Event committee members, from left, Juliana Minsky, Rob Grayson and Nancy Fiore with PATH Regional Director Tessa Madden Storms at PATH’s third annual Making It Home Tour. 
Homeowner Robert Kemp, left, and architect Thiep Cung. 
Fun on the trolley with JB Bowlin, center, PATH Santa Barbara’s associate director of development, and tour volunteers. 
PATH founder Claire West Orr, left, and PATH Santa Barbara advisory board member Diane Fiore. 
AB Design Studio architects Clay Aurell, left, and Josh Blumer stand in front of the Honey House. 
Tour supporters Linda and Ed Aasted. 
Manager Katy Babcock and chef Daniel Palaima of Tyger Tyger Restaurant. 
Brandon Scott provided music at the Sonos reception. 
PATH board member Ron Fox and his wife, Carol. 
Creative metal work on the balconies of the El Zapato home in downtown Santa Barbara. 
A view from the 1914 estate Ca’di Sopra, meaning “house under the clouds.” 
Stairway detail at Ca’di Sopra. 
Guests admire outdoor sculptures at a contemporary home on Pepper Hill.
PATH Santa Barbara’s third annual Making It Home Tour over the weekend sold out with more than 175 supporters who hopped on red Santa Barbara Trolleys to tour four unique homes on a spectacular Saturday afternoon.
The fundraising event celebrates home and allows PATH to house 100 local homeless individuals and assist another 700 each year. PATH operates the shelter at 816 Cacique St., formerly the Casa Esperanza Homeless Shelter.
PATH Santa Barbara works to address and end homelessness for individuals throughout Santa Barbara County.
Guests were treated with guided tours through four luxury homes. At several, the gracious homeowners, as well as the architects who designed the homes, were present and chatted with guests.
The homes included the Honey House, a modern residence set in an abandoned rock quarry high in the Montecito hills; Ca’di Sopra, a 1914 Mediterranean seven-bedroom home with ocean views; El Zapato, a quaint four-bedroom home tucked away on a 50-foot-by-64-foot lot in the heart of Santa Barbara; and Home on Pepper Hill, an extraordinary contemporary home on a coastal hilltop setting.
The homeowners were Tamara Honey, Melinda Goodman-Kemp and Robert Kemp, Nancy Zink O’Connor and Carla Lejade.
At each home trolley stop, attendees were treated to wine and food pairings from local wineries and restaurants. Some of the providers were Grassini Family Vineyards, Tyger Tyger Restaurant, Trader Joe’s, Jaffurs Wine, McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Jolie Folle Wines and many others. Event partners included AB Design Studio, Sonos, 805 Living, and Andre and Stephanie Balderrama of CIG.
The tour ended at a festive outdoor reception at the Sonos campus in downtown Santa Barbara, where guests enjoyed music, luxury raffles, and a variety of food and drinks.
“We hope to reach our event fundraising goal of $75,000 to help get homeless people into permanent housing,” PATH Regional Director Tessa Madden Storms told Noozhawk.
The event committee included John “JB” Bowlin, Nancy Fiore, Rob Grayson, Julie Lawrence, Tessa Madden Storms, Juliana Minsky and Sheridan Taphorn.
In attendance at the event was the organization’s founder, Claire West Orr of Los Angeles.
“It started when I saw people looking for food in dumpsters in Westwood where I lived,” Orr told Noozhawk.
Orr and the Rev. Charles Orr wrote a letter calling for the community to address the ever-increasing issue of homelessness. In response, on Dec. 8, 1983, 60 people gathered to figure out how to help people who were experiencing homelessness in their neighborhoods, and PATH was born. The group started by distributing food and clothing to people living on the streets. Now, more than 30 years later, PATH has locations in greater Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego and Santa Barbara that provide more than 1,000 units of permanent supportive housing completed or in the pipeline.
In July 2015, the Casa Esperanza Homeless Shelter merged with PATH to become PATH Santa Barbara. The nonprofit organization provides a variety of services for people experiencing homelessness that include employment, outreach, housing navigation, interim housing and rapid rehousing. In the past four years, PATH Santa Barbara has provided shelter to 1,800 homeless clients, secured employment or increased income for more than 500 individuals, and helped 400 homeless neighbors move off the streets and into permanent homes.
Click here for more information about PATH Santa Barbara, or call 805.979.8706 or email path@epath.org.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Rochelle Rose can be reached at rrose@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.