Not long into our first year at Maidu came ESF’s Annual Auction Gala, and with it (much to the pleasure of a busy parent who often travels for work) an online auction. I got to participate in a school function and help raise money for an important cause right from my cell phone. And better yet, the auction was offering a Teddy Bear Picnic with the Maidu librarian. Of course I had to bid on it for my daughter Lily! The problem was that some tenacious stranger kept bidding against me. Who else could possibly want a Teddy Bear Picnic so badly? Surely no one else’s kid talked about their librarian as much as Lily did!
As the price for the Teddy Bear Picnic rose to $100, I questioned if I should just donate money directly to ESF, because clearly this other parent needed that picnic more than I did. Moments later, my spouse entered the room and asked if I had checked out the online auction. After a few minutes of what I now know was much-needed communication, I discovered that the person I had been bidding against the whole time was my own husband! He was the mystery parent whose kid loved her librarian, teddy bears, and picnics as much as mine did.
– Maidu parent Amanda Schroeder
Teddy bear lovers enjoying a picnic in the Maidu library