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Abbye Freiman Williams: bakery consultant & superhero
Monday, November 19, 2007 posted by
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I don’t think that’s too strong a term for someone who has not only lent her years of expertise (more years than you would think - I think she started working in the bakery industry when she was in high school) toward making our bakery successful, but in her off time actually performs herculean feats of strength and endurance to make the world a better place. Like, for example, last weekend she walked 60 miles to San Diego to raise money for breast cancer research. Here are her thoughts after the event:
Abbye / “Lady Liberty” with one of the Pink volunteers
Dearest All:
Words can not even describe the emotions of my 60 mile 3 day walk for the cure that I ended yesterday at 2:00 p.m. as I walked down the streets of San Diego with 4500 other walkers to cheering crowds of both young and old.
You were all there with me in spirit, as I walked with young survivors, walked in silence up long hills, gave thumbs up (no rides for me!) to the sweep vans that were so colorfully decorated, and took on lots of blisters for the cause. The San Diego community was so supportive I am not sure who was attempting to thank whom more! The throngs of people lining the street at 7:00 a.m. on a weekend morning cheering us on with posters, pink lemonade, homemade oink ribbon collies and pink cupcakes, pom poms, pink wigs, the Pink Panther and many more. (If there is a walk in your city, go out and support the walkers one day!)
We started when it was pitch black out and we climbed out of the hotel buses at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning and saw lots of guys in pink bathrobes, pink wigs and t-shirts that said “We break our backs for your racks” and “breast man” and ’save second base” began hauling our luggage. Reading the varied colorful signs on the route lamp posts that lined the streets saying things like ‘blisters don’t need chemotherapy’ , one more step for the cure, and brownie troops with signs thanking us for walking so they don’t have to and handing out their thin mint cookies. The volunteers who served us chicken meal after meal, scanned us in and out of camp and hugged everyone of us, and tirelessly passed out chips, water, oranges, candy, cheese sticks, and Gatorade in every imaginable color….and more water. The San Jose police department who fight for the opportunity to use their vacation time to ride bikes along the route making sure we are all safe in our walking. And the local motorcycle traffic cops wearing pink leathers holding traffic for us so we didn’t have to run across the street (ouch!) as the lights changed.
All in all it was a terrific way to raise money for a great cause and I thank you all again. I have already signed up to tirelessly volunteer crew San Diego next year and support the walkers by doing those things that made my walk all that much easier.Abbye Freiman Williams
February 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
[...] Now we focus on what we do well, and make as much of that as we can. Even so our labor costs more than it “should.” (25% of food sales. Ha! I laugh!) Abbye says that’s not unusual for Los Angeles. [...]