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GOURMET COOKIE COMPANY BENEFITS MEALS ON WHEELS
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Laura Eversz
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SHE NAMED HER GOURMET cookie company after her rescue dog, Lilly, said Bebe Flynn.
Bebe Flynn remembers the day she learned about St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels. "I was at the L.A. Tennis Club playing with Daryl Twerdahl, who I’d just met, and the next thing I know the game was finished and she was dragging me down to the Meals on Wheels kitchen.”
Twerdahl is executive director of the Foundation that funds the preparation and delivery of 4,700 meals a day to the homebound and seniors across L.A.
Flynn said she was so compelled by the whole scenario, she immediately signed on as a volunteer. “I had been spending a lot of time with my father who had just passed away, and I just really became aware of the plight of the elderly.”
A casting director, the Hancock Park resident is also part owner of Tcho Chocolates, whose bars she donated to be included in 5,000 Meals on Wheels Christmas dinners. Through her work with the organization, Flynn learned that up to 80 percent of seniors who own pets share their meals with them because they can’t afford pet food. “Many times, their pets are their only companions, so it is crucially important to the health and well-being of the person to care for their animal first,” she says.
That startling information led to an epiphany for Flynn, who also has a soft spot for animals. Her idea was to make cookies, sell them and donate 10 percent of the proceeds to Meals on Wheels so that seniors and their pets both get the food they need.
Thus was born Miss Lilly’s Trading Company, named after Flynn’s rescue dog, Lilly.
The gourmet cookies and brownies are baked in a kitchen in Culver City. But plans are to build out Miss Lilly’s office space, housed in an annex at 118½ N. Larchmont Blvd. behind Peet’s Coffee, into a baking and retail facility, where customers can pick up cookie dough, trays for corporate meetings and gift tins.
Business is picking up for the company, and Flynn couldn’t be happier. “We had a really good Christmas, and we just heard from Whole Foods Market at 3rd St. and Fairfax that they’ll be selling Miss Lilly’s!”
In addition, the sweets can be purchased at Larchmont Village Wine and Cheese, the downtown farmer’s market on Thursdays and the Melrose Place market on Sundays, as well as online at misslillystradingcompany.com. Flynn says she’s also on the waiting list for a booth at Sunday’s Larchmont Village market.
“It’s just been such a great experience, and there has been such a groundswell of support from the community,” Flynn said. “Everyone loves the idea, and I love the idea of saying to people ‘you can do something too.’ If everyone did their part, no matter what or how small, life would be easier for so many.”
For more information about St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels go to www.stvincentmow.org. |
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