Donor Spotlight >> 

Maddox Family

We attended a Pretend City gala in 2016; our first gift was in the form of a live auction item that took us to the very trendy Hamilton play with back-stage passes at the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway in New York City. 

I wish everyone knew how many services Pretend City offers beyond just being a place to play. Pretend City has multiple partners that are available for families to help their children meet their developmental milestones.  Among so many other important things Pretend City does, they ready toddlers for kindergarten.  Fifty percent of children are not Kindergarten ready in Orange County. 

Our daughter Kaylin (now 19 and second year at Berkeley) credits her leadership skills to the Youth Leadership Council at Pretend City. She was able to open a pop-up music exhibit as a sophomore in high school and raise $16,000 on her own to which an anonymous donor gave a $7,500 match. To this day, we don’t know where the match came from. 

Our favorite things to donate to are: The Luncheon, Poker, and Igniting Potential. 

Every dollar counts! Even if you feel like your gift feels small – it may help a child decide what they want to be when they grow up by pretending to be something at Pretend City they never had the opportunity to play with at home. It’s for our future!