Getting flocked

June Casagrande

Yvette Jolly wasn’t expecting to get flocked.

She was minding her own business, driving home from a parenting

class when she pulled up in her front lawn and saw 10 blazing pink

plastic flamingos.

Jolly’s is just one of 10 households where flamingos landed

Thursday night -- all part of Sandra Vanian’s devious scheme to raise

support for the upcoming Relay for Life cancer fundraiser.

And as Vanian hoped, the birds were welcome guests.

“It was so exciting. I am so thrilled,” said Jolly, a friend of

Vanian’s.

Vanian, who is the chair this year for the Relay for Life event,

paid $500 out of pocket to buy 100 plastic flamingos. On Thursday

night, she sneaked up to the homes of friends and parked 10 flamingos

on their yard along with a brochure explaining how the flocking fun

benefits Relay for Life.

Flockees are asked to cough up $40 to have the flock removed, with

larger donations happily accepted of course. For their money, they

get to pick the next flocking victim. For another donation, they can

also buy insurance against getting flocked again in the future, or

even adopt one of the flock. Just to be safe, the brochures also give

the flocking victim the option of bowing out of the whole deal

without making a donation.

Vanian will be delivering all the flocks herself, per her donors’

request, working nearly nonstop until the relay begins May 14.

Most important, Vanian said, is that the flocking victims are

invited and encouraged to get involved in the Relay for Life event.

“Everyone I picked to flock are people I know and who aren’t now

involved in Relay for Life, but I think they’ll want to be once they

find out more about it,” she said.

In Jolly’s case, the gambit paid off -- big time.

“My family will be making a donation, and we’re definitely going

to get involved now. We’re thinking of starting a team,” said Jolly,

who is active in Girl Scouts and who hopes to get other scouts and

scout parents to join in the fun.

“What an exciting, fun, positive way to help out with a cause

that’s this important,” Jolly said.

The Relay for Life takes place from 6 p.m. May 14 until 6 p.m. the

next day at the Newport Harbor High School athletic field. For more

information, call Stephanie Taylor at (949) 567-0611.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.