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk last Sunday!  Brandi Hitt emceed it and Tina Macuha was there to cut the ribbon!  What a moving, emotional day as families of survivors, survivors and loads of friends came out for a terrific morning!  We gave out cool bags provided by our sponsor Jackson Rancheria Casino and Hotel. Radiological Associates of Sacramento (RAS) also helped us get the word out about this wonderful morning!  RAS has an easy way you can book your life saving mammogram online with their website: bookmymammogram.com. It’s an information-packed site with a mammography blog written by the company’s breast imaging medical director Dr. Michael Norton. It contains real life patient testimonials, mammography-specific frequently asked questions, and a link to the National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Risk Assessment tool. If you log on you can also send an automatic email with a link to the site to a friend, relative or significant other about getting their life-saving screening!

Mark S. Allen also emceed another terrific event, MADD’s "Walk Like MADD." It was great!  Look for more on our holiday campaign coming up: A good Day to Give!  I can’t wait to share details about how you help families in need!  We’ll be collecting more than toys this year as in past years. We are also hoping to help with baby needs, food and clothing!  Feeding America is our charity and I’ll have more in future blogs!

Wow…had the worst cold ever last week…fun!  Anywho, good news to report from Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary in Sacramento!  You’ll recall we teamed up with the shelter and Zoe’s Cruises and Tours for our Cruisin’ for Cats campaign and our viewers helped renovate this wonderful place!  The grand opening is Saturday, October 17th from 11am to 5pm at 6001 Folsom Boulevard in Sac!  You can even adopt a cat get a tour of the facility and enjoy some complimentary food and beverages!  There will be entertainment for the whole family.  For more details, log onto www.happytails.org or call 916-556-1155.

The Melting Pot (a wonderful supporter of our for our Saint Jude Dream Give Away Campaign) is donating $3 of every meal from their Think Pink Week Menu (Oct. 4-9th) sold to Breast Cancer Awareness. On the 6, they will host their “Ladies Night Out Pink Event” sponsored by Estee Lauder with some great prizes! The cost is $37 per person. Call 916-443-2347. The wonderful restaurant is located at 814 15th Street in Sacramento.

Also, Geweke Auto is once again hosting their terrific Pink October events in Lodi and Yuba City!  Proceeds have helped so many women in need locally get diagnosis and treatment.  Their 8th Annual Race for Awareness is Saturday, October 17th! Their special Breast Cancer Survivor Fashion Shows are in Lodi and Yuba City on October 19th and 26th respectively!  I emcee those and there isn’t a dry eye in the house when you hear the survivor stories of the models as they strut their stuff on the runway in stylish clothes!  All terrific events you can get more information about by logging onto www.pink-october.org or by calling 209-371-2272.

Hi!  I’m just back from Maternity Leave!  

Just got back last Monday so the goal is to keep checking in with you!   First thing: I was excited to hear about, the Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary. Our major community project several months ago is hosting their Grand Opening of the New Happy Tails Patricia L. Holmes Adoption Center.  You, our viewers, helped to raise funds to renovate the place with our Cruisin’ for Cats Campaign.  For the past 16 years Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary has rescued more than 10,000 homeless and abandoned cats and many dogs in the Sacramento area.  They also provide food, shelter, nurturing and medical care until safe, loving permanent homes can be found. That will be held on Saturday, October 17 from 11a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be at 6001 Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento. That’s the corner of 60th and Folsom Boulevard. You can tour the new facility; there will be entertainment for the entire family, free food and grub and, of course, cat adoptions!  Log onto www.happytails.org for all the wonderful work and details this shelter does!

Also, a neat event Terri Guidera sent me: the 6th Annual Pink October Harley Ride in Yuba City!  Terri and her family own Guidera’s Harley Davidson in Yuba City and she is also a breast cancer survivor!  What a wonderful person she is!  This event is Saturday , October 3rd at 10 a.m.  The HOG contact for this cool event is Ken Trexler at 530-682-0068. More info. to come on other Pink October events in Lodi and Yuba City, including Breast Cancer Survivor Shows which are just amazing featuring terrific gals each year!!

Well…I’m due June 11th so I don’t get waddling out too much on the weekends but I did last weekend to emcee the Happy Tails’ Garden Party fundraiser I told you about a few blogs ago.  What a wonderful night!  Lots of animal lovers were there as well as local officials whose goal is to protect animals in need in our community. (See pictures: Sacramento SPCA Executive Director Rick Johnson, me, Rick’s wife Pam, and Zoe McCrea. Zoe’s family has a wonderful new foundation that helps several animal groups!; Juan Lopez (from CBS 13/CW 31) and his lovely wife Courtney also attended.  Mayor Heather Fargo was honored for her work on behalf of our furry friends! Mayor Fargo is also shown with Luigi, Zoe’s husband and finally Melinie diLuck and her husband Lee. Melinie started Happy Tails some 15 years ago and it has grown in leaps and bounds.  Check out www.happytails.org for more on this all volunteer, no kill animal sanctuary!