'MACK in the Hat' Benefit to Celebrate Dr. Seuss

The literary works of Theodor Geisel, including "Green Eggs and Ham," "Hop on Pop," or "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and "Cat in the Hat" are the inspiration for this year's "MACK in the Hat" fundraiser for Mountain Avenue Elementary School, hosted by the Mountain Avenue Committed to Kids (MACK) organization.

At 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, more than 300 guests, friends, families and supporters of Mountain Avenue Elementary can feel like kids again as they celebrate ? and dress up as ? their favorite Dr. Seuss characters in a whimsical, "rhymsical," lyrical evening at the Brookside Country Club to raise funds to enhance the school's library and literacy programs.

For the first time, guests can pre-purchase tickets to the event and raffle tickets through Paypal at www.mountainavenue.org. or by calling 248-7766. Event tickets are $50 each.

Mountain Avenue was lauded as a National Blue Ribbon School this year and has the highest API score (936) in the Glendale School District. Michael Escalante, the district's superintendent, will show his exemplary sales skills as the auctioneer of the live auction, featuring items such as a progressive dinner at three Mountain Avenue families' homes. Last year, this item raised $1,000 for the school.

"We are breaking new ground with this year's event," said Christine Holmquist and Susan Artime, event co-chairs. "We hope a new location, more opportunities for silent auction bidding, convenient online buying, our own celebrity auctioneer and a hat contest will allow us to raise more than $40,000 to enable Mountain Avenue's library and literacy programs to flourish."