Partners in Prevention Luncheon to raise funds for Gingerbread House

When Waynette Ballengee was searching for a guest speaker for the 12th Gingerbread House Partners in Prevention 2024 Luncheon, she knew the type of person she wanted.

“We have learned through the years that you have to be very careful in who you bring in,” said Ballengee, president of Gingerbread House’s board of directors. “That person needs to be able to tell their story without becoming overly emotional, and they need to be very relatable to our audience. And they need to be able to strike an emotional chord with the audience because the work at Gingerbread House is extremely emotional and taxing. It’s something that has a different impact on everybody who works there.”

Ballengee is confident she found the right person.

Demi-Leigh Tebow, 2017’s Miss Universe, influencer, model, philanthropist and wife of former college and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, will headline Gingerbread House’s largest yearly fundraiser. The luncheon will be Wednesday, Oct. 30, from noon to 1:30 (doors open at 11:30 a.m.) at Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino Shreveport. Tickets are $125 each, or you can buy and sponsor a table of 10 for $1,500.

“She definitely fits what we are looking for,” Ballengee said. “We’ve never had someone from South Africa. We’ve never had a former Miss Universe. Although Demi Tebow has never been sexually or physically abused, she did survive a carjacking attempt in Johannesburg in 2018 that left a big impact on her and changed the trajectory of what her platform became. That platform is empowering women to overcome terrible situations, and to not continue to live in the role of victim, and to speak out on behalf of their children when they know their children have experienced something traumatic.”

Gingerbread House, which is 26 years old, works with child victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse and violent crimes throughout northwest Louisiana. Every service provided is free.

The Partners in Prevention Luncheon helps raise approximately 10 percent of its annual budget.

“Simply put, without this particular fundraiser, we would not make our annual budget,” said Gingerbread House Chief Executive Officer Jessica Milan Miller. “It’s incredibly important to us to have that community support and have this event very well attended. We’ve been very fortunate and very blessed that our community has truly embraced Gingerbread House and the children we serve by supporting the luncheon.”

While guests will leave full after their sit-down meal, Miller has two other goals for those who attend.

“The first part is awareness. We want people to understand what is happening in our community — how children here are being impacted by abuse of all sorts — and become activists for these children to make sure they are using their voices for good. Secondly, we hope to raise the funds needed to maintain operations and meet the demand.”

Miller said Gingerbread House serves approximately 900-1,000 child abuse victims every single year and approximately 73 newly identified victims every single month.

Raising funds is particularly important in light of reductions in federal and state funding to nonprofit organizations.

President of Gingerbread House’s board of directors, Waynette Ballengee, and Jessica Milan Miller, chief executive officer.

“Unfortunately, we have felt about a 30- to 40-percent (federal) cut over the last two years, and it’s scheduled to be around that percentage for the next few years,” Miller said. “That particular fund has been depleted and not replenished as it should, so we are feeling the impact. Combine that with some state cuts, and the fact we are just not receiving the level of state funding like other states receive, it is so crucial for us to make sure our responsibility is to the victims and the kids we serve.”

The Partners in Prevention 2024 Luncheon is designed to be educational.

“Many people still don’t know what Gingerbread House does,” Ballengee said. “Some people think we are a residential facility. We are not. No child ever spends the night at Gingerbread House. We want people to know we are the only organization in northwest Louisiana that does what Gingerbread House does, which is to record a forensic interview that is admissible in court. That information has allowed the prosecution rate of sexual predators to go from 5 percent when Gingerbread House was created to about 96 or 97 percent today. Those are huge numbers. We want to educate the public about how common childhood sexual abuse really is right here in our own backyard.”

To purchase tickets to Gingerbread House’s Partners in Prevention 2024 Luncheon, visit gingerbreadhousecac.org.