International School of Baking
As a Rotarian (Rotary Club of Bend, OR, USA) Marda Stoliar has been very involved in giving back to her community through her craft. A particular passion is the KIDS Center located in Bend, Oregon. When the idea for the Center was brought forth by the Bend Rotary Club in 1990, Marda and four other Bend Rotarians served as the driving force behind the project’s funding and construction. Through their efforts, ground was broken in April of 1993 and the three Rotary clubs in Bend began construction. The “hands on” project took a little over a year to complete and the facility finally opened its doors on May 2, 1994.
KIDS-CenterSince the opening of the KIDS Center, Marda has served on its Board of Directors and has continued to help raise funds to support the program. On numerous occasions she has created beautiful cakes and donated them for auction. As her baking prowess is well known throughout the Central Oregon community, these auction events are always extremely well attended and have raised thousands of dollars over the years. It is not unusual for her cakes to be sold at auction.
A second passion of Marda’s is education. Each year for the past 20 years, the Rotary Club of Bend has held its annual Christmas Gala and Auction for the funding of various scholarships that the club awards each year and Marda has donated numerous baskets filled with her highly sought after breads, chocolates, cakes and other creations. On occasion, she has even put up for auction a private 7-course gourmet dinner for eight to be prepared and served by her in her beautiful home. Needless to say, each year these are some of the items that receive the highest bids during the auction and when the dinner is on the block, it is not unusual for the final bid to be in the $2000—$3000 range with couples coming together to bid on the event. Again, Marda donates everything for these events and all of the proceeds go the Bend Rotary Club Foundation to fund college scholarships presented each year to graduating seniors by the Club. it simply would not be a Christmas Auction without Marda’s wonderful creations.