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 Princess Elf Kinsey (2001). Jennifer loves cats and has a Ragdoll named Fezzik along with a brother sister pair of rescued cats, Nala and Sylvester.  In the past two years, while working with a animal shelter, she and her family have helped socialize over 100 rescued kittens to ready them for adoption.  She is a scrapbooking fanatic, and enjoys escaping 4 times a year to create scrapbooks for her family. Her favorite food is pizza, and anything chocolate and she never eats bonbons while watching television...she doesn’t have time to watch television… actually, she doesn’t have time to sit.  She is affiliated with many organizations, some of which include the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, the Center for Excellence in Non-profits, the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce, and the Rotary Club of Milpitas. Jennifer’s favorite volunteer activities include helping out with the Cancer Society’s annual Cattle Barron’s Ball, PTA functions and face-painting for local charitable causes.

David Bratton-Kearns, Chief Operating Officer

David is a former Family Giving Tree Board Member and volunteer, and comes to the position after more than 25 years in various management positions in the transportation industry. In a prior life, David spent three years as an elementary school teacher in Southern California. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine and has an MBA in marketing and logistics from Temple University, Philadelphia. As part of his COE duties, David will be managing office and warehouse operations.  David was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, is a California native, and has been happily married to his wife Donna for more than 30 years and enjoys spending time with his two daughters.

Al Galan, Program Manager

Originally from Chicago, IL, Al graduated with a BS in Mathematics from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.  He served in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer for 8 years in San Diego, left the Navy and found employment in San Jose.  He received a Masters in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco, and has worked for Integrated Device Technology and Intel as a Supply Chain planner and manager.  Al is an avid hockey fan and roots for Chicago sports team and the SJ Sharks.  He enjoys running and commuting to work on his bike.  He and his wife, Jenny, enjoy spending time visiting lighthouses on the coast.

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!

Andrea Stallings, Program Associate

As Program Associate, 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 recently had a daughter! 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!"

Jeanne Clabaugh, Director of Development

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 25 and 28.  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 Associate

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 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 Outreach 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 and 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 attending college at San Jose State University, Cristi is working her way towards a degree in Sociology with a concentrationin Community Change.  In keeping with the office trend of being crafty, Cristi enjoys knitting and designing mosaics in her spare time and loves to cuddle with her Tibetan Spaniel/Chihuahua mix, Poco. As Webmaster, Cristi is 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!

Susan Bellamy, Development Assistant

Susan, the newest elf, is a 3rd generation native Californian, growing up in Palo Alto. She graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in Business and worked in the for-profit world for many years. She is married to Jerry, has a grown son and step-daughter and a German shepherd, Nellie. She spends her spare time making quilts for family and friends and also enjoys knitting.

Alexander Ralston, Marketing & Media Elf

Born in Denver, Colorado but raised in Mountain View/Los Altos, California, Alex considers himself a native of California, and currently resides in Half Moon Bay, San Francisco, and Boulder Creek.  He went to the University of Toronto, Scarborough, for his Bachelors in History and Anthropology, and where he spent a year in part writing a paper on branding and consumption.  While in Canada he ate poutine frequently, and could often be seen at the local Tim Horton’s.  Alex loves many things, including cooking, physics, reading geek news, jogging, anthropology, music, Indian or Thai food, TV, bulldogs, and the Internets.  He currently spends his free time with his family and chilling with his girlfriend, Florence, and hopes to begin editing his thesis soon.

Robert "Bob" Cullenbine, Volunteer Warehouse Locater

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 was the CFO for the Family Giving from 1998 to 2008.