Fall Update from the LiveLikeLara Foundation

October 18th, 2021

Happy Fall from the LiveLikeLara Foundation! Fall was one of Lara’s favorite times of the year (besides spring, summer, and winter!). She loved the beauty of it, the cooler temperatures, and of course the new sweaters she would wear.

As always, we chose to honor Lara this summer and fall by supporting many organizations that promote her ideals and passions. It is such a wonderful feeling to help make a difference in the world in which we live. We all know what a challenge this past year has been, but challenges would have never stopped our girl!

In June, we donated to Port in the Storm, the youth homeless shelter in St. Augustine, FL. This money was used for special outings such as a beach trip with lunch, a spa day, and a trip to the Alligator Farm (which is awesome if you’ve never seen a gator up close!) which also included some high-intensity zip lining, including over water filled with alligators! The director said that one of the youths came up to her with tears in his eyes and thanked her for giving “a kid like me” a special place to stay. Creating joy is what it is all about!

In August/September we supported several organizations in Spokane, WA from the proceeds of our very successful beer festival fundraiser: Among the Pines. Below is some information regarding the beneficiaries of that event:

Family Promise of Spokane is a place where families can live together while trying to get their life back on track. “Family Promise of Spokane is spearheading an innovative shelter model that serves families of all compositions, often providing their only shelter option in our area. This model — triaging families at a central location before directing them to the specific neighborhood shelter that best meets their needs —has helped hundreds of families. Working with community resources while using volunteers motivated by compassion, Family Promise of Spokane provide comprehensive and targeted services, including extensive case management, at 1/3 the cost of traditional shelter. And it works. On average, 85% of the people served in the shelter program secure housing within 8 weeks. Because of the depth of services and community support, families stay housed, and Family Promise of Spokane provides both prevention and stabilization services to increase our impact”.

The Women and Children’s Free Restaurant & Community Kitchen is an organization which provides healthy meals that are served in the restaurant three days a week and are free of charge. This allows for a full restaurant experience including excellent service, a menu with choices and delicious food! A safe, caring environment allows for women and children a place with dignified treatment, compassion, and acceptance. This organization also partners with nonprofit agencies across the area to provide nutritious meals to go, all free of charge. Additionally, the Women and Children’s Free Restaurant & Community Kitchen provides cooking workshops to teach goal setting and improvement of overall health for participants and their entire family.

Also, in September we were able to support 2nd Harvest of Spokane and the ‘BitetoGo’ program. This program provides food/snacks to children who are in the free lunch program at local schools for weekends and holidays. The LiveLikeLara Foundation is sponsoring an elementary school in the Mead School District, which is the district Lara, Chris and Jason attended.

One more donation in September was to Heritage Place of Indianapolis. This organization provides older adults with comprehensive and coordinated human services to encourage and promote healthy lifestyles, independence, well-being, and quality of life. Heritage Place creates opportunities for independence by offering a unique combination of center-based activities and home services. Seniors and guests can attend a variety of educational classes, physical fitness classes, health screenings, learning opportunities and social activities.

It has been a wonderful fall so far! We are blessed to have folks like you continue to support our mission, vision and celebration of Lara! Thank you all for your continued support and remembrance of our namesake.