The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation has announced three honorees who will be recognized during the nonprofit’s seventh annual Gold Ribbon Luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara.
The honorees include Michael and Kathy McCarthy, generous supporters of Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation for more than a decade, who will receive the Heart of Gold Award. The McCarthys run The Nurture Foundation and The Nurture Cottage on Coast Village Road, and have spent several years opening their home and serving on foundation fundraising event committees. Mrs. McCarthy serves as a TBCF ambassador and advocates for local families who have a child battling cancer.
Jim and Vanessa Bechtel will be honored with the Humanitarian Award. Mr. Bechtel first learned about the foundation after a very personal experience with pediatric cancer, and became involved with the organization in 2005. Mr. Bechtel joined TBCF’s board in 2009 and served as board chairman from 2012 to 2014. Mrs. Bechtel has belonged to several TBCF committees over the years, and was instrumental to the success of the foundation’s Inaugural Gold Ribbon Campaign.
The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation also will honor the Marchiano family with the Pay It Forward Award. Melinda Marchiano was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2007 when she was 13. Now a dance teacher at at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Melinda and her mother have traveled around the country sharing her story of recovery with children in treatment. Her book, which she published at the age of 15, was incredibly successful and won her several prestigious awards.
The luncheon is the culmination of the seventh annual Gold Ribbon Campaign, held in recognition of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September. The luncheon will include an auction, facilitated by Sean Kelly from “Storage Hunters.”
Tickets are available for $150. To purchase a sponsorship or luncheon tickets or to make a donation to the Gold Ribbon Campaign, visit www.teddybearcancerfoundation.org or call 805-962-7466.
