Cate School Sponsors Five Carpinteria Families For Holidays

Every year, Cate School students sponsor five Carpinteria families during the holiday season, collecting money and donations to share the spirit of these holidays.

This year, the Holiday Cheer Committee–Fernando Hertado (Chicago, IL), senior Allison Shoemaker (Springville, CA), senior Kyler Jae (Ojai, CA), senior Marin Kautz (Los Osos, CA), junior Stephanie Flores (Santa Ana, CA)–delivered donations and gifts to five Carpinteria families this past week.

The donations came from a number of fund raising efforts by the students: The boys’ varsity basketball team collected almost $1,000 from students, faculty, and parents on behalf of the families in need. This money was used to buy clothes, books, linens, toys, diapers, and department store gift cards. A bake sale coupled with local parent donations raised another $600 that was used to buy grocery store gift cards for the families. The girls’ varsity soccer team used their own money to shop for the families this past Saturday in lieu of a practice.

This Cate School tradition of sponsoring local families in need has been going on since the 1970’s. Will Holmes, Director of Public Service, said, “The parents of the families we visited were clearly touched by the generosity of the Cate community. Thank you all.”