Tag archives: homeless
Santa Barbara’s New Beginnings Counseling Center (SBNBCC) held its grand opening with a ribbon cutting reception on Friday, June 9, at its new location, 530 East Montecito Street, Suite 101. The event was well attended, with noted state and local politicians – Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA24), Senator Monique Limón, First District Supervisor Das Williams, District […]
When New Beginnings began serving Santa Barbara as a nonprofit half a century ago, providing confidential, therapeutic psychological testing, assessment, and counseling to low-income individuals and families in the greater Santa Barbara area was its core mission. Experienced masters-and-doctoral-level counselors support clients exploring life transitions, relationship issues, and any number of other concerns – including […]
At our board meeting on May 9th, we had two surprises: We did our first hybrid meeting at the Montecito Fire Station on San Ysidro Rd., and we sure appreciate their hosting us. We welcomed Jack Lorenz from Dignity Moves as our guest speaker, and he wowed the crowd in person and online. The Hands […]
Homelessness has been growing in Santa Barbara, where last year nearly 2,000 people were living without shelter, a situation that has been very visible as evidenced by the number of encampments encroaching along railroad paths, roadsides, and waterfronts throughout the county. The same story exists in virtually every corner of California in what increasingly seems […]
Two weeks ago, the Hands team was on a countywide conference call regarding the upcoming camp clearing by Union Pacific. Outreach teams should attempt to get everyone camping along the railroad tracks into shelter before the clearing. Shelter beds, of course, are scarce. PATH, the Rescue Mission, and the Salvation Army are the only providers, […]
The repurposed Santa Barbara store fronts at 4020 Calle Real, Suite 2, are serving our city’s homeless two meals a day – and a place to call home from 9 am to 3 pm. This is the Fr. Virgil Cordano Center (FVCC), conceived by the Daughters of Charity at St. Vincent’s and the Franciscan Friars […]
As a person who has experienced homelessness as a former addict living on the streets of Ventura County, I have come to understand how chronic vagrancy gives homelessness a bad name. For the last four years I have made the choice to wake up clean and sober so I can advocate for others like me […]
David Fletcher, head food service specialist at the Rescue Mission, certainly had his hands full on Thanksgiving Day, not only preparing for more than 300 homeless guests, but three other local organizations, adding another 100 recipients. David, who started on the job last year, says it has gotten easier as time goes by, with 25 […]
Just 24 hours later I was at the Santa Barbara Veterans Memorial Building where 500 homeless turned out for a third Thanksgiving dinner organized by Adam’s Angels, a nonprofit founded by local Douglas Elliman realtor Adam McKaig and fellow resident Crystal Iverson. As they tucked into 400 pounds of turkey and 100 pumpkin pies, they […]
You’ve read in these pages about Hands Across Montecito, a very successful homeless outreach and placement team of the Montecito Association, made up of Montecitans, Sheriffs, Montecito Fire, Behavioral Wellness, and City Net. Our first client, Andrew Verlikanje, really hates litter, so he picks it up. Andrew impressed Heal the Ocean when he wanted to […]
Hands Across Montecito co-founder Kathryn Washburn got a call from Dignity Moves a couple of weeks ago, asking if she’d support the new tiny homes in downtown Santa Barbara. As a strong member on the Hands Across Montecito team that has achieved great results in helping people leave homelessness, Kath wasn’t sure about this. She […]
To the charming Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez for A Toast To Home, a fundraiser for PATH – People Assisting the Homeless – which attracted 150 guests and was expected to raise around $60,000 for the 38-year-old charity that has homeless services in more than 150 cities with more than 60 locations. In 2021-22 PATH […]
In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Barbara native, realtor, and local volunteer Adam McKaig dedicated himself to building a team and creating solutions for the lack of support for the community of people experiencing homelessness. What started as a spontaneous movement of people wanting to make a positive impact during the pandemic has […]
It’s noon, about five hours later than Hands Across Montecito’s (HAM) usual monthly hike to locate and aid our village’s hidden population of unhoused individuals. We generally arrive just after dawn to find folks barely awake in their bivouacs around freeway entrances, in gullies near the railroad tracks and cemetery, along creek beds, and on […]
Santa Barbara uber realtor Adam McKaig, founder of the homeless charity Adam’s Angels, marked the 11th anniversary of his half century in style at the Carriage & Western Museum when more than 100 guests turned out to help him celebrate. The La Boheme dance company production, under director Teresa Kuskey Nowak, was co-hosted by Adam’s […]
Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley (FBSMV) does some very important and impactful work. Since its founding in 2003 as a response to the methamphetamine epidemic in the Valley, the nonprofit has taken a proactive approach to the issues, creating programs that focus on protecting kids not only from drugs and other substance abuse but also […]
Bobbi McGinnis is the current Chair of the Santa Barbara County GOP committee, a position she has had since 2019, after being its secretary and committee member since 2013. She is a first-generation U.S. born citizen. Her parents moved to the U.S. from England in 1949, choosing Santa Barbara as their new home, with her […]
In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic unfolded, Montecito neighbors started noticing a significant uptick in homeless individuals on Coast Village Road, traveling along the tracks, and encampments began mushrooming along the freeway. I contacted Luis Alvarado from Santa Barbara County’s Behavioral Wellness Homeless Outreach Team, and we started walking the tracks and outreaching. […]
My last article talked about the climate crisis as an example of market failure. “Free” markets in fact require a vast government infrastructure: Laws, enforcement, courts, established financial systems. And a system to rebalance extreme wealth inequalities. Homelessness results from a lack of the latter mechanism. Wealth begets wealth. This can happen directly as wealth […]
The “Holy Grail” of abandoned homeless sites was tackled on August 30 in a cleanup being done by a team of homeless workers who have been enlisted by Earthcomb, the brainchild, and business of Andrew Velikanje. The site, located at the end of South Kellogg Avenue in Goleta, is the second in Heal the Ocean’s […]
