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Three hundred parents, faculty, staff and community supporters of Providence School converged on the Santa Barbara’s Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club on March 5 for the private school’s annual auction and dinner.
The Santa Barbara-based Christian school, serving pre-school through grade 12, was formed by the 2013 merger of Providence Hall and Santa Barbara Christian School.
The net proceeds from the benefit, estimated at $150,000, will be used primarily for tuition assistance. Each year, Providence awards approximately $1.3 million in tuition assistance, with 80 percent of its students receiving some form of financial aid.
The strong school spirit at Providence was on full display at the Coral Casino at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara. Five minutes after the 5:30 p.m. official start, the Coral Casino’s seaside patio was packed with merry Providence supporters.
For the extended cocktail hour, the tented patio and toasty heaters provided a lovely retreat from the rain and cool temperatures outside. Guests sipped sparkling wine and sampled an assortment of tasty, passed hors d’oeuvres while enjoying the ocean views and perusing the extensive silent auction offerings. A mix of rhythm and blues and jazz tunes by the band Blue Shades provided pleasing background music.
The evening’s program commenced with the phenomenally talented Providence Quartet performing The Beatles’ “Blackbird” (singing in the dead of night). The Quartet featured Justin Blum, John Butler, Katie Hodson and Madison Niessen.
The emcee, Head of School Scott Lisea, welcomed the supporters and noted how the school has been talking about this year’s theme, Extravagant Love, all year.
He explained that when Jesus was asked what to pay attention to in this life more than anything else, “the answer was to learn how to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.”
Lisea went on to declare that “at Providence it’s our joy to invest in this.” The mood at the benefit reflected this, too — a warm spirit permeated the room.
The dining room décor was an “elegant tropical.” Centerpieces of copper lanterns were nestled in a bed of lush tropical leaves with dendrobium orchids and hand-lettered numbers on chocolate ti leaves.
As guests were finishing a delectable dinner of lime tequila-roasted chicken with heirloom potato and wild mushroom ragu, Lisea and Chris Rutz, Head of Lower School, began the live auction that, together with the silent auction, collected more than $60,000 in proceeds.
After the entertaining auction, the guests were treated to an interesting talk by Bill Myers, a best-selling Christian author and award-winning filmmaker, about perceptions of Christianity and the role of a Christian education.
Then board chairman Randal Clark presented the David K. Winter Excellence Award to Ed Birch, president and CEO of the Mosher Foundation and the 73rd Santa Barbara Man of the Year.
The award was created to honor the late Dr. David Winter, president emeritus of Westmont College who served as Providence Hall’s headmaster from 2008 to 2011. Winter died in 2015.
Birch has served as vice chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, executive vice president of Westmont, and chairman of Pacific Capital Bancorp. The community organizations that he has served are far too numerous to list here, but include All Saints By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, CALM (Child Abuse Listening Mediation), Community Arts Music Association (CAMA), Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, the Channel City Club, Cottage Health, Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, Music Academy of the West, Santa Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, United Way of Santa Barbara County, UC Santa Barbara Foundation and the Westmont College Foundation.
On March 9, he was honored as Santa Barbara’s Man of the Year by the Santa Barbara Foundation, Noozhawk and Montecito Bank & Trust.
Clark expressed Providence’s appreciation for the support received from the Mosher Foundation for the Connected Learning Program in 2012 and for the expenses incurred in the 2015 merger of Providence Hall and Santa Barbara Christian School.
Birch received an extended standing ovation from the crowd. In accepting the award, he focused his remarks on his deep, long-standing admiration for Winter, his friend and former colleague.
Kathy Ireland was a major sponsor of the evening’s benefit and was in attendance. The entrepreneur and author, and former supermodel and actress, has a long history with Providence. She and Clark co-founded Providence Hall in 2007, she is a current board member and she and her husband, Dr. Greg Olsen, are parents of two students and one graduate.
Platinum sponsors of the event were The Eiler Family, Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore, and Kathy Ireland and Greg Olsen M.D.
Gold Sponsors were Axia Holdings/Amy and Randal Clark, Laura and Mark Bacon, Michelle and Jeff Branch, Debbie and Mark Corazza, Cynthia and Jim Hughes and PSAV Presentation Services.
Silver Sponsors were Maureen and Hank Bowis, Norris and Barry Goss, Landstone Companies/Lindi and Matt Wade, Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards, Doug Knapp Nursery, Amy Moore, The Storage Place/Eldred Family, Pat and Jim Stretchberry, Missi and Kelly Vandever and The Zia Group.
Providence is an independent Christian college preparatory school. It currently enrolls about 300 students at its lower campus at 3723 Modoc Road and its Upper Campus at 630 E. Canon Perdido. With an average class size of only 14, in recent years the school boasts combined SAT scores that have averaged 300 points higher than the national average. Enrollment increased by 57 percent over the past two years and the school is actively searching for a new campus to allow for further expansion.
Click here for more information about Providence. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Gail Arnold can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.