Garden Pathways will honor four outstanding “Women with a Heart for Bakersfield” at the seventh annual High Tea on Wednesday, September 23 at 11:30 a.m. at Seven Oaks Country Club.Honorees Susan Handy, Christy Porter, Susie Small, and Betty Youngerhave a proven record of exceptional community service and leadership that has made a positive and lasting impact in Bakersfield.Mayor Harvey Hall and other dignitaries will present awards and resolutions to these women whoinspire, mentor, and empower others to serve our community.
Proceeds from the event will help transition families from poverty and at-risk conditions to self-sufficiency through the mentoring and education programs of Garden Pathways.Participants served include youth and families impacted by gang violence, families in welfare-to-work and child protectiveservices programs, emancipating and emancipated foster youth,pregnant and parenting youth, truant youth, and other at-risk youth.
Mentoring brings hope, renewal, and wholeness that changes families forever..Attendees will hear how the power of mentoring has transformed lives.
The four honorees have shaped the life of our community and have served as mentors to many.
Susan Handy has been a driving force and advocate for adult education both in Kern County and at the state level through the California State Department of Education.Currently principal at the Bakersfield Adult School, which serves over 28,000 students, Handy has brought continual enrichment and growth to the program.
Christy Porter has supported a broad spectrum of philanthropic and social advocacy needs across the nation.As founder, owner, and CEO of the Jasmine Nyree Day Center, the only private special needs day center in Kern County, Porter is enabling children with severe disabilities to thrive in a caring and nurturing environment.
Susie Small has turned the personal loss of her granddaughter to cancer into determination to expand local medical care for children.Small’s efforts have contributed substantially to the expansion of the Bakersfield Memorial Hospital neo-natal intensive care and the future pediatric intensive care unit, and to the development of the West Tower.Through Small Miracles Foundation, Small has provided financial resources for families who have a child with cancer.
An internationally recognized artist and lifelong advocate for the arts, Betty Younger has brought art into public places where everyone can experience culture in their daily lives.Over twenty of her sculptures are prominently displayed throughout Kern County.Younger recently opened an art gallery to promote local artists and just completed a life-size statue of Jesus out of a 1,200-pound steel pipe for the Bakersfield Rescue Mission.
Past honorees also will be recognized at the High Tea — Sheryl Barbich, Karen Brown, Izetta Camp, Irma Carson, Esther Chapman, Holly Culhane, Peggy Darling, Joan Dezember, Beckie Diltz, Annie Everly, Chris Frank, Ann Hansen, Beverly Beasley Johnson, Virginia Kirschenman, Pauline Larwood, Judi McCarthy, Billie Jo Medders, Barbara Patrick, Jeanette Richardson Parks, Rebecca Rivera, M.D., Sunny Scofield, Sandra Serrano, Mary K. Shell, Lueether Ward, Connie Wattenbarger, and Wendy Wayne.
The public is invited to honor these outstanding women as well as to invest in the lives of at-risk families and youth through mentoring.Proceeds from the High Tea will enable the expansion of mentoring and education services.Individual tickets are $65; table sponsorships are $650.
For more information about the High Tea or Garden Pathways, contact: Karen Goh, Executive Director, Garden Pathways, at (661) 633-9133 or visit www.gardenpathways.org.
