93108Fund Distributes Second Round, Then Hibernates

It was announced earlier this week that after a second round of disbursements to hourly workers in Montecito, the 93108Fund will go back into hibernation, now that businesses have been permitted by the State and County to reopen their doors.

The 93108Fund, a non-profit started after the 2018 debris flow, distributed a first round of cash grants to hourly workers in Montecito very quickly after the COVID-19 shutdown so that workers could pay for basic necessities like food and medicine; a second round of cash awards will be distributed this week to workers who were laid off or had their hours reduced due to the shutdown of restaurants, retail stores, and offices in Montecito.

“For the first round, we were trying to get cash into the hands of the hourly workers as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Montecito resident Ron Blitzer, who started the 93108Fund after the debris flow in January 2018, and re-activated it in late March after the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders closed many businesses in the Upper and Lower Villages of Montecito. Now, thanks to the generosity of 260 donors in our community, the nonprofit is distributing a second round of cash grants to these same workers. In total, more than 1,230 workers will equally receive $260,000 in cash grants. 

In addition to the Fund’s work supporting individual wage earners, the 93108Fund also provided the platform and management system for the Montecito Cash Mob, a collaborative effort which also included the Montecito Journal publishing and editorial team, the Coast Village Association, and the Montecito Association. Between the 93108Fund and the Montecito Cash Mob, over $400,000 was put into the local Montecito business community, according to Blitzer.

Blitzer says he established the 93108Fund within the first month following the 1/9 debris flow in January 2018, distributing cash to hourly wage earners such as servers and retail workers who were out of work during those first few weeks of recovery. This month, now that businesses are opening and people are going back to work following the pandemic, Blitzer plans to put the fund back into hibernation after distributing this second round of cash grants.

“If and when the need arises in our community again, the 93108Fund team will be on the case at the drop of a virus, mountain slide, fire, or tidal wave,” said Blitzer, who received help from a hard-working team of volunteers. “From our hearts to yours, we thank you for helping make our Montecito community a very special place to live and work.”

“None of this would have happened without the help of individual donations, the media and the volunteers who spent many hours of their own time, organizing, fundraising, and distributing grants,” he said. Blitzer in particular mentioned these extraordinary individuals that helped make this a success: Kristin Teufel, Alison Hardey, Laura Wyatt, Julia Rodgers, Michele Cuttler, Tricia Raphaelian, Lane Bhutani, Jack Coyle, Kelly Finefrock, and Gregg Wilson. 

The official sponsor of the 93108Fund is Win.Win.Give, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.