‘That Just Takes the Cake’ raises dough for Teaching Gardens

The “That Just Takes the Cake” social benefitting area American Heart Association Teaching Gardens raised almost $23,000, according to committee member Gwen Luc.
The cocktail event — a raffle, silent auction, steak dinner, live cake auction and dancing — was held at Nico Bella in Morgan City Friday.
Luc said the raffle raised $1,500 and sponsorships brought in $12,300.
An additional $1,096 was raised through the silent auction.
There was $7,665 raised through the signature live cake auction. Individual sales ranged between $200 and $1,000, Luc said.
The $1,000 cake was a red dress cake donated by Franklin Foundation. The American Heart Association’s Wear Red campaign is to raise awareness about heart disease being the number one killer of women.
The money raised will help make tremendous strides in achieving the American Heart Association 2020 impact goal of improving the overall cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent by the year 2020, Luc said.
“We believe that we are doing our part to make this goal achievable by the teaching gardens that we’ve helped pioneer in our parish schools: Bayou Vista Elementary, Hattie Watts and Maitland. These gardens help to educate children to make healthier food choices. We will use proceeds from this year’s event to select another school in our parish for a teaching garden,” she said.
Schools receive everything they need to create the teaching garden and maintain it for two years. Luc said the next school to receive a Teaching Garden will be announced at a later date. The program, used in conjunction with the garden, combines nutrition education with garden-based learning. Students learn how to plant seeds, nurture growing plants, harvest produce and understand the value of good eating habits.
American Heart Association Teaching Gardens are a national, school-based program associated with curriculums in math, science and English designed to re-establish what it means to be healthy. Aimed at elementary school students, the Teaching Gardens program provides hands-on learning experiences rooted in offering nutritional choices.
The two items raffled were a firearm donated by Tiger Island/Shannon Hardware and an LSU cypress chair donated by the Morgan City High School woodworking department.
Sponsors of the event included Teche Regional Medical Center, Major Equipment, Franklin Foundation, Atchafalaya Internal Medicine Associates, Bayou Home Care, Cardiovascular Institute, Central Boat Rentals, Conrad Industries, Dr. Francis Scott Sicard, Heart of Hospice, Lafayette Electric, M C Bank, Sheriff Mark Hebert, Medicine Clinic of Morgan City, Payroll & Business Solutions, The Pediatric Clinic, Siracusa Sisters and Tiger Island/Shannon Hardware.