On Wednesday, May 1, 2019 more than 400 members and guests gathered at Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort where grants were handed out to nine local nonprofits totaling $585,000 from funds collected from membership donations made during 2018. This was largest amount awarded solely from members’ donations since the founding of the Women’s Fund.

Supported by Women's Fund grants, these remarkable organizations will provide counseling for Carpinteria families dealing with chronic adversity, expand a proven program to help Isla Vista families meet basic needs, counsel mothers who have committed low-level offenses to help prevent reoffending and separation from their children, and provide emergency shelter for families with children. Five capital grants will renovate a kitchen in a hospice home for low-income and homeless neighbors, provide a wheelchair accessible van to transport people with disabilities into the community, replace 50 beds for women in a local homeless shelter, provide wheelchair platforms to enable dental care for low-income special needs patients, and replace a leaking roof for a Thrift Shop that funds programs for low-income families.

Photography by Peter de Tagyos and Stephen Robeck