Cancer Foundation Gets Crackin’

Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation (TBCF), the only local organization to provide financial, educational, and emotional support to families living in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties that have a child with cancer, has announced the details about a new fundraising event. The California Clam Bake event takes place Thursday, April 26 from 6 to 9 pm on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. 

The event is being coordinated by co-chairs Sheela Hunt and Maria Wilson and their hard-working committee, including Carolyn Shepard Baham, Melanie Cava, Nina Johnson, Leslie Von Wiesenberger, and Tara Zanecki. “I continue to support TBCF because children battling cancer should always have the comfort of their parent by their side,” said Hunt, who also sits on the board of the nonprofit. Wilson added: “You never know how important the impact of the Foundation is until you meet some of the families; I hear their stories and see the appreciation in their faces. The money we are raising from this event is allowing these parents to focus on their child in need.”

The occasion will offer up a special night, beginning at the Santa Barbara Natural History Sea Center from 6 to 7 pm with wine and hors d’oeuvres, a premier silent auction, and raffle and live music by local band the Traveling Hurtados. The festivities then move on to The Harbor Restaurant from 7 to 9 pm for a traditional Clam Bake and Lobster dinner (alternate meals available). 

Silent auction items include an exquisite Daniel Gibbings-designed ring; VIP tickets to the May 19 Katy Perry concert at Santa Barbara County Bowl; Premium tickets to a Los Angeles Lakers game with passes to the Chairman’s Lounge for pregame buffet and halftime beverages; and a Girl’s Night Out for 10 at the Painted Cabernet in Santa Barbara, an art studio that hosts painting and sipping parties with instruction and local wines. The raffle prize includes a case of Melville Emory Pinot Noir (the wine is named after a young girl who TBCF served, and Melville is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from its sales back to the organization) along with a midweek one-night stay at the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn in Los Olivos.

“Only through the generosity of our community can we continue to support the critical financial, educational, and emotional needs of the families we serve,” said Lindsey Leonard, TBCF executive director. In 2017, TBCF served a record 839 individuals. In addition to the many programs the organization offers – such as tutoring and counseling services, as part of their educational and emotional assistance programs – they granted $238,477 to 78 families, which represented a 34-percent increase in requests for financial aid compared to 2016. 

As TBCF continues to grow in scope and reach of services, so does their need to expand their support base. Each year, more local children are told they have cancer and set out to fight at battle that no child should ever have to endure, says Leonard. TBCF is there to help them, as well as their families, during the most difficult time in their lives.

The Clam Bake event is generously supported by Visionary Bear sponsors Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin; Advocate Bear sponsor, The Painted Cabernet, Monte and Maria Wilson; and Healer Bear sponsors, Julia Delgado, M.D., General Pediatrics; First American Title Company; J Paul Gignac; O’Malley’s: Jimmy Smit and Dan and Carolyn Baham; Peggy and Nathan Rogers; and Mark and Sheela Hunt of Village Properties. 

To purchase a sponsorship or tickets, or to find out how you can donate an auction item to TBCF’s California Clam Bake, please contact Eryn Shugart, TBCF Development director, at 962-7466 or visit www.teddybearcancerfoundation.org. The event is Thursday, April 26.