Proud & Permanent Families: Five Acres Voices Gala

• Across the U.S. there are over 100,000 children in the foster care system.
• More than 56,000 of those children are in California’s foster care system.
• Just in L. A. County alone there are over 20,000 children in foster care.

THE REASON Friends, supporters and volunteers gathered to raise awareness and funds to help children in the foster care system find healthy, happy and permanent families at the annual Voices for Five Acres Gala at The Westin Pasadena, on Saturday, June 6, 2015.
THE REVELERS Guests included Jane Kaczmarek, Amber & Sam Jaeger, Andrea Vining, Thomas Murray, Ruthie Goldberg, Mark Fischer, Anthony Duarte, Armen Sarkissian, Tammy & Jim Scanlan, Tawnia McKiernan and U.S. Representative Judy Chu.
THE RECAP Event hosts Wendy Burch and Matthew Lillard presided over the live auction, which included a rare opportunity to ride in the Goodyear blimp. The two bantered while quieting the lively crowd, introducing important speakers like Don Boline, Sue McGuirl and Five Acres CEO Chanel Boutakidis, who all shared their personal passions for the work helping children in foster care find permanent families and build successful lives. Television director Tawnia McKiernan and her husband Tim presented a video PSA they produced/directed to share the stories of families created through adoption and fostering.

Wendy Burch revealed that she herself is adopted, and announced that this coming weekend she will be riding on the Wells Fargo stage-coach at the L.A. Pride 2015 Parade on June 14. For more information on Five Acres, visit www.5Acres.org.

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