The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (CADA) will hold the annual Gratitude Luncheon celebrating its Mentor Program 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 at Belmond El Encanto, 800 Alvarado Place, Santa Barbara.

Hosted by event founder and chair Anne Smith Towbes, the luncheon is a benefit for CADA’s Mentor Program. Keynote speaker is Santa Barbara resident Joe Lambert, who is recognized for his philanthropic work in creating Teen Star to support local youth in the performing arts.

Local businessperson and CADA mentor Kenny Slaught will receive the Penny Jenkins Mentor Champion Award. Slaught, a long-time Santa Barbara resident, is president of Investec Real Estate Companies.

Each year, CADA presents the Penny Jenkins Mentor Champion Award to one special mentor in honor of Jenkins’ decades of service as CADA’s leader and her continued passionate advocacy of the Mentor Program.

Slaught has been a CADA mentor to Rodrigo for the past eight years and is now also mentoring Rodrigo’s sister Itzayana, describing this role as “one of the most fulfilling experiences in his life.”

The father of six, Slaught was a founding board member of Storyteller Children’s Center and remains on that board today.

 
Sponsorship, ticket purchase, and donation information can be found at www.cadagratitude.org, or by calling the CADA Development Office, 805-722-1320. Donors can make a contribution in honor of a mentor in their lives.
 

Now in its 28th year, the Mentor Program matches Santa Barbara County youth enrolled in third-eighth grades with caring adult mentors who encourage personal growth, self-esteem, academic performance, and healthy family dynamics.

Mentees are referred to CADA by school counselors, psychologists, and other school administrators who have identified at-risk behaviors that can result in poor academic studies, social difficulties, and association with negative influences.

The program currently supports 75 mentor-mentee matches, and the need for additional mentors continues.
 

“Having a mentor can truly be a life-changing experience for a young person trying to succeed in an environment increasingly driven by social media,” said Scott Whiteley, CADA’s executive director.

“Regular in-person connection with a caring and concerned adult provides them with a place to share their concerns,” Whiteley said. “It can help them make good life choices, avoid risky behaviors, develop critical self-improvement skills, and create achievable short and long-term goals.

“This program is highly effective in helping local youth identify positive paths for achievement as they discover life’s many possibilities. Many mentors and mentees become lifelong friends.”

In 2010, Lambert founded Teen Star, an amateur talent competition that showcases musically gifted youth ages 13-19. His interest in mentoring began while he was an undergraduate at Westmont College, where he established a cheerleading program that won the national collegiate title.

He holds a graduate degree from USC and worked for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, and for the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. A registered investment advisor, he began his private sector career in 1979 in the Santa Barbara office of EF Hutton and Company.

 
CADA

Established March 31, 1949, today CADA is recognized as the premier provider of education, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse and co-occurring mental health conditions affecting youth, adults, and families in Santa Barbara County.

CADA works in partnership with local schools, law enforcement, health care organizations, businesses, and other nonprofits. All services are culturally sensitive, available in both English and Spanish, and provided without regard to gender, gender preference, age, race, ethnicity, or national origin.

No one is ever turned away for inability to pay. For more information, visit www.cadasb.org.