Thanks to Thomas!!

I met Thomas when I was staffing a booth for the Foodbank at a community event. He was very excited to get involved with the Foodbank and expressed an interest in teaching children how to cook. Thomas has volunteered to help with our Turkey Drive, staffing our booth at community events, creating flyers to promote our cause, and providing his entrepreneurship and marketing mentorship expertise to the Foodbank.

From getting to know Thomas, I’ve discovered that he is quite the entrepreneur and is passionate about helping people. Thomas is Founder and CEO of Otojoy, a wireless hearing loop system that enhances the sounds people want to hear and filters out the sounds people don’t want to hear.

Thomas also provides business development leadership and mentorship in a number of start-up groups and competitions. His team recently launched a start-up venture called Omza in 54 hours at Start-Up Weekend Santa Barbara! Omza is a mobile phone application that allows yoga instructors the ability simplify the scheduling process and list all classes they teach in one place.

Thomas is the only person I know who can operate multiple businesses and provide mentorship in several start-up ventures while simultaneously engaging in a variety of extra-curricular activities AND he still takes the time to help me and the Foodbank!

Thanks to Renee!!

Renee has been an incredible volunteer at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County! She is always willing to help, has a positive attitude, and loves to learn. I've been fortunate enough to experience her growth as a community outreach representative.

When we set up our table to promote the Foodbank in the community the first time, Renee was shy and reserved. After watching my presentation once, Renee mustered up the courage and started talking to people herself! Soon enough, she was the one engaging everyone who walked by! After that first "training session," Renee built up the confidence to man the booth herself and has been doing so ever since! This is extremely helpful for the Foodbank!

Having multiple successful community outreach representatives enables the Foodbank to educate more people about what we do and get more people excited to get involved. I believe in capitalizing upon people's strengths, but sometimes people do not realize what their strengths are until they step outside of their comfort zone and try something new. I'm extremely proud of Renee's accomplishments and it is such an honor to be a mentor in her life.

Thanks to Simone!!

Simone Baker has been a huge help this summer! She works for UCP and helps people with Cerebral Palsy find rewarding work and volunteer opportunities. Simone has taken the lead and organized a group of volunteers from her program to feed kids and entertain them twice a week for our Picnic in the Park Program all summer. She also organized a group of volunteers to take over a produce packaging project at our warehouse once a month. This is extremely helpful for our volunteer coordinator. Simone has delivered reliable, consistent volunteers every time and brings in her own staff to supervise. This frees up the Foodbank staff from having to supervise projects and allows us to focus on making improvements to programs and offering more assistance in our community.

Thanks to Sarah!!

Sarah has been an amazing supporter of the Foodbank! She organized a group of cheerleaders to collect money and food donations for the Foodbank and brought in over $400 and 200 pounds of food! She's a great networker and always comes up to us at events with a big smile and a hug! She makes us feel welcome and we love coordinating volunteer events with her and the rest of the team at Cox. She even invited us to an event at the Bacara and we were honored to sit at the Cox table as her guest. People want to do business with those they like and trust and we look forward to working with Sarah and her team again and again.

Thanks to Geoff!!

Geoff has been helping us with the Hunger Study all summer! Our program coordinator is thrilled to have him on board because of his dedication to the project and "can do" attitude. The Hunger Study involves traveling to our partner organizations and surveying the people that we provide food for to determine the effectiveness of our programs. This volunteer opportunity requires a special type of person who can understand and be sensitive to the unique situations of those we help. This opportunity is not for anyone. Geoff is perfect for this position, because he can easily relate to anyone he meets and is so down-to-earth and real that you can easily see that he truly cares and wants to make a difference. Thank you so much for your help with this project!!

Thanks to Carol Ann!!

Carol Ann just started volunteering for the Foodbank and has offered to help us with our most urgent need: The Hunger Study. This involves traveling to our partner organizations and surveying the people that we provide food for to determine the effectiveness of our programs. This volunteer opportunity requires a special type of person who can understand and be sensitive to the unique situations of those we help. This opportunity is not for anyone. Carol Ann has proved to be a perfect fit for this study. We are thrilled to find such an amazing, caring, and considerate person to join our team!!

Thanks to Christopher!!

Christopher has been extremely helpful by offering to take on HUGE data entry projects so that we can import all of our business contacts into our database. His turn-around time is incredible - just a couple days to enter in hundreds of contacts! Thank you for your commitment to these projects!

Thanks to Jennifer!!

Jennifer has been extremely helpful by offering to enter all of our volunteer applications into our online database. She is a stay-at-home-mom now, but worked in Corporate America for years. Her attention to detail and efficiency is amazing! We gave her a whole car load of applications to enter a couple months ago and she's almost done! Thank you for your commitment to this project!

Jennifer has helped me (the volunteer coordinator) by alleviating my data entry workload so I can focus on planning and making improvements to our volunteer management system. She enters data for 4-5 hours per week, which saves me tons of time!

"I began volunteering with the FoodBank around 4 years ago with my employer. As a team we volunteered with Backyard Bounty harvesting fruit. I had my first child and decided to stop working in 2011 but wanted to remain active in my volunteering. I needed a task that I could do from home at any hour, so I began helping with volunteer data entry. I will be taking a break from volunteering next March as I will be welcoming baby #2 into our family. I look forward to starting back soon - maybe at a pick with my two little sweeties. I am proud to volunteer with such an important organization and appreciate that the staff finds ways for folks like me with limited availability to help in meaningful ways." - Jennifer Foronjy

Thanks to Joe!!

Joe started volunteering in the fall of 2012 for our warehouse packaging projects and Brown Bag Program, a program that delivers food to seniors. Joe stepped up as a leader and effectively communicates to our volunteer coordinator, on a monthly basis, how the program is running and what improvements need to be made. This feedback is extremely important to us so we can increase productivity and continue to improve our programs. Joe is so much fun to chat with and if you ever have the opportunity to meet or volunteer with him, you will see that truly cares about helping people and making a difference in our community!!

Thanks to Liz!!

Liz has been volunteering at the Foodbank for years as our Front Desk/Front Office go-to, ask anything, do anything, whatever you need gal!! She answers our phones, greets visitors, processes paperwork, and holds the fort together.

Because of her commitment to the Foodbank and her years of hard work, she is now an employee!!! Congratulations, Liz!!! We love you!!

Thanks to Lisa!!

Lisa has been an amazing help in our warehouse! On the first Wednesday of every month, she manages the Brown Bag Warehouse Assembly, which consists of organizing a group of 12 volunteers to package up a ton of food for the seniors that we help. This is a huge task! Lisa works closely with our volunteer coordinator to ensure that we have the right amount of help for the job. She greets the volunteers, signs them in, ensures that they fill out the required paperwork, informs them of the warehouse rules, trains them in, delegates the tasks, supervises the assembly, and ensures that the workspace is clean and orderly afterward. We are able to rely on Lisa every month without Foodbank staff having to supervise and this frees up the staff so they can focus on improving and expanding programs to help even more people in our community.

Lisa has recently taken on another leadership project: managing volunteers who pick up bread at Panera Bread and deliver it to the organizations that we partner with. Our volunteer coordinator is thrilled to have such a dedicated lead volunteer to help with this!

Lisa, thank you so much!!

Thanks to Reverend Paul Vit!!

Reverend Paul Vit has been extremely supportive in so many ways! He volunteered for the Hunger Study, donated money and supplies for the children that we help, collected donations for us, and established relationships with local businesses at community events. We have heard from other volunteers, Foodbank staff, and people in our community that Paul speaks very highly of the Foodbank and is proud to be a part of our "family."

His energy to help never stops! For example, he worked almost 10 hours this weekend for CA Wine Festival! Thank you, Paul!!

Thanks to Anh Tran!!

Anh Tran started volunteering with the Foodbank in May of 2013 to help staff our booth for various community events. Once she learned about all of the programs and outreach the Foodbank is part of, she jumped right in, with so much passion and enthusiasm, and explained what we do to everyone that passed our booth! She is an excellent representative of the Foodbank!

Anh has also taken on a leadership role to help us recruit volunteers for Hunger Awareness Day, Picnic in the Park, the Hunger Study, and other community events. She is amazing at following-up, keeping in touch, and following through.

Thanks to Morgan Beard!!

 

Morgan volunteered for the Foodbank to create and distribute flyers and other marketing material to help us promote our volunteer opportunities to the students at UCSB. She has shown excellent leadership and dedication to the tasks at hand. The flyers were very professional and generated a lot of volunteers. Morgan went above and beyond to find us volunteers when we were in a pinch and even helped us staff our booth and fund-raising efforts. We would highly recommend her to help with your marketing/promotional needs.

Thanks to Holiday Haulers!!

 

The Foodbank Holiday Haulers-Come to the Rescue, Again! 

Local businesses team up with The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County this holiday season.

 

The Foodbank Holiday Haulers are a group of local business owners who donate time, trucks and manpower to transport food for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County during the Holiday Food Drive. Conceived and organized by Montecito Landscape owner, Lisa Cullen, The Holiday Haulers came into being in the fall of 2009 when Lisa asked the Foodbank what was needed to ensure the Holiday Food Drive was a success.

"Organizations and individuals donate food, but the Foodbank doesn’t have the resources to pick it up," said Lisa. "We pick up and deliver donated food during the Holiday Food Drives."

"Helping is such fun!" "We are in our fourth year, and as more people become aware of The Holiday Haulers, they too want to help. As a result our group of volunteers keeps expanding." explained Cullen. "These businesses take time out of their busy days to help others and for that I am grateful."

"The Santa Barbara County Foodbank is a vital part of our community, distributing good, nutritious food to those in need, most of whom are seniors and children," Lisa informed us. "We are able to play an important role in their mission of Ending Hunger and Transforming the Health of Santa Barbara County."

To have a Holiday Hauler pick up your food donation this holiday season, please contact Melissa Howard at the Foodbank 967.5741 x 112 or call Lisa Cullen of Montecito Landscape at 969-3984. Or go to http://www.foodbanksbc.org.

This year’s Foodbank Holiday Haulers: Chris and Lisa Cullen and Leana Finley-Montecito Landscape, Bob Kingston & Pancho-All Around Landscape Supply/S&S Seeds, Derrick Yee-Abe Nursery, Tom Dolan-Toma Restaurant & Bar, Ken Olsen-McCormix, Duke McPherson-McPherson Consulting Arborist, John Gettman-Partners Imaging, Donny Meyer & Megan Phillips-Aqua-Flo Supply, John Mullins-Mission City Auto, Ken Hall-Goleta Building Materials.

Thanks to Kristen Desmond!!

Kristen Desmond, owner of Flagstone Pantry, began volunteering in November of 2012 to help organize all of the grocery store food drive volunteers, train them on how to handle the food drives, and ensure food drives were approved by grocery store managers.

Because of her efforts, we collected 95,000 pounds of food during the holiday season. She was a tremendous help and we couldn’t have done it without out her.

 

 

 

"Helping the Foodbank with the grocery store food drives was an amazing experience. The Foodbank staff works incredibly hard, as does our entire community, to support families in need - but they can't do it without volunteers. I encourage others to take leadership opportunities as volunteers.

It's truly a labor of love and one of the more rewarding things I did this holiday season. Thank you to all of the volunteers and store managers that made it happen."

- Kristen Desmond