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14 Years of Changing Lives Together
Women's Fund donates over $6.6 million since 2004
The Women's Fund 14th Annual Presentation of Grants reception, held on May 2, was attended by more than 400 members and guests. It was an emotional event that delivered tears, laughter and inspiration!
Seven nonprofits receive Women's Fund grants
In their heartfelt thanks, each of the seven 2017-18 grant recipients stirred us with their stories of how $535,000 in Women’s Fund grants will make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable in our community.
The nonprofits receiving receiving 2017-18 Women’s Fund grants are:
CADA–Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse – $75,000 to provide mental health support to help prevent possible reoffending and incarceration of Teen Court youth.
Children’s Resource & Referral – $65,000 to provide quality child care and business development training for in-home Family Child Care providers.
Dyslexia Intervention Program – $50,000 to expand a pilot program to remediate the effects of dyslexia in K-3 students in the Santa Barbara School District.
Early Childhood Classroom Behavior Intervention Program – $50,000 to expand a program to respond to disruptive classroom behavior for 3-5 year olds in the Goleta Union School District.
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County – $95,000 to partially fund the purchase of a new refrigerated box truck that will collect, store and distribute fresh food, reduce food waste, and meet new emission requirements.
Santa Barbara Rescue Mission – $100,000 to increase the number of beds and build bathroom facilities for women needing emergency shelter.
United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County – $100,000 to replace and rebuild sections of leaking roof for a clubhouse that serves low-income youth in Carpinteria.
As Rolf Geyling, President, Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, said: “We are consistently concerned by the acute circumstances we see among those we serve; be it age (the average woman in our shelter is 59), mental illness, trauma or physical ailments. We are so grateful that the Women’s Fund is making sure women in crisis will be able to receive emergency food, shelter and compassionate care.”
For more information about the Presentation of Grants event, read the Noozhawk article by Leslie Dinaberg and the Independent article by Gail Arnold.
2017-18 Grantees (Pictured left to right: Michael Baker, CEO, United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County; Rolf Geyling, President, Santa Barbara Rescue Mission; Margie Yahyavi, ED, Santa Barbara Education Foundation; Lisa Rivas, President, Goleta Education Foundation; Ed Stonefelt, President and CEO, Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse; Erik Talking, CEO, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County; and Michelle Graham, Executive Director, Children’s Resource & Referral. Photo by Stephen Robeck
Please visit our photo gallery for more photos.
Thank you to our event supporters
Thank you to our event supporters who help offset our expenses so we can maximize our grants pool: MJ Baumgartner (Munchies), Bryant & Sons (Annual Brochure Printing), Linda Stafford Burrows (Audio Visual), Stina Hans (Wine), Nancy Harter (Banner), Mary Wiemann (Flowers). And to the Santa Barbara Foundation which provides valuable fiscal and administrative support to the volunteer-led Women's Fund of Santa Barbara. The Women's Fund is a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation.
Let’s continue the momentum…
… and grow our next grants pool! The money we all contribute in 2018 will make up the grants pool that we'll award in spring 2019. As Shelley Hurst, Women’s Fund Chair said, “We hope today’s celebration inspires you to renew your membership for 2018 or join us if you are a guest today. We’ve set a goal of surpassing this year’s grants pool and you can help by increasing your own membership contribution and encouraging others to join.”
“Family Ties: It’s all about connections”
 In her closing remarks, Shelley Hurst also spoke about Family Ties. “The Women’s Fund is all about connections. That’s at the heart of what we do—connecting with other women to make a difference in our community. It follows that Women’s Fund groups often form around common interests—friendships, business ties, passion for a cause, book clubs, walking groups and others. This past year, we’ve seen members making connections even closer to home. They are inviting their mothers, daughters, granddaughters, sisters, and in-laws to join the Women’s Fund—multiple generations joining together to learn about the community and spending quality time together around important issues. We’re taking note of this and calling it Family Ties.”
Since Mother’s Day is almost here, it might be the perfect time to think about connecting with other women in your family with a Women’s Fund membership.
Join TRADART at “The Big Show”
TRADART Foundation received a 2015-16 Women’s Fund grant to provide building materials, appliances and the transportation trailers for three “tiny houses” to be built at Santa Barbara high schools. The sale of these houses will fund materials for future projects.
On May 23, 2018, they are hosting “The Big Show,” a public event that will feature a juried competition of junior and high school students’ woodworking projects. In addition, there will be a special sneak preview of the tiny houses and information about the silent auction. If you are interested in attending, click here for more details.
Thank you to our newest Women’s Fund supporter
Pete Burnham, owner of Lama Dog Tap Room + Bottle Shop, a popular bar in the Funk Zone, has been so impressed with the work of the Women’s Fund that he is donating 10% of all proceeds from pint sales of his very popular lager tap #17 for the months of May and June.
He said, "I think the concept of the Women's Fund where they give large grants to local agencies in town is a powerful one. That they have almost 900 women supporting nonprofits that serve local women, children and families and have given away over $6.6 Million is remarkable. We at Lama Dog want to applaud and support their efforts."
Lama Dog is located in the Funk Zone at 116 Santa Barbara Street. Please stop by and thank him.
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