{"id":23038,"date":"2025-10-25T14:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T14:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23038\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T14:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T14:02:10","slug":"its-a-parade-of-pumpkins-at-silicon-valley-nonprofit-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23038\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s a parade of pumpkins at Silicon Valley nonprofit event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits\u2019 annual \u201cBe Our Guest\u201d luncheon, which took place Friday at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, is where the advocacy group bestows its annual Impact Awards. But the event is better known for the decorated pumpkins created by elected officials and community leaders \u2014 or their staffs \u2014 to auction off in a fundraiser.<\/p>\n<p>The decorations range in complexity from pumpkins that are beautifully painted or adorned with ribbons to elaborate dioramas where the gourd itself is almost incidental. And like many times in the event\u2019s history, this year\u2019s pumpkins were a mix of creative whimsy and serious messages.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A pumpkin decorated by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan's office,...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>A pumpkin decorated by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan&#8217;s office, titled &#8220;Mahan Mayhem 2026&#8221; depicts the two major sporting events coming to Levi&#8217;s Stadium in 2026, the Super Bowl and the World Cup. The pumpkin was auctioned at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits&#8217; &#8220;Be Our Guest&#8221; luncheon at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A trio of pumpkins decorated for the Silicon Valley Council...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-1026-03.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A trio of pumpkins decorated for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits&#8217; &#8220;Be Our Guest&#8221; luncheon reference &#8220;K Pop Demon Hunters,&#8221; &#8220;Up,&#8221; and baseball at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Guests at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits' &quot;Be Our...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-1026-05.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Guests at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits&#8217; &#8220;Be Our Guest&#8221; lunch look at decorated pumpkins on display at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"San Jose City Councilmember Michael Mulcahy adds finishing touches to...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SJM-L-PIZARRO-COL-1026-04.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>San Jose City Councilmember Michael Mulcahy adds finishing touches to his pumpkin at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits&#8217; &#8220;Be Our Guest&#8221; lunch at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 4<\/p>\n<p>A pumpkin decorated by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan&#8217;s office, titled &#8220;Mahan Mayhem 2026&#8221; depicts the two major sporting events coming to Levi&#8217;s Stadium in 2026, the Super Bowl and the World Cup. The pumpkin was auctioned at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits&#8217; &#8220;Be Our Guest&#8221; luncheon at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There were pumpkins referencing the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests and urging voters to pass Santa Clara County\u2019s Measure A. Three pumpkins referenced pop culture hit \u201cK-Pop Demon Hunters,\u201d and one, created by Silicon Valley Community Foundation staffer Daniela Ruvalcaba, was an over-the-top celebration of Bad Bunny\u2019s upcoming appearance at Levi\u2019s Stadium for Super Bowl LX. There were two pumpkins decorated as the Golden State Valkyries mascot and one Labubu pumpkin (because it\u2019s 2025 and you have to have a Labubu pumpkin).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to have joy in these trying times or else we won\u2019t be able to sustain ourselves,\u201d Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits CEO Kyra Kazantzsis, who was dressed as a witch trying to conjure \u201cnonprofit magic,\u201d which she said was making something out of nothing.<\/p>\n<p>But back down to business, namely the Nonprofit Impact Award recipients.<\/p>\n<p>Asian Law Alliance Executive Director Richard Konda received the Patricia A. Gardner Changemaker Award; former Kids in Common Executive Director Dana Bunnett and Community Solutions CEO Erin O\u2019Brien were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards; Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice &amp; Empowerment was presented with the Nonprofit of the Year award; the Collaborative Impact Award went to the Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County; Emerging Nonprofit Leader awards were given to Cassandra Maga\u00f1a of West Valley Community Services, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action Executive Director Ze-Kun Li, and Jeremiah Lineberger of the African American Community Services Agency; and the Nonprofit Ally Award was presented to Heritage Bank of Commerce\u2019s Janikke Klem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are our people, these are our passions,\u201d Sunnyvale Community Services Executive Director Marie Bernard said. \u201cWe all embrace the county by coming together on big issues, and then we can be hyperlocal as well. This community is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ART AND TIME: The San Jose Museum of Art was teeming with people last Saturday night, many of them getting one of the first looks at the newly opened \u201cektor garcia: loose ends,\u201d the first solo exhibition of the sculptor\u2019s work in his home state of California. But most were likely there to get their first look at the museum\u2019s new executive director, Jeremiah Davis. He\u2019s only been on the job for less than a month, but he already seems to have a good feel for the local crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere at the San Jose Museum of Art, we believe in the power of radical imagination and the role that art can play in bringing communities and people together for the benefit of all,\u201d Davis said. He then spoke about a part of the museum that\u2019s not actually in its collection \u2014 the Nels Johnson Century Clock installed in the building in 1908 \u2014 to illustrate a point about innovation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNels, being an early pioneer of tech in Silicon Valley, envisioned that his clock, and this existing technology that he innovated, would last for a century, keeping time to within a few seconds of accuracy per month,\u201d he said, asking the audience to imagine how their investment can \u201censure that the innovation, the creativity, the programming that happens at the San Jose Museum of Art is ensured for the next 100 years of this Silicon Valley community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SPEEDING ALONG: \u201cF1\u201d Director Joseph Kosinski was at Apple Park in Cupertino on Tuesday night for a conversation with supervising sound editor Al Nelson before a special screening of his movie at the Steve Jobs Theater. Much to the invitation-only crowd\u2019s disappointment, star Brad Pitt was not in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>During the discussion before the Apple Films movie Kosinski said he used Apple technology to make the movie. Apple provided him with versions of the iPhone 15 Pro cameras that he placed inside the cockpits of race cars to capture 4K images on the tracks. If you haven\u2019t seen \u201cF1,\u201d which has made $629 million worldwide in theaters, it\u2019s set to zoom onto Apple TV on Dec. 12.<\/p>\n<p>NOCHE DE CULTURA: Grammy-winning band Ozomatli is headlining the ninth annual Avenida de Altares, the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Nov. 1. The family-friendly event, which starts at 5 p.m., also will feature lucha libre wrestling matches, folklorico performances by Los Lupe\u00f1os de San Jose and an art gallery curated by Works\/San Jose.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, a highlight of the free event is the display of colorful altars at the Mexican Heritage Plaza and at surrounding businesses on Alum Rock Avenue stretching west toward Highway 101. You can RSVP for free tickets at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofartsandculture.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">www.schoolofartsandculture.org<\/a>, and you can view the altar display at La Plaza\u2019s lobby from Oct. 27-Oct. 31 between 4 and 9 p.m. or Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits\u2019 annual \u201cBe Our Guest\u201d luncheon, which took place Friday at the Mexican&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,184,7,181,23,419,5466,88,90,89,198,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-23038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-around-town","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news-columnists","14":"tag-nonprofits","15":"tag-san-jose","16":"tag-san-jose-headlines","17":"tag-san-jose-news","18":"tag-santa-clara-county","19":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}