Photograph by George Sakkestad
Los Gatos dress shop owner Jennifer Croll, ex-husband Christian Croll and his daughter Claire Croll, holds an umbrella to remind people to ‘Fill the Umbrella’ during next week’s fundraising campaign for San Jose flood victims. The Library and Jennifer Croll share space at 34 N. Santa Cruz Ave. and will kick-off the fundraising campaign March 4 with free mimosas in exchange for a donation of any amount.
Shoppers in downtown Los Gatos can help “Fill the Umbrella” at area businesses and restaurants participating in a fundraising campaign to help San Jose flood victims. The March 4-11 campaign is the brainchild of shop owner Jennnifer Croll and her mother, Claudia Mann, who has owned the Maids Quarters since 1979.
“It was really my mom’s idea and now it’s a community effort,” Croll said. “I hope we can get the whole town involved. This is a great way for us to band together and help the larger community.”
Maids Quarters employee Joni Rippe coined the phrase, “Fill the Umbrella,” and Croll’s daughter, Los Gatos High School freshman Chloe Croll, designed fliers that she and Fisher Middle School seventh-grader Lucy Holland distributed downtown last weekend.
“They’ve both committed to putting it on social media,” Croll said.
The girls and their friends also spent the past few days decorating and distributing empty paint cans merchants can set out to accept donations.
Although they intended to collect donations in umbrellas placed inside stores and restaurants, the idea was abandoned because umbrellas are bulky and, more importantly, there was no good way to secure the donations. So, paint cans with secure tops are now the collection mechanism.
“Catholic Charities is going to accept the donations on our behalf,” long-time community volunteer Andrea Thomas said. “They’re in it for the long haul and are helping the people in San Jose get back on their feet.”
Donations can also be made online at CatholicCharitiesSCC.org/donate-now.
“When they get to the donor page choose the button that says, ‘Other’ and input ‘Flood Relief LG.’ That way everyone in town will know how much we’ve given,” Thomas said.
The list of participating businesses keeps growing, Croll said.
She gave a special shout-out to Ace Hardware on Los Gatos Boulevard, which is a donor site providing the paint cans free of charge.
Participating restaurants and bars include Steamer’s Grillhouse, Nick’s Next Door, Charley’s LG (formerly Mountain Charley’s), We Olive, Lexington House, Hult’s, Rootstock Wine Bar, Loma Brewing Company, Aldo’s Ristorante, Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company and Dolce Spazio. Lunardi’s grocery store, and the Lolli and Pops candy store are also on the list.
Clothing, shoes and accessory stores are well-represented by Jennifer Croll, the Library men’s shop, Black Cat Hats, Time Out Clothing, Romantiques, Haute Bride, Jill Alexander Designs, Kitsch Couture, Bella Rosa, Criv, Abeo, Los Gatos Baby & Kids, Tassels of Los Gatos and Kisemet Boutique.
Participating home and gift stores are the Maids Quarters, Chelsea Court Designs, Whitney Modern, Cherie Rose Collection, Oh La La, She Said Yes, Out of the Envelope, and Village House of Books.
People can also donate at The Alarm Company, Nuvoux the Salon, Blue Mercury, Los Gatos Dental Group, Classic Kids Photography. Petroglyph, Travel Advisors of Los Gatos, Lark Avenue Car Wash and the downtown Chevron station.
The Chamber of Commerce sent an email blast to its members encouraging their participation.
“The Los Gatos community is so generous,” Croll said. “Everyone we approached said, ‘Absolutely, yes we’ll participate.’ We’ve all been through a lot this winter; the merchants have been impacted tremendously by the Highway 17 closures and by the rain because people don’t generally shop downtown in the rain. But in a crisis the town of Los Gatos gets together to do good.”
Croll is planning to kick off the fundraising campaign by pouring mimosas in exchange for a donation of any amount from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 4 at her dress shop at 34 N. Santa Cruz Ave.
Questions? Call Catholic Charities at 408.325.5191 or 408.325.5125.
