The Fund for Santa Barbara graciously welcomed more than 800 supporters last Saturday afternoon at the 18th annual Bread & Roses community dinner and auction held at the beautiful QAD facilities at the top of Ortega Hill in Summerland.
The popular fundraiser was rumored to be a sell-out, and the high attendance numbers once again did not disappoint as lines of people formed outside the glass entryway leading into the reception area, and many guests welcomed the offer of a glass of wine while waiting to enter.
Proceeds from the event benefited The Fund for Santa Barbara’s grant-making and technical assistance programs, which support grassroots organizations working for social, economic, environmental and political change throughout Santa Barbara County.
“The Fund does one big annual fundraiser every year, which is Bread & Roses, and it is responsible for about 20 percent of our fundraising,” said Geoff Green, executive director of The Fund for Santa Barbara. “We raise all of our money every year so we don’t have a large endowment, and actually raise it from a group of about 700 donors a year, and more than half of those folks are here today.”
Inside, visitors were greeted with an array of concession stands on both the upper and lower level floors of the pane glass building with spectacular views from the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Some of the many savory delights for guests included Ahi tuna tartare from Marmalade Café, vegetable and curry puff pastry empanadas from Opal Restaurant & Bar, chicken tenders on skewers from The Palace Grill, smoked salmon crostini from the SBCC School of Culinary Arts & Hotel Management, cookies from The Good Cookie and assorted fresh berries from The Berry Man.
It was all complemented and washed down with wines from wineries such as Kalyra, Flying Goat and New Vineland with beer from Telegraph Brewing Co. and coffee provided by Caribbean Coffee Co.
Accompanying the gourmet dinner buffet was a silent auction with many great items, including fine jewelry, artwork, massages, gift baskets, clothing and more than 200 other items.
Guests ate and reviewed the auction items while soaking in the atmosphere of the afternoon and the music of So What Kombo featuring cool jazz tunes with a twist of R&B. Other sounds included Andrew Jackson, widely recognized as The Guitar Chameleon, accompanied by Barbara Coventry.
Next, a welcome message and acknowledgments with an update on The Fund for Santa Barbara were shared before a live auction hosted by Hannah-Beth Jackson. Items up for bid included a week on Kauai valued at $1,200, six nights at Casa Nilo in Tassignano, Lucca Tuscany, valued at $2,240, and Cinema Paradiso with two Platinum Passes to the 27th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival valued at $3,300.
The satisfied guests and supporters then enjoyed the opportunity to mix and mingle and watch the sunset for the close of another highly successful Bread & Roses event.
The Fund for Santa Barbara has awarded $280,223 in grant-making as of September 2011 for General Fund, Multi-Year, Emerging Need, Donor Advised, Central Coast Human Rights and Youth Making Change grants, such as Good Samaritan Shelter’s Faces of Homelessness, the University Park Homeowners Association, the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Recidivism Reduction in the County Jail, the Children’s Creative Project’s Michael Katz Storyteller Residencies, Primo Boxing’s Say Yes to Kids and The Good Life’s Junior High Mentoring Program.
The Fund for Santa Barbara was established in 1980 as a unique resource for progressive grassroots organizing in Santa Barbara County. Since its inception, The Fund has given more than $4 million to more than 800 grassroots projects.
“This is the one time that many of these people will all be in the same space on any given year,” Green said. “This is the kind of event that is accessible to absolutely everybody, so we have people here because they are doing the work on the ground.”
The Fund for Santa Barbara thanks the following corporate and food and beverage sponsors for support of the 18th Annual Bread & Roses event:
Corporate Sponsors
» Santa Barbara Independent, QAD, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Cox Communications, Deckers Outdoor Corp., the Hutton Parker Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation.
» Ameriprise/Kate Silsbury, Antioch University, Business First Bank, Coastal Management Resources, Fielding Graduate University, Harrington Investments, MarBorg Industries, Noozhawk, Planet Solar, Rabobank, SAGE Publications, ParentClick and SEIU Local 620.
» Classic Party Rentals, Danielle Siano Graphic Design, EasyLift Transportation, GreenProject Consultants, Healing Grounds Nursery, Horny Toad, Island Seed & Feed, Kenji Photography, McGowan Guntermann, Montecito Bank & Trust, Mullen & Henzell, The Towbes Group and Walden Asset Management.
Food and Beverage Sponsors
» Del Pueblo Cafe, Le Crepe Shoppe, Marmalade Café, OMNI Fresco Catering, Opal, Organic Soup Kitchen, The Palace Grill, Pascucci, The Secret Ingredient/Museum Café, SOhO, Via Maestra 42, Telegraph Brewing Co., Alma Rosa Winery, Kalyra Winery, New Vineland, Flying Goat Cellars, Patrick and Donna Will, The Good Cookie, The Berry Man and Jessica Foster Confections.
— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews, and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
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