After the Site Visit, Julie Sorenson emailed Membership Chair Parm Williams to tell her of a new group she was forming which she named, Inspired. She said, “It is how I felt when I left the Site Visit luncheon (and any WF event for that matter). It is how I feel about the difference the WF is making in the community and it is how I feel about the women who started this group and how much it is growing. I hope the women in this new group will be inspired as well. I am confident they will be.”
A very good day: Thanks to Jan Baxter for planning such
an inspiring Site Visit with nearly 100 members and guests seeing first hand how the Women’s Fund is impacting needs in our community. Thanks also to Carole MacElhenny for underwriting the lunch for this crowd and to Carolyn Novick for underwriting the bus. At right Arturo and Marsela from People's Self-Help Housing came to the lunch to present their thank you note. The article below recaps the day.
2009 Leadership: The Women’s Fund is pleased to announce that Fleurette Barsom-Janigian and Rachael Steidl will co-chair the Oversight Committee for 2009 and that Kathryn Calise and Tish Gainey will co-chair the 2009 Research Committee. Congratulations! Let them know if you would like to be on one of their committees.
Autumn: As the leaves start to turn, we come to the “autumn” of our yearly process. The Research Committee has identified qualified agencies and vital programs that need funding and is preparing the ballot for members’ voting early next year.
At this time, we need the commitment from 2007 members who have not yet renewed for this year. Please let us know you plan to renew by sending in your check today or your pledge to: Women’s Fund, c/o Santa Barbara Foundation, 15 E. Carrillo, SB, 93101. The community needs have been especially great this year. A larger fund of our “pooled” giving means impacting more of these critical needs.
We are working together,
Jo Gifford, co-chair
2008 Oversight Committee
Greetings and excited chatter filled the Earl Warren Showgrounds parking lot as 40 Women’s Fund members and guests got their nametags and boarded the bus for the 9:30 morning tour.
First stop Storyteller. Seeing preschool children in all activity areas or playing structured games outside warmed our hearts. We saw a wall of “self portraits” by the children; one three-dimensional portrait showed a tiny Pinocchio nose. We learned that these children come from homeless families or families living in shelters, cars, or other substandard conditions. Many have special needs. Storyteller still has a waiting list. At the next stops, Transition House and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), we saw more of our grants in action.
Still on time, the bus pulled into Girls Inc. with the women
giving Jan Baxter, Site Visit Chair, an ovation as appreciation for arranging the morning tour. The women joined 60 other members in the theater. New WF posters showing Fund recipients from 2004 through 2007, tables set with red cloths, red chairs provided a warm and inviting room for the tasty lunch from Fresco and lively conversations. The afternoon program featured remarks by the Executive Directors from Angels Foster Care, Casa Pacifica, Family Service Agency, Girls Inc., Isla Vista Youth Projects and People’s Self-Help Housing. From each speaker we learned in detail how our grants have impacted their services. We heard that because of the new cars we funded for Casa Pacifica (to respond to crisis in the community), a staff worker’s life was saved. En route to help a family, someone plowed into her Casa Pacifica car. If she had been driving her own car as she was before our grant, the ending would have been different. She is fine and insurance replaced the damaged car.
We learned that our gap funding for Isla Vista Youth Projects (to offset lost state funding) has enabled them to continue their mission. Fifty-nine families have been counseled and helped to find solutions to dire problems in just the first six months of our grant.
We learned that our funding to Family Service Agency (for the 211 hotline) has saved a Gulf War victim from suicide, helped a teen mom calling at wits end with her child screaming in the background, and helped over 500 people in the GAP fire when 911 was overloaded. So far this year the 211 hotline has received 18,000 calls and 30,000 visits to the website—giving relief and direction for people in crisis.
After the speakers and a tour of the wonderful new Girls Inc. facility, the women boarded the bus and returned to Earl Warren Showgrounds—still on schedule for the busy day.
One member summed up the day, “I feel pretty educated about the non-profit needs in our community. Yet when I physically go to each of these places that are helping women, families and children, I feel like I need to do more when I see how many needs there are. I am a big fan of the Women's Fund because it is doing so much direct giving.”
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