“Baking for Angels,” a gourmet baking class led by Meichelle Arntz, founder of Recipes Bakery & Gifts and Angels Foster Care in Santa Barbara, raised funds at a live virtual event held May 16.
The event supported Angels Foster Care infants and toddlers as well as the Lionheart Legacy Fund. The fund — established in memory of Ezra Lionheart Fernandez, an Angels Foster Care infant who bravely battled life-threatening medical issues throughout his short life — provides intensive medical, educational and behavioral services for Angels Foster Care children.
Dressed in a floral apron with angel wings attached to her back, Arntz guided the more than 100 registered guests while they mixed and kneaded her yeast bread creation called monkey bread. She told her students, “You can’t over-handle this bread dough.”
She credited her mother, who also was online, for the recipe, which includes a buttery cinnamon sugar topping and is baked in a bundt pan.
There also was a cameo video message by British star chef Kim-Joy, who wished all of the participants good luck and expressed her gratitude for their support of such an important cause. Also caught on camera was Montecito Bank & Trust President/CEO Janet Garufis, who compared cooking to the collaboration needed to create a community bank.
Montecito Bank & Trust was a major sponsor of the fundraiser, along with Village Properties-Renee Grubb, Frequency Wine Co., Westerlay Orchids, Recipes Bakery & Gifts, PivIT Global, The Make Studio, Coast2Coast and others.
“Thank you to everyone who helped this effort,” Santa Barbara County Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lagnino said in a virtual message. “There isn’t a better cause than helping kids with special needs.”
Angels Foster Care Executive Director Holly Carmody told Noozhawk: “We were so delighted to have 100 attendees and to exceed our fundraising goal of $25,000. We raised $27,000 before the end of the event!”
Before the virtual class, a package was delivered to the participants that contained all of the nonperishable ingredients, a bundt cake pan and a raffle ticket. VIP sponsors also received a bottle of wine, a designer apron, a copy of the book “Baking with Kim-Joy” and other goodies.
Motivated by her conviction that “every baby deserves a safe, stable, loving family of their very own,” Arntz launched Angels Foster Care in 2006. Her goal was to prevent local infants and toddlers from bouncing from home to home while in foster care. The Angels Foster Care model prevents babies from developing attachment disorders because they are cared for in one home, by one loving family, for the entire time that they are in foster care.
There was a poignant clip of Sara and Eric Fernandez, who fostered Ezra along with five other Angels children and have adopted two.
“I feel so grateful,” Sara Fernandez said. “I feel like I am with the best of the best — people who offer their love for these little ones. No matter what the outcome, fully opening our hearts to each of the precious tiny humans we’ve been able to care for has been the most incredible thing … once we stopped holding back and protecting our hearts is when each of our kiddos started to really thrive.”
Angels Foster Care protects abused, neglected and abandoned infants and toddlers, nurtures them in one loving home until adoption or reunification, and ensures that they reach their maximum development potential. The nonprofit organization recruits, trains and supports loving foster families for children ages 0 to 5 who have been removed from unsafe homes in Santa Barbara County. Its goal is to provide a healthy start for very young foster children so they will be likely to stay on track for the rest of their lives.
To donate to the Lionheart Legacy Fund or to find out more about “Baking for Angels,” click here or contact Carmody at 805.884.0012 or holly@angelsfostercare.org.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Rochelle Rose can be reached at rrose@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.