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Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation’s (TBCF) 3rd Annual Teddy Bear Picnic is set to take place on May 21st at the upper lawn of Montecito Club. This event is one of TBCF’s two signature fundraising events and celebrates the organization’s focus on community, family, and support.
The event offers a variety of activities including a competitive Cornhole Tournament with prizes, lawn games, a sledding hill, sack races, henna tattoos, face painting, and a photo booth inside a vintage VW Bus provided by Traveling Photo Bus. Other activities include floral crown making, wine pulls, jewelry pulls, drawings and live music by Josh Jenkins.
Guests can purchase tickets on the TBCF website at TeddyBearCancerFoundation.org/Picnic. Tickets are $125 each for table seats or $75 to be seated on a blanket on the lawn, and $50 for children under 12. Attendees will be treated to a buffet-style picnic lunch from Montecito Club, ice cream from Dave’s Drip House, and wine poured by Brittany Rice, winemaker at Sunstone Winery and owner of Millesime Cellars. All activities (excluding Cornhole Tournament) are included with each ticket purchase.
Sofie Langhorne and Deborah Stanley, both of whom sit on the TBCF’s Board of Directors and are event sponsors, will co-chair the Teddy Bear Picnic. “I love that this is a family-friendly event that I can share with my grandchildren,” said Stanley, whose granddaughter is a pediatric cancer survivor. “They look forward to this event every year, and I’m so pleased to be able to support such a wonderful organization.” Event sponsors include The Stanley Family Foundation, Karl Storz-Endoskope, Ginni Dreier, BMW of Santa Barbara, Langhorne Group/Sofie & Charles Langhorne, Stradale Group/Monte & Maria Wilson, Tom & Charmaine Rogers, Arlington Financial Advisors/Wells Hughes, Tim & Lisa Couch, Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Phil Hons, J.P.Morgan Private Bank/Sarai Anderson, Milpas Motors, Montecito Fitness, Monarch Wealth Strategies, Pleasant Valley Lions Club and Elizabeth Patterson. Major underwriters include AIMdyn, Inc., Terre & Gary Lapman, Millesime Cellars, Sol Wave Water, Deborah Stanley, and Platinum Movers. In addition to the generosity of sponsors and underwriters, the following dedicated committee members are assisting TBCF to create a beautiful day: Nicole Allen, Sarai Anderson, Jamie Hansen, Lado Ladomery, Mirjana Ladomery, Gwyneth Lloyd, Debby Mann, Debbie Neer, Robert Nunez, Fe Peres, Stacey Polo, Brittany Rice and Maria Wilson.
TBCF’s mission is to advocate for families living in the tri-counties who have a child with cancer by providing financial, emotional, and educational support. In 2022, TBCF significantly expanded its programming to include additional funding for gas and hotel stays during out of town treatment, additional direct financial aid, and more counseling programs, including individual and couples counseling and the re-opening of their Bear Necessities program which provides support during extraordinary circumstances. These programs are in addition to TBCF’s already robust services, offering the largest amount of direct financial aid of any pediatric cancer organization in California. The success of the Teddy Bear Picnic over the past few years has allowed TBCF to sustain and expand these critical programs.
Since its founding in 2002, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation has provided more than $2,500,000 in direct financial aid to families. Furthermore, TBCF offers emotional support groups and 1:1 counseling in both English and Spanish for parents, children, and teens. Their educational advocacy program provides tutoring and neuropsychological assessments to assist children who are re-entering the school system. To learn more about all of the services offered by TBCF, please visit their website at TeddyBearCancerFoundation.org. If you would like more information about the Teddy Bear Picnic, please contact Kirsten Stuart at 805.308.9943 or Kirsten@TeddyBearCancerFoundation.org.