Mission for Mentors Telethon Update!

Over 60 community members volunteered their time to help us raise mentors from south Santa Barbara county. We were able to raise over 90 potential mentors, totaling over 4,700 hours pledged to work with our youth! Below are some pictures, taken by our fabulous photographer, Carolyn Newstrom, who volunteered her time to help us document this! More pictures can be found at: SmugMug. Thanks so much again to Venoco, Inc. and the Hutton Foundation for making this event possible!!

Our phone answerers were mentors, board members, and other giving members of the community.

Looking out over the event!

Part of the tireless and amazing KEYT crew!

Paula Lopez interviewed Mentor Lisa, with her mentee, and Magda Arroyo, the Director of the Westside Boys and Girls club. Lisa and her mentee spend time at the Club doing many activities.

 She also interviewed mentors Katya and Andrea, and the two sisters that they mentor.

 

Beth Farnsworth interviewed the Chair of the CADA Board, Fred Clough, and the Chair of the Fighting Back Steering Committee, Peter MacDougall.

Beth also interviewed Marybeth Carty: a mentor, Mentor Program task force member, and Community Relations Coordinator for Venoco, Inc.

SB Police Chief Cam Sanchez; me; the Project Director of Fighting Back, Penny Jenkins; and Mentor Program Director, Ed Cue.

Thank you again to all who helped, including our other Business Sponsors: KEYT 3, Cottage Health System, American Riviera Bank, and Paseo Nuevo. Thank you to our T-shirt creator, Wearable Graphics.

Pics from the Whole Foods Tour!

Rae gave us a great tour of Santa Barbara's newest health foods market. The kids learned what "organic" means, and the adults learned about the health index the store uses to guide people through better choices.

There was a section of yummy smelling soaps!!

The kids were not big fans of the seafood section...but it looks so fresh!!

However, there was a yummy looking section of desserts! And they were kind enough to give everyone a cupcake!

Upcoming April Events...

We are ready for Spring!! Here's what's coming up for all you mentors and mentees!

UCSB Men's Volleyball vs. Penn State
Friday, April 9th @ 7 PM

Rob Gym @ UCSB
RSVP to Teresa Segovia by Wednesday, April 7th @ 5 PM
Join the Mentor Program as it goes to watch Men's Indoor Volleyball. Penn State sits in the #1 spot in their conference, undefeated in their division, and UCSB sits #10 in the NCAA rankings...this should be a challenging and fun game to watch!!
Map


Whole Foods Tour
Wednesday, April 14th, 3:30 to 4:30 PM

3761 State St., Santa Barbara, CA 93105
RSVP to your case manager by Friday, April 9th @ 5 PM
Join us as we take a tour of Santa Barbara's newest grocery store: Whole Foods! We'll learn about the philosophy behind Whole Foods, be introduced to the different departments, enjoy food samples, and take goodie bags home!
Until then, you can take part in a "Dye Free" Egg Coloring Event in the store with your mentee. Saturday, April 3rd, 1-3 PM. Click here for more details! RSVP is required to rae.vanseenus@wholefoods.com. Or join the community for the 6 month celebration of the store opening on Wednesday, April 7th, 12noon-2 PM for customer appreciation day!

View Larger Map


Beach Collection Day!
Thursday, April 15th, 4 to 5:30 PM

Meet at the top of the hill above Ledbetter Beach, parking on the street or in the free lot of Shoreline Park, across from La Marina St. Map
RSVP by Monday, April 12th @ 5 PM
We'll be collecting sticks, stones, broken seashells, and seaglass to use in our upcoming Mosaic Art Classes with Gina Garoogian! Details to come about continuing classes. If you're not able to join us for the art classes, you can still use what you collect for an art project on your own with your mentee! And since we'll be collecting things, I'll have trash bags ready for a little lesson in beach clean-up. BONUS: Shoreline Beach Café is kind enough to donate beverages for us as a reward after for our hard work!



Mission for Mentors Telethon!!
Wednesday, April 21st, 5 to 8 PM

Paseo Nuevo Center Court
The Mentor Program is excited to annouce the 13th Annual Mission for Mentors Telethon! We are honored that this event is going to be sponsored by the Hutton Foundation and Venoco, Inc. We are looking for volunteers to help with sign-in, monitoring the food table, handing out t-shirts, etc. for approx. one hour time slots. Please let me know if you are able to help! You will receive a free t-shirt and pizza from California Pizza Kitchen for volunteering your time!


If you aren't able to volunteer for an hour, please come visit us anyways! We'd love to see some friendly, familiar faces :)

Spring into Health Event Pictures and Summary!!

Amy Gates, Ed Cue, and Ed's daughter, were the friendly faces that greeted all incoming guests.

Kids and adults received and earned raffle tickets so they could pick the prize they most wanted.

  

Capoeira Batuque kicked off the event with an awesome performance that had everyone watching and ready to get moving!

 

 

 
 
Capoeira was followed by a demonstration of students from the studio of Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara lead by Sensei Lia Suzuki.
 
 

 

 

 

Two students with their bokutō (wooden swords).
 
 
 
 

South Coast Karate was represented by Sensei Brian Jordan and student, Anthony, who pulled up a group of willing attendees to learn some basic Karate moves during the demonstration portion of the event.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
  
 
 

The final demonstration was by Teri McDuffie of Santa Barbara Women's Self Defense and a couple helpers. She showed us the strongest parts of your body to use when defending yourself. She proved how powerful the ball of your foot could be as well as the back of your forearm/elbow - they can break a shin and knock the wind out of someone if necessary! She broke two boards for us, which really had us ready for the next portion of the event: the interactive parts!!

We had the kids break into three groups, according to age. Our groups were lead by: Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara & South Coast Karate, Believe and Achieve Fitness with Melanie Elkin & the Promotora Program with the Diabetes Resource Center of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Women's Self Defense.

The kids and their mentors/ parents learned easy ways to relax in stressful situations with Melanie Elkin. They also learned about healthy and nutritious living from the Diabetes Resource Center. They brought a table and showed everyone how much sugar was in each of their favorite drinks by placing the actual sugar granuals in a cup in front of the actual drink! Scary!

Sensei Lia and her team had kids of all ages participate. The littlest of the bunch partcipated in fun relays...a simple way to get them up and moving!!

The older kids were taught some basic Aikido moves, and then practiced in pairs.

Sensei Brian and Anthony showed the kids how to kick and punch and then had them compete to see who was best listening.

Everyone who attended (nearly 70 people!) had a great time and learned fun, new ways to stay active and healthy overall. Many, many thanks to our AMAZING contributors and teachers (and students!) from Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara (www.aksb.org), Believe and Achieve Fitness (www.youbelieveandachievefitness.com), Capoeira Batuque (http://www.marianosilva.com/), Diabetes Resource Center of Santa Barbara (www.sbdrc.org), Santa Barbara Women's Self Defense (www.sbslfdfnz.com), and South Coast Karate (www.southcoastkarate.com). Please visit their website and contact them for more information. Thank you also to the Carpinteria Women's Club for allowing us to use their facility for this important event, to Janet Austin for arranging the PA system, to all of the volunteers who came to help at the event, and to all of our donors for contributing wonderful items for our kids and adults to enjoy! And a special thank you to our Task Force members Lisa Gosdschan, Mary Ann Helman, Marybeth Carty, and Susan Tarlow, without whom this event would not have been possible!!