Tag archives: charity
The Santa Barbara coastal region has largely escaped any major disasters in the past year, save, of course, for the ongoing crisis with COVID-19. There haven’t been any major fires striking between Carpinteria and western Goleta, and no serious flooding despite the recent record-setting string of rainstorms. On the other hand, some folks out by […]
It might seem like bad timing to be writing about Unity Shoppe in the last week of the year, considering the nonprofit just held its 35th annual holiday telethon — the latest edition of the annual marathon fundraiser that airs on KEYT-TV — on December 12. After all, the event brings together all sorts of […]
Heal the Ocean, the popular Santa Barbara nonprofit, received a tidal wave of support when it threw its Christmas party at the Carpinteria art gallery, Lobster Town USA, which in the New Year will be turning into the town’s first cannabis dispensary, owners Patrick and Maire Radis tell me. More than 150 guests turned out […]
John Daly can remember when the rest of his life began. He was sitting inside a Soup Plantation, his treat for a 15-year-old he had befriended as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). It was the teen’s birthday and Daly wanted to treat him to a meal, something that not every foster child experienced while […]
After making it an online event given the pandemic last year, the 23rd annual Empty Bowls fundraiser at the headquarters of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, just a tiara’s toss from its normal venue at the Ben Page Youth Center, was quite the gridlocked occasion at the weekend. The bustling event, founded by bubbly […]
Tea was served in copious amounts as CommUnify invited dozens to an outdoor event at the gorgeous Santa Barbara Club on December 2. Good thing, because one simple statement was quite sobering. Santa Barbara County is essentially tied for first in California for highest poverty rate. With the sale of countless multi-million-dollar homes in the […]
For nonprofits, there are many barometers of success. One is fundraising, obviously. The more a nonprofit can raise, the better its odds become of fulfilling its mission. Another is outcome. One advantage enjoyed by Mission Scholars, the program I run under the aegis of the Santa Barbara Education Foundation, is that its goals are clear-cut […]
Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics operates eight clinics in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Isla Vista, largely located in neighborhoods where healthcare is most needed by an underserved population. The buildings themselves aren’t glamorous even though they’re located in a town with a gleaming new cancer center and a gorgeously re-designed front entrance to the main hospital. […]
To many, the 2021 Music Academy of the West Summer School and Festival was nothing short of a miracle. Despite the need to plan well in advance of the state’s reopening in mid-June, MAW not only managed to pull off a spectacular hybrid season that brought more than 100 fellows from around the world to […]
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. I love how the holiday allows us to reflect and give gratitude before we launch into the rest of the end-of-year holidays. Oh, and I love the food. This year I find Thanksgiving especially poignant. For those not felled by COVID, we’re coming up on the […]
Montecito Firefighter Lucas Grant is too young to have personal memories of what it was like when local firefighters were an integral part of a community beyond responding to emergencies, but that Norman Rockwell image of the local firehouse as a friendly and helpful gathering place still pulls on his heart. “I hear stories about […]
NatureTrack is a nonprofit headquartered in Los Olivos aiming to champion access to the outdoors with field trips and new ways to engage with nature. Historically, NatureTrack has focused on introducing schoolchildren to outdoor spaces from the seashore to the inland oak woodlands of Santa Barbara County by providing cost-free outdoor field trips (more than […]
Kristina McKean’s passion project is saving one elephant at a time in the United States and abroad Kristina McKean has funneled her lifetime passion for helping animals into a full-time profession by creating The Elephant Project. McKean had always felt drawn to animals and their related causes but it wasn’t until her honeymoon to Thailand with her […]
1936-2020 Immigrant daughter from humble beginnings internalized her family’s “Lessons to Live By” and became a community hero by dedicating her life to serving people in crisis Unity Shoppe lost our matriarch and founder, Barbara Tellefson, after a brief bout with an aggressive illness. She was 84. Barbara’s singular focus and half-century of devotion to […]
Montecito schools held a new format for their holiday concerts and winter sings, given the new state lockdown restrictions announced on December 6. Through careful planning many schools conjured up a new direction for the holidays, including virtual concerts sent out exclusively to each student’s family, new charity funding initiatives and holiday Zoom singalongs for […]
Last Sunday, community godfather and Christmas Elf Dana Newquist organized the second Montecito-To-Unity toy and fundraising drive and caravan for delivery. A great group met up at the Upper Village in classic cars, ready to donate toys and funds for the second week in a row. Dana asked me to get up on the 1937 […]
The shortest day of the year turned out to be an unexpectedly generous one for needy Santa Barbara area drive families. From 9 am to 6 pm on Monday, December 21, the Santa Barbara Salvation Army held a food and toy drive at its headquarters on Hollister Avenue, providing gifts of food and toys to […]
Inside the kitchen at Santa Barbara Rescue Mission a team of masked and gloved volunteers prepare six dozen turkeys – washing each bird, stuffing them with onions, garlic, and herbs, basting them with butter and seasonings – all in preparation for the most important dinner of the year, the Christmas Feast. It’s a time-consuming process […]
You might recognize Dana Newquist and his 1937 Ford Fire Engine from Montecito’s annual Fourth of July parade, which he cofounded in 1996. Newquist bought the engine about 20 years ago from a Hollywood producer who used the vehicle for only a day – the lovingly restored, bright-red truck still bears the previous owner’s initials […]
Pound for pound, or rather inch for inch, it’s doubtful that Santa Barbara has ever had a more hardworking, tireless, dedicated, and effective advocate for the underprivileged than Barbara Tellefson. The founder and president of Santa Barbara’s Unity Shoppe, who passed away at 84 on November 22, was an undeniable dynamo whose stature and influence […]
