Montecito Bank & Trust awarded 194 nonprofit honorees from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties with a total of $1 million, including organizations that play a critical role in serving the growing needs presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, at its annual Community Dividends celebration on Monday.
Instead of traditionally gathering at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore in Santa Barbara, this year’s event occurred online in the era of COVID-19.
More than 330 attendees, including bank associates and nonprofit representatives, watched via Zoom, and actively communicated in the video conferencing platform group chat.
Community Dividends donations mainly support an array of nonprofits with programs for low- and moderate-income earners and families locally, plus organizations in the arts and culture, education and youth, social welfare, healthcare sectors, and others.
“Today is an extraordinary celebration of our extraordinary nonprofit community,” bank Chairwoman and CEO Janet Garufis told the audience of digital viewers. “Today is a day to say ‘thank you’ to each and every one of you.
“The pandemic has impacted each of us in ways that we could have never imagined,” she continued. “The needs have felt overwhelming at times, and many of you have been at the center of the response of those needs.”
The Community Dividends program, now in its 18th year, was developed by bank founder and former chairman Michael Towbes, who died in 2017 at age 87. It honors the many nonprofit organizations and their notable work to improve all aspects of the communities.
Montecito Bank & Trust carries on Towbes’ legacy by bringing local nonprofits together to commemorate their impactful work in the community.
“Community Dividends was Mike Towbes’ favorite day,” Garufis said.
The tradition of Community Dividends celebrates local nonprofits that play a vital role in building healthy communities.
The online event featured a brief video with photographs of local nonprofits and staff leaping into action when the novel coronavirus outbreak erupted in Santa Barbara County in mid-March.
“We are grateful and inspired by the work that you do every day,” Garufis told nonprofit honorees.
Donning face masks, Garufis and bank President and Chief Operating Officer George Leis announced five Michael Towbes Community Impact grants at the ceremony.
The bank last year unveiled the first-ever impact grant of $100,000 to the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission.
The bank realized that needs were greater and more complex amid the pandemic, so it awarded five impact grant recipients to enable more response and support. This year’s impact grant was increased to $175,000 because of the overwhelming needs that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Towbes Community Impact grants worth $25,000 were awarded to People Helping People in the Santa Ynez Valley, Gold Coast Veterans Foundation in Ventura County and Santa Barbara-based Organic Soup Kitchen.
Community Impact grants worth $50,000 were given to the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse located in Santa Barbara and CALM, or Child Abuse Listening Mediation, in Santa Barbara County.
“I’m overwhelmed,” People Helping People CEO Valerie Kissell said.
The timing of the 2020 impact grant is great, founder and Executive Director Anthony Carroccio said.
“This came at such a wonderful time with COVID hitting us again and the holidays,” Carroccio said, adding, “This is a godsend having this granted to us.”
Garufis unveiled the Jerry Parent Anniversary Grants Legacy Award of $4,500, an annual recognition and donation created to honor organizations making a significant impact in the community.
The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara is named as the inaugural recipient of the grant.
Parent has been supporting and involved in the organization for several years.
The bank will celebrate the honoree at its annual Anniversary Grants celebration in March 2021.
Parent is a Montecito Bank & Trust founding board member and Santa Barbara attorney, and he invited Towbes to invest in the bank more than 45 years ago.
Each organization also received a gift bag filled with a Community Dividends certificate, a refreshing bubbly hand sanitizer, and Montecito Bank & Trust’s own branded face mask.
The blue-green colored face masks are emblazoned with the words “Choose Kindness.”
“Your work was the inspiration for the masks,” Garufis told attendees. “2020 has certainly been a tumultuous year, but the kindness that you all show to one another and to our community gives us hope and confidence we will certainly come through this together.”
From wildfires to debris flows, the community has dealt with a series of recent disasters.
Area nonprofits responded quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic by activating partnerships and networks to help address the needs of the community, Garufis said.
Organizations are caring for the most vulnerable, healing the sick, educating children, providing basic needs like food and rent assistance, as well as lifting spirits through music and arts, Garufis said.
“This year has been like no other,” she said, adding, “You are an integral part of our community-wide resilience.”
In addition to the monetary donation for chosen nonprofits, Garufis said, the bank donated 200 turkeys to local food banks as struggling families face a wide variety of challenges amid the pandemic.
In lieu of the traditional Thanksgiving meal that is shared among nonprofit attendees at the luncheon, the donated turkeys went to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People, Food Share of Ventura County and Manna Conejo Valley.
The event ended with the Village People’s hit “Y.M.C.A.” and several people in their individual rectangle-style Zoom boxes were seen dancing.
“It’s definitely not a typical holiday song,” Garufis said. “But because it was Mike’s favorite, we are hoping you will be in a celebratory mood and start some dancing.”
Montecito Bank & Trust is the largest locally owned community bank on the Central Coast.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
