Den\u00a0Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation<\/a>\u00a0recognized three honorees during its seventh annual Gold Ribbon Luncheon held Sept. 25 at the\u00a0Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore<\/a>\u00a0in Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n Held on the Monte Vista Lawn, the luncheon included an auction facilitated by Sean Kelly of Storage Hunters, as well as wine tastings provided by\u00a0Encell<\/a>,\u00a0Jaffurs<\/a>, Los Cinco Locos,\u00a0Melville<\/a>,\u00a0Millesime<\/a>\u00a0og\u00a0Rancho Boa Vista<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event was the culmination of the seventh annual Gold Ribbon Campaign held in recognition of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. The campaign aimed to increase awareness about pediatric cancer and how it affects families, and to bring attention to the critical role that the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation plays in supporting families in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties with a child who is battling cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mother Leslie Miller gave a touching testimonial. Just two weeks after last year\u2019s TBCF event, she took her young son to a pediatric cancer specialist and learned that her son had kidney cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing prepares you for that conversation of a diagnosis of your child,\u201d she said. “The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation dropped off gifts and provided emotional support that relieved so much stress.\u201d<\/p>\n After 17 rounds of chemotherapy, seven days of radiation, and surgery to remove one kidney as well as part of the other, Miller reported that their son is now in kindergarten and has a full head of hair.<\/p>\n Later in the program, TBCF board chair Richard Schuette made a surprise announcement, bringing attorney Robert Curtis of the local law firm\u00a0Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis LLP<\/a>\u00a0to the stage. Curtis announced that he received permission to award the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation unclaimed funds from a settlement. As a result, a $285,000 check was presented to the organization.<\/p>\n “The funds awarded to TBCF were unclaimed monies from a $64 million settlement my firm achieved in a case involving wrongful charges on cellphone bills,” Curtis told\u00a0Noozhawk<\/a>. “Normally, those funds are turned over to the state as unclaimed property or given to a legal-related cause. However, we were able to get the judge to allow those funds to be released to needy and worthwhile charities.”<\/p>\n In addition, 58 sponsors supported the Gold Ribbon Campaign, including:<\/p>\n Gold Champion Sponsor<\/strong><\/p>\n Kennedy Wilson Charitable Foundation<\/p>\n Visionary Sponsors<\/strong><\/p>\n Arlington Financial Advisors<\/a>, Wells Hughes Advocate Sponsors<\/strong><\/p>\n Allstate Insurance, Alain Welty<\/a> The Heart of Gold Award was presented to Michael and Kathy McCarthy of The Nurture Foundation.<\/p>\n The McCarthys have been generous supporters of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation for more than a decade. In 2002, the same year the foundation was founded, they started The Nurture Foundation and pledged to gift 10 percent of their income to select nonprofit organizations supporting children, health, education and women.<\/p>\n In addition to The Nurture Foundation\u2019s continued support, Kathy McCarthy has spent several years serving on TBCF\u2019s fundraising event committees as well as co-chairing TBCF\u2019s Celebrating 10 Years Gala in 2012.<\/p>\n The 2019 Humanitarian Award was given to Jim and Vanessa Bechtel.<\/p>\n Vanessa and Jim Bechtel, recipients of the 2019 Humanitarian Award.<\/p><\/div>\n Since TBCF\u2019s early days, the Bechtels have been generous supporters. Jim Bechtel joined TBCF\u2019s board in 2009 and served as board chair from 2012 to 2014, showing strong leadership and advocacy for the families TBCF serves. He has also been uniquely positioned to provide valuable feedback as someone who has personally experienced the hardships of pediatric cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have an opportunity to give of themselves, and one of the biggest ways I can contribute is time and experience,\u201d Vanessa Bechtel said. \u201cTeddy Bear Cancer Foundation is a Central Coast treasure, and it separates our community from others. TBCF brings a human element to the work that we\u2019re doing that\u2019s exponentially more powerful than just financial aid.\u201d<\/p>\n She was instrumental to the success of TBCF\u2019s inaugural Gold Ribbon Campaign through her time spent developing structure for the campaign.<\/p>\n The Pay It Forward Award was presented to the Marchiano family. On Dec. 18, 2007, 13-year-old Melinda Marchiano was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, and two days after Christmas, she began treatment at\u00a0Cottage Children\u2019s Medical Center<\/a>. During treatment, the Marchiano family was introduced to TBCF.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our family\u2019s darkest hour, TBCF appeared as a glimmering beacon of hope. The help Melinda received was lifesaving. It\u2019s our privilege to express our deep gratitude to TBCF by supporting their vital mission to help children and families on their own path to a cure,\u201d Melinda\u2019s mom, Lee, said. \u201cThe assistance our family received from TBCF was astonishing! No amount of paying it forward will ever be sufficient to match our gratitude.<\/p>\n Melinda Marchiano is now 18, cancer-free, teaching pilates and dance, and is planning to get married soon.<\/p>\n The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization providing financial and emotional support to families of children with cancer living in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. Services are provided to families who have a child diagnosed with cancer up to age 18 and continue until they reach age 21.<\/p>\n Click here for more information<\/a>\u00a0about the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, or call 805.962.7466 or email\u00a0info@teddybearcancerfoundation.org<\/a>.\u00a0Click here to make an online donation<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The\u00a0Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation\u00a0recognized three honorees during its seventh annual Gold Ribbon Luncheon held Sept. 25 at the\u00a0Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore\u00a0in Santa Barbara. Held on the Monte Vista Lawn,…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAvalan Wealth<\/a>, Trudi and Rich Schuette
\nKate and Art Coppola
\nMechanics Bank<\/a>
\nIsa Mireles and Talia Gerstenfeld
\nPacific Premier Bank<\/a>
\nTom and Charmaine Rogers
\nMark and Nicole Romasanta
\nSanta Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation<\/a>
\nLacy Taylor and John Thyne of the\u00a0Law Offices of John J. Thyne III<\/a>
\nMonte and Maria Wilson<\/p>\n
\nAmerican Riviera Bank<\/a>
\nJim and Vanessa Bechtel
\nCenCal Health<\/a>
\nCox Communications<\/a>
\nTom and Lora Fisher
\nThe Habit Burger Grill<\/a>
\nWes and Stella Johnson
\nFritz and Tracy Krainer
\nLogicMonitor<\/a>
\nFred and Joyce Lukas
\nMarBorg Industries<\/a>
\nMontecito Bank & Trust<\/a>
\nPacific Western Bank<\/a>
\nNathan Rogers of\u00a0Rogers, Sheffield & Campbell LLP<\/a>
\nAva Schuette
\nM. Barry Semler and family,\u00a0Santa Barbara Investment Co.<\/a>
\nVentura County Community Foundation<\/a>
\nVolentine Family Foundation\u200b
\nWells Fargo<\/a><\/p>\n2019 Honorees<\/h2>\n
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