EVERY SOLE MATTERS 2023

Our third Every Sole Matters was a BLAST!! We added a day for our youth to "shop" for some great back to school gear courtesy of Vans! Our Drive-thru got an update as well, with a DJ, Krispy Kreme donuts, back to school Love Boxes courtesy of the Wonderful Company, and a hangout spot for community and photo-ops with Barbie, Jack Sparrow and the Chick-fil-a cow!

2023 VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION EVENT

We LOVE our volunteers!! They are the boots on the ground and the hands and feet of all we do. In honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month, we celebrated them with a night of encouragement & empowerment, delicious dinner, and dancing to dueling pianos. It was so fun for us to watch this group of volunteers interacting with each other, sharing their experiences & becoming a true community. 

GROWING THE GENIUS GENERATION

The 2022/23 Bank of Sierra Ford Dimension DreamBuilders Team asked to partner with us for their project--a STEM fair for our 8-to 15-year-olds. From start to finish, they took care of every detail, creating an interactive, informative, & FUN morning for our kiddos, concluding with lunch & a raffle. Youth empowering youth--that's hope in action!

GIVE 'EM WINGS
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We held our Second Annual Change the Stats Fundraiser, "Give 'Em Wings," on November 3, 2022. In addition to the great food, and the music provided by Eagles' tribute band "The Long Run," attendees experienced impact stories from a mentor & foster mom in our programs who spoke live, and 14 brave youth who told their stories via video. Our amazing community blew us away with their generosity and we couldn't be more grateful!

PUMPKIN PATCH DAY at WHITE HORSE RANCH

Lori Ovanessian of White Horse Ranch gave our Love Box families & Dare to Dream pairs the sweetest day at her ranch--complete with home-grown pumpkins, horse-petting, a photo-spot, and amazing fall decor. We added in some fresh kettle corn, apple cider, and a hayride provided by Cal De Jager, for a fun-filled, fall experience!!!

BAKERSFIELD ANGELS' 2nd BIRTHDAY PARTY

Bakersfield Angels turned 2, so we threw a party and invited all the youth and families in our programs! We had a day full of water rides, games, face and hair painting, yummy tacos, and La Rosa fruit bars. There's no way we rather celebrate than with the people that make up our Bakersfield Angels family!

EVERY SOLE MATTERS 2022

For Every Sole Matters 2022 we added a fun new stop--a "Pick a Pack" wall! Thanks to our generous sponsors this year, we were able to supply the kiddos in our programs & on our waitlist with a brand new backpack of their choice, in addition to their new pair of Vans, some cool Vans swag, Girls Scout cookies & a fun ice cream treat!

2022 ANGELS' SCHOLARS GRADUATION CELEBRATION

This is a must-watch! We had Mayor Goh, Assemblyman Vince Fong, and representatives from State Senator Shannon Grove and Congressman Kevin McCarthy, come to honor our first crew of Angels' Scholars. It was a sweet evening of encouragement and inspiration for these stats-changing high school grads and their families--and for us!

FATHER'S DAY MIXER

In honor of Father's Day, we gathered our dads for a fun-filled night of pizza & axe-throwing at BrainyActz! Blaine Richards gave a word of encouragement and thanks before the throwing action began. These guys jammed to '80s rock and enjoyed lots of friendly competition.

BEAUTIFUL BAKERSFIELD AWARDS 2022
 
We were honored to be nominated for a Beautiful Bakersfield award in the category of Humanitarian Group--recognizing personal volunteer efforts that have made a significant impact in the community--and doubly honored when we won! This award speaks to the impact our amazing volunteers are having on Bakersfield's foster care community, and we are so grateful for each and every one. 

MOTHER'S DAY MAMA MIXER 

In honor of Mother's Day we hosted an evening for our mamas complete with food, drinks, lots of socializing, and a fun succulent-planting class sponsored by the amazing crew at the Belle Rae. Huge thanks to Shannon Hough and her team for making our mamas feel so honored!

DANCING WITH THE ANGELS

Kern Dance Alliance reached out to partner with us to create a fun day for our families to kick off Spring Break. There were line dancing, hip hop and creative movement classes, an art station put on by Playful Space, and a bucket percussion class taught by Stephen Penner from the Shafter Symphony. Bolthouse supplied healthy snacks and Subway provided lunch to keep everyone energized!

Volunteer Appreciation Night

Our volunteers are the heart, hands and feet of our programs--without them Bakersfield Angels wouldn't exist. On February 16, 2022, we held an Appreciation Night to thank, honor, and encourage them. It was a night of delicious Coconut Joe's food, stories of impact, and dancing to awesome dueling pianos. 

COZY CHRISTMAS
DRIVE-THRU
After receiving and packing all the ingredients with help and donations from multiple community groups, we handed out our Cozy Christmas Baskets on December 12, 2021. We had hot chocolate and cookies, a list of Christmas light displays (along with a free pass to the CALM Christmas lights), and of course, Santa greeting every car! 

AN EVENING WITH CASH'D OUT 

We held our very first fundraiser on November 4, 2021. It was a beautiful evening of music, great food & drinks, and compelling impact stories. Over 130 attendees generously donated to help us change the stats surrounding foster care in Kern County.

BAKERSFIELD ANGELS' 1st BIRTHDAY PARTY
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​To celebrate our first birthday, we had a party in the park for our families and mentees. We enjoyed tacos, La Rosa Bars, face painting, a bounce house & obstacle course and lots of games. Over 150 of the amazing people we've gotten to know over the past year joined us for a really fun afternoon!

Every sole matters 2021

With the help of 3 generous sponsors, we were able to purchase 224 pairs of Vans sneakers for all the kiddos in our programs & on our waitlist. We hosted a back to school drive-thru event complete with Usborne books and Girl Scout cookies that were donated to us, and yummy ice cream treats for everyone who came through!

use your influence for impact

This event allowed us to share our mission to walk alongside our local foster care community with local influencers and ask them to help get the word out into our community. 

2020 Drive-Thru Christmas Event

Since we'd only be in operation for two months in December, we did an outreach event to let the local foster community know we were up & running and ready to wrap community around them.  We contacted our local FFAs to invite their families to our Holiday Basket Drive-Thru event and it was a HUGE success!