Contributing Writer

Everyone who enjoys sampling gourmet fare coupled with great wine, while helping a good cause, should get ready to have their taste buds tantalized during the annual Cooking Up Dreams fundraiser and chef competition.

To fund services for Santa Barbara County’s low-income, at-risk youth, the Family Service Agency will host its fourth annual Cooking Up Dreams event — the agency’s biggest fundraiser of the year — from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at the Santa Barbara Carriage Museum, 129 Castillo St.

“This is our signature event,” said FSA Director of Development and Communications Katie Jacobs. “It’s a fun and different way to highlight what Family Service Agency does.”

Established in 1899, Family Service Agency works to improve the health and well-being of the county’s most vulnerable children, families and seniors by providing them access to food, shelter and other basic needs. It also provides infant and early-childhood home visits around the county, including the Santa Ynez Valley.

The organization, which recently merged with the Santa Maria Youth & Family Center, also provides youth mentoring, case management, substance abuse treatment, advocacy and a wide array of mental health programs.

Proceeds from the popular Cooking Up Dreams event help ensure critical funds are available for FSA’s youth enrichment programs, which include Big Brothers Big Sisters as well as school-based counseling and youth behavioral health, according to FSA Marketing Manager Marianne McCarthy.

The event asks chefs at local restaurants, such as The Finch and Fork, to create tasty, bite-sized samples in a contest determined by attendees’ votes.

The theme of this year’s Cooking Up Dreams is “Now More Than Ever,” which will allow FSA to showcase what the organization has done in and for the community during the last 100-plus years, while also highlighting emerging needs.

“While we want to celebrate our 119 years (of service), we also want to highlight the relevancy of our agency through the ages,” McCarthy said.

The agency has been working to provide resources to families looking to become more integrated into the community, which McCarthy said is definitely an emerging need within the organization.

“We also want to talk about how we have adapted … and the focus of our immediate needs,” she added.

The gala will include historical information about FSA and its services as well as a presentation about the organization’s compassion centers, which provided counseling at school campuses — Cleveland, Cold Springs and Santa Barbara High School — where students were directly affected by the deadly Jan. 9 Montecito mudslides.

FSA’s Family Resource Centers, which on average serve more than 3,000 families annually with basic needs, parenting skills and more, were also available to help people affected by the Thomas Fire the mudslides, Jacobs said.

As the county’s only long-term care ombudsman, FSA also helped with the evacuation and relocation of senior residents in long-term care facilities on the South Coast during the mudslides.

“We provide a lot of wrap-around services,” Jacobs said, adding that adults are also referred to FSA to help with state services, such as applying for CalFresh or CalWorks, through a youth’s involvement in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

“Cooking Up Dreams generally supports all of our programs,” she explained. “It celebrates our programs for kids and supports FSA in all of the work we do.”

Last year, the event raised nearly $150,000 and FSA’s leadership team hopes this year to attract at least that much, which McCarthy stressed is vital to the viability of the organization’s programs and services offered at sites in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Guadalupe, Lompoc and Santa Maria.

“It is one of our main sources of unrestricted funding,” McCarthy said about the money raised through Cooking Up Dreams ticket sales and sponsorships.

“Funding we can apply to programs as needed is really critical,” she added. “This allows us to apply funding to services typically not funded (with grants or state money). The money goes a long way.”

Cooking Up Dreams is more than a typical gala in that attendees not only get to sample gourmet plates from leading local restaurants and chefs, while sipping wine, but they also participate in the event’s culinary competition that pits chef against chef for the judge’s and people’s choice awards, Jacobs said.

Youth involved with FSA’s Big Brothers Big Sisters program also serve as greeters at the fundraiser, wearing white chef’s hats at the door as they usher people into the festivities.

“They are great ambassadors for us,” Jacobs said. “People who like food and community should come. It’s just a really fun event.”

For tickets, call Family Service Agency at 805-965-1001 or visit fsacares.org/cooking-up-dreams.

The post ‘Cooking Up Dreams’ appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

By Raiza Giorgi

Meteorologist Meredith Garofalo does more for the community than forecasting the weather.

She and Emily Nordee have been named co-chairs for the 2017 Cooking Up Dreams, a “flavorful” benefit for at-risk youth on March 31 at the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara.

“As a television personality I consider it a privilege to be on camera and that people look to us for … how to help others. I love that I can help make a difference in our community,” Garofalo said.

Cooking Up Dreams is a unique fundraising event featuring a culinary competition between leading chefs at local restaurants, including First and Oak in Solvang.

Guests will also enjoy complimentary wine provided by Grassini Family Vineyards and Touring and Tasting and beer, a full bar, music by DJ Scott Topper, silent and live auctions, a red carpet entrance, a premium photo booth, and much more.

Garofalo has been a meteorologist with KEYT Channel 3 in Santa Barbara for three years, after moving from a station in Sarasota, Fla.

“I knew I was supposed to be on the West Coast and jumped when this position came available. It’s been such a great time so far, and I look forward to many years in Santa Barbara and making this my forever home,” she said.

Her dedication to her craft recently earned her the American Meteorological Society’s Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation. Radio and television meteorologists pursue the CBM designation as a mark of distinction and recognition.

To earn the CBM, broadcasters must hold a degree in meteorology or the equivalent from an accredited college or university, pass a rigorous written examination, and have their on-air work reviewed to assess graphical content as well as explanation and presentation skills.

In addition to the initial educational and test requirements, CBMs have to earn professional development points to maintain their certification by attending scientific seminars or meetings and similar activities.

“The society’s Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation clearly recognizes that the holders have the educational background and have been tested in their knowledge and communication of the sciences needed to be an effective broadcast meteorologist,” said AMS Executive Director Keith Seitter.

A big perk of her job, she said, is that as a reporter she gets to do things like paragliding and taking surfing lessons to show the public. One of her memorable segments was an inside look with the meteorologists at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

“That was by far one of my favorite because, being a weather geek, I got to have an inside look at the forecasters’ jobs there, which are the deciding factors if a rocket launch happens or gets scrubbed,” she said excitedly.

Her typical day starts with getting ready for work at 2 a.m. and arriving at the station around 3 a.m. Then she prepares her forecasts and maps for the day by 4 a.m., does her own hair and makeup, and is on camera from 5 to 9 a.m. She does another mid-day forecast and then ends her day around noon.

In her free time she loves to work out or spend time with her boyfriend Scott Wallace, a real estate developer and amateur chef. They love to travel up and down the Central Coast, going wine tasting, walking on the beach or hiking.

Not only does Garofalo bring an informative outlook on the weather, but she also is a strong presence in Santa Barbara with all of her involvement in charitable events for organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, and Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties.

“One of my favorite events is ‘Cooking Up Dreams,’ a fundraiser for the Family Services Agency, which helps kids all over the Central Coast. We love that valley native Andrew Firestone is our emcee and he does such a great job,” she said.

This year’s “Cooking up Dreams” will be from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Friday, March 31, at the Fess Parker Doubletree Inn in Santa Barbara. The fundraising event features a culinary competition with samples by leading local chefs and restaurants. The competition will be fierce as 300 guests and celebrity judges vote on the top dish that will win the People’s Choice or the Judge’s awards.

Proceeds from the event support Family Service Agency’s youth enrichment programs, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, school-based counseling, and youth behavioral health – all programs targeting low-income, at-risk youth.

For more information, read the March edition of Santa Barbara Family and Life Magazine or log onto www.cookingupdreams.org.

5 Things to Know About Meredith Garofalo

– She has sung the national anthem more than 100 times at various events. Her goal is to sing it at a Los Angeles Lakers game.

– Her favorite book is “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

– Her favorite animals are horses, and she hopes to get back in the saddle soon.

– Her great-grandfather once worked with the Rockefeller family and built the Warsaw Tavern, famous in the Drew Carey comedy show.

– She is a longtime lover of the “Grey’s Anatomy” television series.

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