Jennifer Cullenbine, Queen Elf & Executive Director

Raised in Palo Alto , California , Jennifer received a BS and MBA from San Jose State University . She is married to Dan, and mom to Connor (2000) and Kinsey (2001). Pets include two Ragdoll cats, Fezzick and Cleo. She is a scrapbooking fanatic, and enjoys line dancing and volunteering. Her favorite food is pizza, and Trading Spaces and Friends are her favorite TV shows. She is affiliated with many organizations, some of which include the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, the Center for Excellence in Non-profits, the California Association of Non-profits, the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce, and Milpitas Rotary. She is also a current Board member for the Milpitas Rotary.

Dawn Frownfelter, Executive Assistant

Dawn is originally from Colorado and received a BS degree from Colorado State. She taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia and then as a kindergarten teacher in San Diego for several years.  She loves nonprofit work and volunteered for the International Humanity Foundation for over a year.  She recently moved to San Jose and is having a great time exploring the Bay Area.  Her visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium was amazing! She loves camping and plans to do a lot of it around northern California.  She also loves reading, traveling, baking, cooking and animals (especially her cat, Grace).  Her favorite foods are chocolate (of course), mangoes, shrimp, and anything spicy! She’s thrilled to be working for the Family Giving Tree and we’re thrilled to welcome her!

Andrea Stallings, Holiday/BTS Drive Program Manager

As Program Manager, Andrea is in charge of keeping the Family Giving Tree Holiday and Back-to-School Drive Program running smoothly.  Andrea was born in Washington , but was raised in California since she was two years old. She is happily married to husband Matt and they are currently expecting a baby girl! Andrea is an animal lover and currently is the proud owner of two Beagles. She achieved a B. A. degree in Social Work from the California State University of Chico, a degree that comes in handy here at the Family Giving Tree. She prides herself on being very athletic, and enjoys soccer as well as any other sport that sparks her interest. Andrea is not only athletic, but crafty as well! In her spare time, she enjoys scrapbooking, knitting, sewing, etc. Her husband Matt makes the most delicious stuffed green peppers, which have found a place as Andrea's favorite food. In fact, Andrea says of these peppers: "Woo hoo! They are the BEST!"

Julie Berry,  Director of National Expansion

Julie worked for many years at Times Community Newspapers in San Jose, as Executive Editor and was responsible for managing a team which won numerous California Newspaper Publishers Association awards. She has a BA in Advertising from San Jose State University. She lives in Campbell with her husband Chuck and they have two teenagers, Nick and Samantha. As a family they enjoy camping, going to the beach and volunteering for local charities with their church. In 1998 Julie was honored as a Volunteer of the Year by the Junior League. The family also includes a golden retriever named Halle Berry. Julie’s hobby is photography and her favorite T.V. shows are “Gilmore Girls” and “Flip that House.”

Robert "Bob" Cullenbine, CFO

Raised in St. Louis, Missouri. BA from Stanford University. Has three children and four grandchildren. His hobbies include family, women's basketball, politics, travel. Favorite food is chicken shwerma from the corner deli. Also a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and for 2004, a Member of the AFP Board. He has been the CFO for the Family Giving since 1998.

Jeanne Clabaugh, Development Associate

Jeanne graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Sociology and worked as a social worker in Long Beach and Hawaii.  She loves to spend time with her friends and two daughters, ages 23 and 26.  While they live close by, most of her family resides in Canada.  Her furry friend Sophie, a Tabby cat is the most spoiled creature in her home.  Jeanne loves to garden and travel; she is active in yoga and pilates and every Thursday night you can find her sizzling on the dance floor in Salsa class!  Jeanne worked for Hope Services for 4 years before joining the Family Giving Tree as the Development Associate in October, 2006.

Diego Abeloos, Development Assistant

A native of Belgium, Diego moved to the United States at age 9 and was raised in Mountain View, CA. Diego graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Journalism from San Jose State University in 2004 before serving as the Sports Editor for the Times Newspapers in San Jose, as well as Editor for the Evergreen Times, for three years. In 2005, Diego received a California Newspaper Publishers Association award for a feature story on Almaden native and former NFL player Pat Tillman. Diego lives with his wife, Vanessa and two Boston Terriers, Naomi and Bowser, in Willow Glen. Diego enjoys traveling, watching movies and sports such as baseball, football and lacrosse, reading, and spending time with his wife and two dogs.

Joanie Garvey, Office Manager

In 2003, Joanie graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in Geography and a GIS (Geographic Information Science) Certificate also specializing in Remote Sensing.  She was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in the Bay Area with her brother Jeffery and now lives in San Jose.  In her spare time Joanie likes to watch movies and read books (her favorite is Angela's Ashes).  She also enjoys billiards, the arts and the theatre.  Joanie's perfect day would include watching "The Notebook" in Newport Beach over a nice steak dinner.  She has previous experience in non-profits, such as WestEd and Second Harvest Food Bank.  Joanie's previous experience makes her shine as the Family Giving Tree's Office Manager (Head Office Elf)!

Celeste Rabadon, Agency Coordinator

Celeste was born in New Jersey and grew up in the Bay Area. She joined the Family Giving Tree in August of 2006 to help organize the online wish database and is now in charge of keeping the agency and host registration process running smoothly. Her favorite pastimes include cooking, football and traveling, and her favorite food is Sushi, or anything Mexican. She enjoys learning new techniques from the Food Network, but her and her daughter haven't missed an episode of Gilmore Girls yet!

Tara Todd, Volunteer Coordinator

Tara loves to volunteer! She's donated her time for Heritage Home, Relay for Life and Hurricane Katrina, and after volunteering last year at our holiday warehouse she loved it so much she came to shadow Che as the Volunteer Coordinator for the 2006 Giving Program. Husband Anthony son Zachary support her as she teaches bible study to high school girls at Christ Community Church of Milpitas. Tara has also traveled for a mission trip to Mexico . With a background in hiring and training for Dave and Busters, Tara opened the Milpitas Los Coches Curves and was voted Best Business Person in 2005 by the Milpitas Post. She grew up in the Berryessa area and has been a resident of Milpitas for 7 years. Her hobbies include scrap booking and hanging out with friends.

Cristi French, Communications Specialist

Cristi has been with the Family Giving Tree since 2004.  She was born in Ontario, Canada and grew up in Campbell, California.  Currently living and attending college in San Jose, Cristi is working her way towards a degree in Sociology with a minor in Communications in the Information Age.  In keeping with the office trend of being crafty, Cristi enjoys knitting and designing mosaics in her spare time.  Her Tibetan Spaniel/Chihuahua mix, Poco, will be 13 years old in April.  Her favorite foods include anything Mexican or Thai, but especially her mother's homemade macaroni and cheese!  Cristi is currently in charge of redesigning/updating the Family Giving Tree's website, and she is the creator/editor of the organization's email newsletter.

René Rodriguez, Fix-It-Elf

A long time volunteer for the Family Giving Tree, René went from the occasional can you fix this guy, to the in house Fix-It-Elf.  His main duties revolve around keeping the Elf Office well maintained and the Warehouse set up and tear down.  He also has his hands full with wish editing and maintaining the toy recall information.  A real desert rat who grow up in the historic Southwestern town of El Paso, he still maintains his love for Bar-B-Qued Steak and Mexican Food, especially Chiles Relleños and Tacos of every kind.  He now lives in San Jose with his very community active wife Cynthia, effervescent daughter, Jessy who is 7 years old, and Sadie the Dog. Jessy is the reason his past times have gone from sports to face painting (though he is still a big Sharks fan).  He is also an accomplished photographer and a big movie fan.  His favorite movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark which he has seen 45 times!

Sylvia Beatty, Granny Elf

Sylvia Beatty has known the Queen Elf since she was about 3 years old, having been one of Queen Elf's Mom's best friends.  Because of her status as one of Jennifer's mom's, Sylvia and her husband, Randy, (aka "UncPa") are a major part of the Cullenbine family and The Family Giving Tree.  Sylvia was one of the first members of the Board of Directors.  She was also the Tree Host contact at Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) where she worked for 25 years before retiring in 1998.  Sylvia was raised in the Southern California desert and attended Long Beach State College.  She and UncPa have lived in Milpitas since 1979.  They have one dog, Charlotte, a 10 year old Beagle.  Hobbies involve grandchildren, computer crafts and scrapbooking.  Favorite foods are white chocolate and salads while she enjoys watching HGTV shows and American Idol on TV.

Dianne Stevens, Office Elf

Dianne Stevens is our dedicated Office Elf. She was born in Lone Pine, California , and spent her early years in Southern California until she moved to the Bay Area during her high school years. She has been in the Bay Area ever since. Dianne's family includes two grown sons. She has benefited from taking a scattering array of college classes over the years. She is extremely interested in crafts, sewing, quilting, knitting, and doll making. In addition, she collects cook books and enjoys traveling and sight-seeing. Her favorite foods are shrimp and salads-and she makes the best soup Bob has ever tasted!