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More than 300 people attended the 56th annual Santa Barbara Community Prayer Breakfast early Wednesday morning at The Fess Parker DoubleTree by Hilton Resort.
“Perseverance and Purpose and Praying for Our Community” was the theme of this inspirational event.
The Unity Shoppe’s Tom Reed served as a master of ceremonies with the prayer for leaders led by El Montecito School’s Jeannine Morgan.
The cherub-like children of the El Montecito School Choir sang a couple of well-known hymns for the assembled. El Montecito School was also the major event sponsor.
Andrews Tricerri from MacFarlane, Faletti & Co. CPAs did the Old Testament reading from Isaiah 58, 9-11, and Chris Chirgwin from Lanspeed read John 3, 1-8 from the New Testament.
Peter Trabucco, an 18-year second-grade teacher from El Montecito School, was the main speaker for the gathering. Boy, was he inspirational!
He told about his diving accident while a college student that caused a break in his spinal column. He rehabbed at a Northridge hospital to be near his Santa Barbara parents. His mother, Jane, drove the 1½-hour drive each day for four months during his rehabilitation.
“I did it because I was close enough to do it, which was such a blessing,” his mother told Noozhawk.
Trabucco credited his parents’ incredible support and strength as a remarkable component of his healing adjustment to becoming a paraplegic.
“I never knew the depth of my parents’ pain about my injury until I became a parent myself,” he said.
After the accident, he moved to Santa Barbara and lived in a studio next to his parents’ home.
“Competitive by nature, I traveled all over the United States competing in wheelchair races. Things worked out for me after that,” he said. “I attended a men’s Bible study group at the Coral Casino. I was asked to speak at local schools about what it was like to be disabled. While visiting the schools, I started to think about teaching as a career. I got into a state program that paid for everything. Then I was approached by Jeannine Morgan at El Montecito School to teach second grade. I didn’t think I wanted to teach second grade, but it has been a good fit for the past 18 years.”
After graduating from UCSB with a degree in business economics, he met his future wife, Lora.
“She saw me for what I was, not the (wheel)chair,” he said.
The couple will be happily celebrating their 28th anniversary this month. They were blessed with twin daughters after more than five years of invitro fertilization therapy. Both girls are thriving and attending UC schools this year.
During Trabucco’s many trials and joys, he said the following Bible passage held the most comfort for him: Psalm 46:10, “Jesus said, Be still, and know that I am God.”
— 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.
