Habitat for Humanity Hosts A Benefit Gala
The Canon Perdido Affordable Homes project is a 12-home development which will provide safe and affordable housing for 43 people, including 20 children.
Hard Hats & High Heels will be the first nonprofit gala to take place at the historic El Encanto, where guests will have the exclusive opportunity to experience the property and reacquaint themselves with one of Santa Barbara’s favorite hotels. At the benefit on April 13th, hosted by Campaign Co-Chairs Jennifer Guess and Ralph Iannelli, guests will kick off the evening with a cocktail hour in the El Encanto’s Arbor, where they can soak in the lush surroundings of the gardens and mix and mingle among the 100-year old wisteria vines that have been restored and maintained throughout the hotel’s closure. Dinner will follow in the Riviera Ballroom. Guests will be able to enjoy the warm April evening and experience the El Encanto’s sweeping views over Santa Barbara and out to the Channel Islands.
Guests attending Hard Hats & High Heels can partake in a live auction, where they will have the chance to collectively build a home for the Canon Perdido Affordable Homes project by bidding on individual elements of the homes. Guests will be able to bid on the front door, the foundation, windows, or other various parts of a home, with the end goal of raising the funds to build a complete Habitat house. This is a distinctive live auction benefitting the project directly and will offer attendees a unique experience to build a home collaboratively. After the live auction guests will dance the night away to locally renowned Bluegrass band, the Mobile Homeboys.
The Canon Perdido Affordable Homes project is part of a larger fundraising effort, the Building Homes, Building Hope campaign, which will generate a comprehensive total of 4.3 million dollars to expand Habitat for Humanity’s mission to end sub-standard housing in our community. The Canon Perdido Affordable Homes project is a 12-home development, consisting of 100% affordable low and very low income homes, which will include two one bedroom units, eight two bedroom units, and two three bedroom units.
According to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation set by the state of California, there is a real and urgent need for an additional 6,625 affordable housing units in Southern Santa Barbara County by 2014. The need for low-income housing in Santa Barbara is evidenced by Habitat’s family selection meetings, held in April 2012 for the 12 new affordable homes to be built on Canon Perdido Street. Of the 539 families who attended these meetings, 305 were within Habitat’s low-income qualifications and showed an urgent need for decent and affordable housing.
Building Homes, Building Hope is a communitywide campaign to expand Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County’s mission to end sub-standard housing in our communities. The campaign goals are to: build 12 new affordable homes on Canon Perdido Street, repair five homes through the A Brush with Kindness home repair program, engage volunteers to support Habitat’s efforts to end substandard housing, provide education to future homeowners through the Homeownership Readiness Curriculum, relocate the Habitat ReStore to a new storefront, purchase land in Carpinteria for future home construction projects, and fund home construction in Haiti and Nicaragua by tithing 10% of unrestricted funds.
The Hard Hats & High Heels gala is open to the public. Tickets are $200 per person. For sponsorship details, tickets, or for additional information, please contact Alexandra Ramstrum at (805) 692-2226 or at Alexandra@sbhabitat.org.
About Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County:
Habitat for Humanity of SSBC is an independent, locally run affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty housing. Habitat for Humanity International and its affiliates around the world have built and repaired more than 600,000 homes for qualified partner families. Volunteers provide most of the labor, with individuals, churches and corporate donors providing the money and materials to build Habitat houses. Habitat for Humanity of SSBC has participated in cooperative efforts with other non-profit organizations including SEE International, Women’s Economic Ventures, Laguna Senior Cottages, Boys and Girls Club and the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, in addition to two major rehabilitation projects since their beginning in 2000. They have completed two major construction projects in Santa Barbara on Via Lucero and San Pascual Streets and broke ground on 12 new homes in December 2012 on Canon Perdido Street. To learn more about our work, please visit www.sbhabitat.org or call (805) 692-2226.