Thank you for supporting
Signature Chefs Auction, Memphis

Join us for 2019 Memphis Signature Chefs Auction, as Memphis’ finest culinary talent come together to support the March of Dimes. We are celebrating at the beautiful Guesthouse at Graceland. The Signature Chefs Auction is a high profile black-tie gala that pays tribute to the culinary excellence of our prominent chefs, while raising money to improve the health of all moms and babies. From your arrival at the event you will enjoy the chance to taste the chef's creations while bidding on the Silent and Super Silent Auction packages, before taking your seats for the Live Auction and Fund the Mission. Enjoy the evening with your friends, while you bid on our unique packages, and raise your paddle to Fund the Mission and give generously to save babies.

We are so excited and fortunate to have Lisa Ansley (Raymond James) and Holly Mount (Crye-Leike, Realtors) as this year's event Co-Chairs. This year's goal is $135,000, and we look forward to surpassing it with their leadership. 

Thanks to the leadership of our volunteer chairs and committee members, we are honored to present this year's Signature Chefs event. After months of hard work, these volunteers have taken the event to new heights. The March of Dimes and the families we support are grateful for the generosity and effort of the team that made this evening possible.

Dear Friends,
We are humbled and honored to serve as the ambassador family for the 2019 Memphis March of Dimes Signature Chef’s Auction. For us, this is an opportunity to spread the word about March of Dimes and to testify firsthand to its invaluable, lifesaving work. 

On June 13, 2015, Cameron James and Julia Ann were born prematurely at 27 weeks, 5 days. Cameron weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces. Julia weighed 1 pound, 15 ounces. Though we did not know it at the time, we had two micro-preemies and had a long road ahead of us. 
The first several days after their birth were a complete nightmare: we could barely see their faces through all of the wires and equipment; we could not hold them; we had them baptized “just in case” they did not survive; and, most horrifically, we watched doctors wheel away Cameron for an emergency surgery to repair a life-threatening, intestinal tear. Both of our babies were on oxygen support. Every day was tough, with new challenges. At times, it seemed that we would never get to take our babies home. But we learned to find hope in the small improvements Cameron and Julia made and began to understand that we could and would overcome this situation. The staff at our NICU cared for our babies like they were their own. Additionally, we learned that March of Dimes was to thank for the isolettes that held our precious children, as well as educational materials, parent journals and baby books, several parent lunches, and special NICU celebrations. They were a huge part of most of our happy moments in the NICU.

Cameron and Julia are now three years old, without any signs of their early start in life. They are testaments to the miraculous work of March of Dimes. We advocate and volunteer for its mission, fundraise for its goals, and march for babies. And we ask that you join us in our fight to ensure safe pregnancies for all mothers and healthy births for all babies.

Warmest regards,

Erin, Andrew, Cameron & Julia Arbogast
 

March of Dimes believes that every baby deserves the best possible start. Unfortunately, not all babies get one. We are changing that.

From advocacy to education to research, we are working to level the playing field so that all moms and babies are healthy. Because when a society supports every family, the future is brighter for us all. And when communities come together, even the toughest problems can be solved.
We’re taking on one of the toughest problems facing moms and babies today—premature birth. In this country 1 in 10 babies is born prematurely each year. And while the U.S. preterm birth rate is high, women of color have an up to 50 percent higher rate of preterm birth than white women and their children can face a 130 percent higher infant death rate.
Here's what March of Dimes is doing to fight the biggest health threats to moms and babies:

• We’re advocating at the federal and state levels for funding and legislation that put the health priorities of moms and babies first.
• We’re working with the medical community to improve the health care women receive. 

• We’re funding research at our six Prematurity Research Centers (PRC), including our recently established European PRC at Imperial College London, to create innovative collaborations that will accelerate improvements to the health of moms and babies for generations to come.
• We’re providing families with resources and programs as well as educating moms before, during and after pregnancy to ensure that families have the best possible start.
• We’re uniting local communities and partnering with organizations and companies, bringing together problem solvers, families and support systems to inspire change.
• Every year more than 15 million babies are born prematurely; a million will die before their first birthday as a result. With your gift at Signature Chefs to the March of Dimes, you can help to fund the research, education, and support to ensure more babies celebrate their birthday.
  The March of Dimes is dedicated to giving every baby a healthy start in life. The key ingredient is you. 
  
  By contributing as a Fund the Mission donor, you make a significant contribution to the March of Dimes. 

We are excited to have Chef Josh Steiner as this year's Lead Chef for our Signature Chefs Auction.
He will bring great leadership and the recruitment of the finest chefs, Memphis has to offer.
Thank you, Chef Josh!
 

Strano's Chef Josh Steiner grew up in a predominately Sicilian and Moroccan kitchen under the watchful eye of his two grandmothers. This upbringing has inspired him to create dishes that are based on very old and authentic family recipes with a modern Sicilian twist. Josh was raised in Memphis, TN. and he graduated from Lausanne Collegiate School. As a teen, he started as a bus boy and dishwasher in a neighborhood restaurant and worked his way up to one of the chefs of the restaurant. After getting a taste of the benefits of a chef's lifestyle, Josh decided to make it his life and enrolled in L'ecole Culinaire. During his studies he decided he wanted follow his passions to Italy to learn traditional cooking techniques from the kitchens of the Sicilian masters.

 

While in Sicily, Josh trained his palate in classes featuring tastings of olive oil, chocolates as well as wine. He frequented the local bustling food market in Palermo then worked side by side with Chef Vincenzo to create the traditional Sicilian dishes. Josh spent time in a local Modica restaurant working in the kitchen to help create their regional specialties. In Taormina, not far from Mt. Etna, Josh learned true Sicilian cooking from true Sicilians.

 

Sicilian cuisine is perhaps the most celebrated in all of Italy because of the exceptionally fresh ingredients that are readily available thanks to the gloriously mild Mediterranean climate. It is also a confluence of the people's that inhabited the island over the ages including the Greeks, Romans, Normans, Arabs and Spanish. This fits in well with Josh's own fused Moroccan and Italian roots. On this journey, Chef Josh learned the value of using natural ingredients to create delicious and delicate cuisine. The cuisine of Sicily, from cannoli to couscous is as complex as its history and beauty that also include the island's world famous wines. Chef Josh's cuisine is both genuine and elegant as he strives to use only local seasonal ingredients and products to ensure your experience at Strano is as fresh and authentic as possible.