|
|
|
|
| Save The Date |
|
September 19, 2009
18th Annual Day of Caring
Page Youth Center - "PYC, the place to be!"
October 10, 2009
Red Feather Ball at Fess Parker's DoubleTree Resort
|
|
|
|
|
|
Best Buy Opens With Community Donations!
Joel Dinan and Paul Didier of UWSBC and Chris Moyer, General Manager of Best Buy
On Friday, May 15th, Best Buy held their Grand Opening celebration in Goleta. The Dos Pueblos Drum Line and cheerleaders from UCSB were on hand to make the celebration festive and the first 100 people in line received a free Best Buy gift certificate.
Best Buy also provided donations totaling $18,000 for different community organizations. United Way of Santa Barbara County and Goleta Public Library each received $5,000, Habitat for Humanity received $2,000, and the Santa Barbara chapter of the Red Cross received $1,000. In addition, Best Buy provided TVs and computers for the shelter at Dos Pueblos High School during the Jesusita Fire without being approached or asked to do so.
The donations for Habitat for Humanity and Red Cross were given by the company as part of Best Buy's employee volunteer program. Best Buy gives non-profits a $1,000 grant every time their employees log 40 hours of volunteer time for a certain charity.
United Way thanks General Manager Chris Moyer and the entire staff at Best Buy for their generosity. Their donations will go a long way in helping the community meet the needs of local people.
|
|
Young Leaders Society Fills Soho Restaurant
First in a Series of Professional Development Events
Last Tuesday, June 9, over 65 young professionals attended the first of many professional development events presented by Young Leaders Society of Santa Barbara. The guest speaker was Dr. Relly Nadler, a leading psychologist and Executive Coach who focused on developing and providing cutting edge Emotional Intelligence tools and Leadership Skills. He demonstrated the importance of effective leadership through communication by a unique hand-on exercise (pictured above).
The goal of the Young Leaders Society is to promote and encourage philanthropy and volunteerism among the young leaders of Santa Barbara County, through participation in a variety of social, educational, volunteer and networking opportunities.
Young Leaders Society members will be very active this summer with volunteer opportunities such as forming teams for both Fun in the Sun's Lunch Bunch Program in July as well as Day of Caring in September. Upcoming professional development events include a financial planning seminar in August, and an environmental sustainability panel in November.
|
|
Visits to Two "Best Practice" Educational Programs Proves Inspirational
United Way of Santa Barbara County, as part of its Power of Partnership Initiative, participated with a group of local community and education leaders on visits to two acclaimed programs that are successfully helping to close the achievement gap for children and families in underserved communities. In May, leadership from Santa Barbara local government, public schools, philanthropic foundations and United Way toured the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City and the Lennox Safe School Alliance program in the Los Angeles Lennox School District.
Both programs are widely acclaimed for the achievement of significant, measurable results and for their approaches, which involve an entire school, neighborhood, and community's participation in the welfare and future success of its children.
The goal of the tours was to learn from both programs, which will help to inform the design and implementation of programs in south Santa Barbara County. The Power of Partnership Initiative (POPI), started in January 2007, has reached its goal of facilitating the community's final vision, goals, outcomes, and strategies for the south Santa Barbara County area. The next step is to identify the best practices that could be implemented in the south Santa Barbara County, and two successful models programs in the U.S., the Harlem Children's Zone and the Lennox School District, surfaced as the most compelling possibilities.
"The Harlem Children's Zone is such an important concept - community-wide support in specific neighborhoods for children and families struggling with poverty," said Paul Didier, CEO of United Way of Santa Barbara County. "United Way has strong experience with partnerships designed to improve lives of children and their families and dramatically improve their future success with our Pre-K Institutes and Fun in the Sun programs, and we are actively seeking and studying innovative programs that are resulting in great improvements in other communities."
 The Harlem Children's Zone is a holistic system of education, social-service and community-building programs aimed at helping the children and families in a specific location, like Harlem in New York or the Lennox neighborhood in Los Angeles. The Harlem Children's Zone approach revolves around three programs: Promise Academy Charter Schools, which are intensive, public charter schools that offer a wide range of services to their students; Beacon Community Centers, a program that turns public schools into community centers for children and adults after-school, on weekends and in the summer; and Foster Care Preventive Services, which strengthens struggling families. The concept is to transform the entire local community into a support system so that achievement and enrichment programs do not end with the school day.
 Lennox School District, whose student population is 95% Hispanic and more than 90%, low-income, has gone from being a gang and violence-ridden school district; with more than 70% elementary and middle school English language learners (those for whom English is is a new language), to a school district that is succeeding in reducing the number of high school drop outs while greatly improving student achievement in standardized tests.
United Way of Santa Barbara County leveraged its proven experience in developing community partnerships to organize the trips, and Santa Barbara Bank & Trust made the Harlem trip possible with a generous grant of $7,500 for some of the group's travel expenses.
|
|
United Way of Santa Barbara County Announces 2009-2010 Community Campaign Chair John Wigle and Deputy Chair Janet Garufis
United Way of Santa Barbara County's 2009-2010 Community Campaign will be led by John Wigle, President and Chairman of AGIA, and Janet Garufis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Montecito Bank & Trust. Mr. Wigle will lead this year's campaign season as Chair and Ms. Garufis will assume the role of Deputy Chair. The Chairs' main role is to provide leadership, direction, and support to the Campaign Cabinet to ensure a successful campaign.
As President of AGIA (Association Group Insurance Administrators), John Wigle has built AGIA into the largest, privately held, Third Party Insurance Marketing and Administrator for Affinity Organizations in the country. Mr. Wigle is also an active member of the Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA), the Wilderness Inquiry, and the World President's Organization. In addition to his supportive role at United Way as this year's Campaign Deputy Chair, Mr. Wigle is entering his second year on the Board of Directors.
 Janet Garufis has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Montecito Bank & Trust since September 2006. A graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, Ms. Garufis has spent 25 years in retail, business, commercial, and private banking. In addition to her support of United Way of Santa Barbara County, Ms. Garufis serves on the Board of Directors for the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, Women's Economic Ventures, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation, and Western Independent Bankers. She is also on the Board of Trustees for Sansum Clinic and on the advisory boards for Casa Pacifica and Casa de Maria.
|
Fun in the Sun Announces New Partners!
Fun in the Sun is ready to launch on Monday, June 22! For the last several months, United Way, Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, Girls Inc. of Carpinteria, and Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast have been working tirelessly to deliver the best possible programming to local disadvantaged children. Fun in the Sun has 16 brand new Program Partners this year!
We look forward to serving 364 kids at four sites in Santa Barbara County, providing them with a summer of various services, academics, and unforgettable enrichment. Become a part of the Fun in the Sun experience by adopting a lunch hour for Lunch Bunch. You can become part of the Fun in the Sun experience by volunteering during your lunch hour - from 11:45 am to 1:00 pm at any of the four sites. Some dates are still available, so reserve your time with these fantastic kids today.
To learn more about Lunch Bunch, and how to reserve a day or week with your organization, please contact Jenny Lewallen at 965-8581 x138 or email jlewallen@unitedwaysb.org. Or go to www.volunteersbc.org, create a username and password, and pick your dates and locations.
|
|
Day of Caring 2009 Deadlines Approaching Quickly!
Save the Date! 18th Annual Day of Caring is Saturday, September 19, 2009!
 Volunteers at last year's Day of Caring!
As the largest single-day volunteering event in the Tri-Counties, Day of Caring is a great way to get involved with the community and local non-profits to make a difference for those in need. In just four hours, over 1,000 volunteers will work at over 50 charity sites throughout Santa Barbara to achieve $200,000 worth of results.
Here are a few important deadlines:
Agencies:
The deadline for agency worksite proposals is July 10th! Please think out of the box - we have lots of volunteers excited to help your school or organization!
Sponsors:
The deadline is July 15th for sponsorships! In order to have your logo and company name in our advertising, please turn in your forms today. We greatly appreciate your support!
Volunteers:
The deadline for Volunteer Team Registration is September 11th. Volunteer team packet mailings will go out in two weeks Grab your friends, family or co-workers and form a team today!
|
|
Dr. Gayle Beebe Shares the "Essence of Effective Leadership" at Executive Club Luncheon
Janet Garufis with Dr. Gayle Beebe
Last week 35 of the 62 United Way Executive Club Members were honored at the annual Executive Club luncheon at the Four Seasons Biltmore. After introductions by each individual, Paul Didier gave a brief update about the exciting programs and initiatives United Way will launch this year.
Dr. Gayle Beebe, President of Westmont College, graciously shared an inspirational presentation "Essence of Effective Leadership" in which he gave true life examples. Dr. Beebe's diverse life and educational experiences enabled him to effectively lead Westmont College through the challenges of the recent Tea Fire.
Beebe earned his bachelor's degree at George Fox University in Oregon. He received master's degrees in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, in philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate University, and in business administration in strategic management from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University. He completed his doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University in 1997. Prior to leading Spring Arbor University, Beebe served as dean of the school of theology at Azusa Pacific University. Under his leadership, Spring Arbor was named a top-tier university by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, he was instrumental in constructing new facilities and completing a $45 million capital campaign there.
| |
|
|
|
