Tag archives: Dream Foundation
The Santa Barbara-based Dream Foundation received a hefty check from Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox when CEO Kisa Heyer and staffers flew to the Windy City to pick up the gift. The team also presented checks to Stand Up to Cancer, the University of Chicago Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center […]
Petal power was palpable when the Dream Foundation hosted its 13th annual Flower Empower lunch for 200 guests at the Rosewood Miramar, raising around $160,000 for the Santa Barbara-based program that delivers colorful bouquets and handmade cards to hospitals, cancer centers and homes every week. Since it started in 1994, the program had made more […]
Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow is looking for a quiet life on the British coast, according to reports. If so, the Oscar winner will be following a whole host of celebrities, including Cate Blanchett, Jason Statham, Jamie Dornan, Stanley Tucci, and Jason Momoa who have snapped up properties in the picturesque southwestern county of Cornwall. While […]
Valerie Banks, the dynamic force behind the Dream Foundation’s Flower Empower program, is retiring after nearly 15 years. Since assuming leadership in 2008, Valerie has grown the popular program from humble beginnings at Santa Barbara’s Saturday Farmers Market, forging partnerships with local growers and flower wholesalers, while rallying dozens of volunteers. Today the enthusiastic helpers […]
U.S. Army veteran Chad Blomgren has joined the board of the Dream Foundation. He has been a member of the organization’s Veterans Advisory Council since its 2021 inception and will continue to work closely with the Dreams for Veterans program. Blomgren, a senior director of managed markets at Gilead Sciences, a biotechnology research firm, comes […]
Petal power reigned supreme when the Dream Foundation hosted its 12th annual Flower Empower lunch at the Rockwood Woman’s Club, with a record 225 guests raising around $250,000 for the popular charity. Last year the scheme handed out 8,400 bouquets of flowers with volunteers putting in more than 4,900 hours, says Valerie Banks, coordinator. Since […]
Investec Real Estate Companies’ founding principal and president Kenny Slaught is stepping down as Dream Foundation’s board chair after a decade at the helm. He will continue to serve as vice chair under the organization’s newly appointed chair, Mario Muredda. Muredda is currently a member of the foundation’s board and was formerly co-chair of the […]
Marissa Freeman, chief marketing officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, has joined the Dream Foundation’s board of directors. She will work closely with the marketing and communications team on strategy and creative direction as well as identify and establish relationships to broaden awareness about the 29-year-old organization and its mission across the country. A globally-recognized […]
Sheryl Zimmerman, a distinguished professor of social work and public health, has joined the board of the Dream Foundation. She will work closely with staff, serve as a valuable advisor to program services, and bring awareness of end-of-life, palliative care, and long-term care organizations based on her extensive knowledge and networking. Zimmerman co-directs the program […]
Kenny and Elizabeth Slaught opened the doors of their Montecito aerie for the Dream Foundation’s second annual Twilight in the Garden with 150 guests raising around $500,000. The dynamic duo also hosted the organization’s first event 28 years ago. Kenny is stepping down as decade-long chairman of the foundation but continuing as vice-chairman. Chief Executive […]
Local businesswomen and philanthropists Eva Rhodes and Elizabeth Farnan Rodrigues have joined the Dream Foundation’s national board of directors, helping raise awareness about the organization’s mission of fulfilling final dreams for terminally-ill adults. Rhodes is currently Vice President and banker for the Santa Barbara office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she works closely with […]
After a two-year absence given the pandemic, the Dream Foundation hosted its 11th annual Flower Empower lunch at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, with a record 239 guests raising more than $140,000 for the popular organization that fulfills the final wishes of terminally-ill adults. “It’s so nice to be together again with real people and […]
Ventura local Marcy Ornelas, husband Donald, and their 13-year-old daughter Shoshanna are off to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, courtesy of Santa Barbara’s Dream Foundation. Diagnosed with end-stage breast cancer that has recently spread, music has always been a positive constant in Marcy’s life. “I can leave somewhere in a […]
In the quarter-century since its founding, Dream Foundation, the only national dream-granting organization serving terminally-ill adults, has provided end-of-life Dreams for more than 32,000 terminally-ill adults across the country. Based in Santa Barbara, the organization serves as something of a counterpart to the well-known Make-a-Wish Foundation – the Phoenix-founded nonprofit that for 40 years has […]
Jackie Waddill, who has served Dream Foundation recipients, their families, and the organization’s family of supporters for the last 23 years, has announced her retirement. “In my career with the foundation I’ve seen the delight and pure joy a final dream can bring,” says Jackie. “I’ve felt the short distance between hello and goodbye. I […]
Opera Santa Barbara has come up with a most novel way to sell tickets to fans after the pandemic lockdown. Artistic director Kostis Protopapas has announced that a limited number of tickets for this season’s productions will be available to patrons on a name-your-own-price-basis. The name of this new initiative, made possible by a grant […]
The Amazons of the Music Academy of the West were positively unleashed after more than a year of monthly meetings via Zoom for a “Sip n’ Stroll” sunset soirée on the picturesque terrace of Hahn Hall on the Miraflores campus. “It is an absolutely fabulous feeling,” exclaimed event chair Roberta Grant. “Everybody has been absolutely […]
Earth Day, which started in Santa Barbara after a disastrous oil spill of more than four million gallons in 1969 which killed thousands of seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions, has certainly been celebrated by Jennifer Smith, the publisher of Santa Barbara Magazine and C Magazine. Jennifer, daughter of Anne Towbes, tells me they have […]
Montecito art and car collector Michael Hammer‘s actor son, Armie, 33, is reprising his role in the sequel to the hit film Call Me By Your Name with Oscar nominated Timothee Chalamet, 24. Director Luca Guadagnino, 48, who helmed the original 2017 drama, says both lead actors are keen to reprise their roles in the […]
Young Santa Barbara mother of two, Belmi Tepecque, 22, and her family are the latest recipients of the largesse of the Dream Foundation, which has delivered more than 32,000 dreams over the past 22 years. The popular organization is providing Belmi’s final dream of a trip to Maui with her husband, Gustavo, and two children […]
