We gathered at the Kelly house on the Mesa (SB Heifer HQ!) for hor d'oeurves and wine to get to know each other, swap ideas and watch some educational videos for inspiration for the Earth Day Festival booth.

In attendance were some key state and national players:  Frances Hale (Southwest Regional Volunteer Coordinator) and Lydsay Tellefson (Associate Director of Philanthropy for the western region.)

Anne Martin and Annie Debruynkops, leaders of the Santa Barbara High School Heifer Club (60+ members strong!) enjoyed the videos and brought them back to school to share with other members at their April meeting.

Frances Hale and Dick Immel

Pat and Sheryl Kelly, Stephanie Rivera (SB AVCs)

L to R:  Lyndsay Tellefson,  Anne Martin,  Dan Weldy,  Annie Debruynkops,  Doris Frey, Frances Hale,  Dick Immel,  Sheryl and Pat Kelly at the Kelly's home (HQ!)

    Dan Weldy from Ventura arrived on the scene a bit later.  He was on a mission to get a substantial donation submitted.  Seems that a series of communications remained unanswered, so mystified and frustrated he decided to drive all the way up to HQ to see what was up.
    He wasted no time after introductions at the door to let it be known that he needed to get this donation to the SBHS club, so that was easy:  we had him turn a corner in the house and voila! there sat team Anne/Annie for an immediate and direct connection!
    Eyes grew wide and faces brightened as the three realized who each other were.  Turns out that there was some kind of type-o miscommunication about a phone number and a wrong e-mail or some such, so after angry "don't call here again!" phone responses to the girls and unanswered emails for Dan, the donation finally met its intended destination.
    Dan must be commended for not giving up and making the effort to come up to HQ.

We hope that you can make it to our next mixer in August:  kids always welcome.  We have good eats and wine and great company!  Look for the upcoming e-vite.


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Nina from the SBHS Heifer club and Dick Immel man the booth on Sunday.

We got a great spot right next to a wild roaming turkey named Pilgrim, with whom Pat Kelly bonded so deeply that his wife, Sheryl began to wonder..... After Saturday, Pat gushed about Pilgirm for weeks to anyone who would listen, with a big smile of admiration. In addition to entertaining our volunteers, Pilgrim gets big kudos for attracting a bevy of people to our booth all weekend long, so we were able to pass on the Heifer message to even more listeners than usual.   Thanks, turkey!

Sheryl and Dick Immel gaze lovingly at Pilgrim, a big, proud turkey of a bird. (Pat is taking the picture.)

Stephanie Rivera, Mirra Tubiolo (SBHS club) with our bee, and booth visitors, Sofia and Adela, on Sunday.

We educated many folks about Heifer's great work and gave away lots of catalogs so that Santa Barbara can be a bigger part of ending world hunger, one alternative gift at a time.





Children had fun playing
our animal husbandry trivia game,
winning our very attractive pencils and
stickers.








As usual, folks flocked to the booth to add to their collections of our ever popular Wear the Mission buttons.

A hearty THANK YOU goes to Dick Immel!Hardcore volunteer Dick manned the booth BOTH days, Sat and Sunday, including clean up!   His ties to Heifer go way back, starting in the '40s, when his older brother hitchhiked across the US in his boy scout uniform to work as a  "seagoing cowboy" "on the second ever ship to deliver heifers to Poland after WWII.

Dick Immel with the new educational info board.

Peace Cake

Sophia Hampp, Daniel Guerrero, and Taylor Fraker at the cake walk station.

The raffle station was run by Kelly Johansson, Lydia Nelson, and Kate Van Donge (not pictured)

Team Anne/Annie

So that was April.  Whew!  A lot going on.  

Greetings Everyone,

January has been a busy "behind the scenes" month for our volunteer group and we're finally starting to wrap up our Area Volunteer Coordinator (AVC) transition!
Over the last two years, our volunteer group has grown substantially and we've been able to expand our outreach in both Santa Barbara and Ventura County. Because of this expansion, I am pleased to announce that our larger Santa Barbara/ Ventura group of Heifer International Volunteers will branch into two separate groups this year! The Santa Barbara group will be led by AVC's Sheryl Kelly and Stephanie Rivera and the Ventura group will be led by AVC Shari Tarnutzer. Please join us on Thursday, February 16th from 7-8:30 pm at the Free Methodist Church in SB as we welcome the new AVC's and have our last meeting as the Santa Barbara/ Ventura chapter. You will also have an opportunity to meet our Community Volunteer Coordinator, Frances Hale and Associate Director of Philanthropy in Santa Barbara, LindsayTellefson.

Thank you again for all of your support over the last two years! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on the 16th!

Meeting location and contact info:

Free Methodist Church
1435 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, on the Mesa.
We will be meeting in the lower Fellowship room from 7pm-8:30pm

Contact Sheryl Kelly w/ questions at:
heifersantabarbara@gmail.com or
805-965-2415

With gratitude,

Kalena

Ventura County Heifer supporters dug deep into their piggy banks on Saturday and helped our volunteer group raise more than $800.00 towards ending hunger and poverty around the world! Thanks to everyone who came out to the downtown holiday fair and who bought "alternative" gifts for their loved one's this holiday season. A special thanks to the great Ventura volunteers for helping to make this event so special!
And... the amazing club from Santa Barbara High School teamed up with SB's First United Methodist Church to host a MEGA alternative giving event! Together they collected over 1,500.00!! Way to go SBHS Heifer Club!