Child Advocates’ third annual Birdhouse Bash, held May 21 in Los Altos, raised funds for abused and neglected children in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Event organizers estimate that the fund-raiser grossed more than $35,000.

Children and teens from the local communities - foster children, an entire third-grade class from Milpitas Sinnott Middle School - created and donated about one-third of the birdhouses and artwork auctioned off to benefit vulnerable children.

This year’s award winners included: Best of Show Birdhouse, Dave Lofgren of San Mateo, Portola Custom Builders, for “Grandma’s Yellow Cottage;” Most Artistic Birdhouse, Joyce Wies of Cupertino for “The White House for Birds;” Best Architecture Award, Pui Shan Chu, Yat Yin Tsang and Yen Yu Chen of Foothill College for “Pumpkin.”

Child Advocates (www.cadvocates.org) is a non-profit organization of trained court-appointed special volunteers who represent abused and neglected children. Each of the agency’s volunteers is appointed by the court to work one-on-one with an abused or neglected child, and acts as a mentor and advocate.

Child Advocates is the only non-profit organization appointed by local dependency courts to represent the needs of abused and neglected children and is one of the largest affiliates of CASA, the National Court Appointed Special Advocates program.