Hi, my name is Julie Gerngross Baker. I am a close personal friend of Oliver Kita and his husband Kevin Kraft.

I can guarantee that you probably know Oliver too—or at the very least, you know him as a dedicated community member, chef and restauranteur of Heaven (Woodstock), renowned chocolatier, celebrated caterer, teacher (Culinary Institute) and artist. However what you might not know is that Oliver is facing a sudden life-threatening illness that has forced him to close his beloved Hudson Valley business, Oliver Kita Fine Chocolates.

Oliver has been hospitalized since the beginning of October with late stage liver disease. Even with insurance, the medical bills are mounting. His recovery will entail additional expenses unlikely to be covered by his insurance, so we are forced to crowd fund to ensure that Oliver receives the critical care that he needs and to curtail the burdens of the American medical system from taking everything that he and Kevin have worked so hard to build as a family.

We also want to ensure that any expenditures related to closing his business, including staff compensation, will be duly covered.

If you know Oliver and Kevin, you also know they have always given back to their community. Now it is our time to help them.

Please join me in making a donation today to help Oliver and Kevin through this challenging time and please share. This is the true meaning of community. Let's work together to bring Oliver home and healthy.

Please note: Kevin is dealing with a lot and while you may want to reach out to him directly for updates, there will be a CaringBridge set up soon that will provide the information.