MOTHER’S DAY BENEFIT FLYER

by Debbie Stephens Stauffer

by Debbie Stephens Stauffer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 20, 2008

Mother’s Day Benefit Children’s Concert with Dr. Noize for

Bay Area Three-Year-Old Girl Who Tragically Lost Her Young and Talented Mother

Palo Alto, CA – A Mother’s Day Benefit Children’s Concert by nationally acclaimed children’s performer, Dr. Noize, will take place on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. at the Cubberley Auditorium at Stanford University with all proceeds benefiting three-year-old Kaia Emery who tragically lost her mother, Deborah Kim Emery, to a sudden and massive stroke while she was at work last October. This concert stands as an event for families to take time to reflect on what they have and have loved about mothers.

The concert is open to the public with a suggested donation of $10, and all proceeds will go to a special fund for Kaia’s future.  “Having this concert on Mother's Day is obviously a big deal and very poignant but on a personal level, I feel like that is something that I can give back to everyone who comes in support - to help them appreciate what they might still have,” said Brian Emery, Deb’s husband and Kaia’s father. 

Young Kaia was born in Palo Alto and then spent her first two years living in Cupertino until her family moved to Menlo Park in 2007 where she and her father currently reside which is not far from Palo Alto where her parents grew up.

Doctor Noize creates interactive music that inspires noizy kids and adventurous adults to live lives of character, kindness, good humor and learning and explore music and creativity together.  Dr. Noize’s latest CD, The Ballad of Phineas McBoof, features XM Kids Radio’s national #1 hit song, “Banana” and is named one of Dr. Toy’s “Top 100 Toys Of The Year”, Winner of a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award, and Winner of CD Baby’s Editor’s Picks Recommended Award. http://www.drnoize.com/

Kaia’s mother, Deborah Kim Emery, Ph.D., was a research associate at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University, and died at age 35.  Deb, as she was known to her family, friends and colleagues, was an educational psychologist who focused on the developmental and social aspects of learning, particularly as they relate to connecting academic research with hands-on practice in schools and the community.

Deb was born in Los Angeles in 1972. Her family moved to Modesto in 1973 and to Palo Alto in the early 1980s, where her parents ran The Cookbook, a restaurant in Town & Country Village near Stanford. Deb graduated from Gunn High School in 1990 and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California-Berkeley in 1994. After graduating, she worked with several nonprofit organizations, teaching and directing programs for children. Deb entered the doctoral program at Stanford in the late 1990s and, after graduating in 2004, joined SRI International as an educational researcher. She returned to work at Stanford in 2006.

Donations for Kaia’s fund may also be made directly to this address: Stanford Credit Union, P.O. Box 10690, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0843.  Checks should be made payable to Brian Emery with reference to sub-account "Syouthsub1."

This benefit concert is made possible by the generous support of Dr. Noize, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth & Their Communities at the Stanford School of Education, and Deb’s friends and family.

For more information, contact Debbie Stephens Stauffer, (408) 981-9078 or edebbie@mac.com.

###