Stanford Shopping Center Hosts 'Dreams Happen' Charity Auction and Gala on June 3

Stanford Shopping Center and Rebuilding Together Peninsula today announced a partnership for the 13th event of Dreams Happen, a biennial fundraising event featuring 13 custom-made, life-sized children’s playhouses produced by teams of local and notable architects, designers and builders.

These fantasy playhouses go up for auction, with the proceeds benefiting Rebuilding Together Peninsula, a non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitating the homes and community facilities of low-income neighbors in need from Sunnyvale to Daly City.

This year’s Dreams Happen Gala and Playhouse Auction is Saturday, June 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the Center Pavilion at Stanford Shopping Center. Guests at the gala can look forward to a cocktail reception, moonlight supper and dancing during the ‘Drinks Happen’ after party.

"These astonishing playhouses encourage imaginative playtime for children," said David Cattivera, executive director of Rebuilding Together Peninsula. "The gala itself allows adults to indulge in a celebratory evening of our own while generating critical funds that allow Rebuilding Together Peninsula to repair real homes for real people in our community."

Designed to be beautiful and durable, playhouses are expertly constructed under the watchful eyes of professional builders and architects. Each playhouse is custom-designed with beautiful enhancements that uniquely distinguish it from other playhouses. Playhouses have a maximum footprint of 8’x10’ and may be up to 10’6” tall. Many incorporate play features such as slides or climbing walls, and nearly all have operational doors and windows.

Starting April 22, the 13 playhouses will be on display at Stanford Shopping Center through June 9. On Saturday, May 20 there will be a special open house from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to preview the interiors of the playhouses.

“We are ecstatic the Dreams Happen Gala is returning to Stanford Shopping Center and it is a honor to participate in such an amazing occasion to support our local community,” said Julie Kelly, director of marketing and business development. “Our shoppers and retailers will be delighted by these stunning playhouses for another spectacular year in caliber and sophistication.”

This year’s playhouse design-build teams include incredible partners such as Facebook and Olson Kundig contributing ‘Lacuna’ playhouse. Lacuna offers a space of refuge for children as an elevated wooden cocoon, while also functioning as a luminous, abstract landscape sculpture. An interior steel frame covered with crisscrossing cedar beams creates a form reminiscent of an egg in a nest, with an LED-illuminated ladder providing access to the interior yolk. The ladder marks the transition from the earth below to the imaginative realm of the playhouse above.

Additionally, the star of TLC’s “Playhouse Masters,” Tyson Leavitt of Charmed Playhouses, is designing and building a whimsically inspired playhouse. ‘The Enchanted Cottage’ takes children to a secret cabin in the woods that is overtaken by living trees to create a magical and secluded place. It is as a spell cast was cast causing the playhouse and anyone who dwells within to be charmed and transported to another world.

Excitingly, select retailers at Stanford Shopping Center are partnering with design-build teams to outfit the playhouse interiors, such as American Girl on the ‘WellieWishers’ themed playhouse for American Girl’s new line of five fun-loving characters who are out to make the world a kinder, friendlier place. As a lifelong and trusted partner to parents, American Girl created WellieWishers to help younger girls discover the social and emotional skills they need to become empathetic, compassionate, and thoughtfully motivated individuals.

The 2017 Dreams Happen playhouses and design-build teams include:

• Backyard Bandshell: Ike Kligerman Barkley and Van Acker Construction
• Castleland: Barbara Butler Artist-Builder, Inc.
• Farm to Table: David Baker Architects and Cahill Contractors
• Fire House: Larry Kahle, John Onken and IAFF L2400, San Mateo County Firefighters
• Lacuna: Facebook, Olson Kundig and Level 10 Construction
• Play is More: Nomos RED and BONE Structure
• Splash Trolley: AP+I Design and NOVO Construction, Inc.
• The Enchanted Cottage: Charmed Playhouses
• The Lookout: BAR Architects and Blach Construction
• The Skygazer: Libby Raab Architecture and Olivewood, Inc.
• The Stanford Cinema: Metropolis Architects and XL Construction
• Time Transporter: Hayes Group Architects and SC Builders
• WellieWishers Garden Playhouse: American Girl, Focal Point Design and W.L. Butler Construction, Inc.

Since its inception in 1993, Dreams Happen has raised approximately $4 million for Rebuilding Together Peninsula with winning playhouse bids ranging from $13,000 to $101,000. The 2015 gala and auction raised more than $500,000.

Tickets for the gala event are on sale beginning April 24 and may be purchased for $110 “Early Bird Special” until May 15. After May 15, tickets may be purchased for $130. Price of full event ticket includes cocktail hour, dinner, auction and entry to ‘Drinks Happen’ after party. There is a separate ticket price of $75 for the ‘Drinks Happen’ after party, which includes entry to the auction and after party only. Tickets are available online at http://rebuildingtogetherpeninsula.org/support/dreams-happen/tickets or by phone at 650.366.6597.

Those not present for the gala can participate in the fun via absentee bidding. For information on absentee bidding, please contact Annel Aguayo, Development Director at Rebuilding Together Peninsula, at 650.366. 6597 ext. 230 or Annel@RTPeninsula.org.