Blog

Annual Appeal

This holiday season, give the gift of independence

Happy Holidays! Thanks to community support, we will be celebrating 22 years of helping seniors and mildly disabled individuals access basic needs, such as the need for medical care, food, and human connection. (To view PDF version of Annual Appeal, please click here.)

Community Partners in Caring fills a growing need
Through our team of volunteers, we provide free door-through-door rides to medical appointments, grocery shopping, and other health/wellness appointments; friendly visits; reassurance calls; shopping/errands for those that cannot leave their homes; and help with yard work through our Intergenerational Project, Break the Barrier.  We also provide light housecleaning. Our volunteers and staff engage seniors on a daily basis. We listen and watch for potential issues and connect seniors to appropriate community resources.  We fill a need that no other organization in Santa Barbara County is filling and this need is on the rise.

Who benefits from our Volunteer Program?
Seniors age 62+ that lack a network of support and don’t have the financial resources to hire people to help them. Many are living with a debilitating illness and mobility challenges.  All have lost their driving privilege.

Why are services important?
Aging is a natural process; it’s an aspect of life. Because friends and family age along-side us, sometimes, sons and daughters grow up and move away; many seniors in our community find themselves alone and without the resources to hire people to help.

With your generous gift, you will help support the recruitment, screening, and training of committed volunteers who will provide free non-medical support services that reduce the incidence of malnutrition, poor general health, and isolation.

  • We served 291 seniors (age 62+). Over 90% of all service calls were for free rides to medical appointments, the grocery store, hot meal sites, and food distribution centers. We noticed a shift from single/one-time ride requests to multiple requests made by the same senior, which tells us seniors are using our service on an on-going basis to support daily living.
  • Last year, volunteers made over 4,737 trips, drove roughly 47,711 miles, and volunteered 4,400 hours.
  • We recruited 39 new adult volunteers, bringing our volunteer base to 114.
  • Our Intergenerational Project, Break the Barrier, continues to attract students. Our student volunteer base consists of 60 youth. They clean yards and train seniors to use technology that helps them stay connected with friends and family.
  • Our small Call Center was moved in March 2019 to a larger space to accommodate more staff who are taking calls, coordinating services, and making referrals to area resources.
  • Our volunteer management software has been enhanced to make volunteer matching easier and faster.

We made significant progress last fiscal year. This fiscal year, we anticipate the following:

  • We will serve, at least, 400 seniors; provide, at least, 75 services per month.
  • We will increase our adult volunteer base by another 45 bringing our volunteer base to 159.
  • We will maintain an active student volunteer base of, at least, 60 youth.
  • At the rate we’re going, we anticipate volunteers will make over 5,000 trips, drive 45,000 miles, and volunteer 5,000 hours.

Your gift will enable us to recruit, screen, and train volunteers; coordinate services; and help expand existing services so that Community Partners in Caring Volunteers can effectively support the health, well-being, dignity, and independence of seniors throughout our community.

With your support, we can help hundreds of seniors have someone to talk to, someone to trust, someone to help them feel less alone, and help them age in place with dignity. Please make your generous contribution today.  Mail your tax deductible donation to: Community Partners in Caring at 120 East Jones Street, Suite 123, Santa Maria, CA 93454. To donate via PayPal, click on the donate button to the right of this page. In the note section of your check or through PalPal, please let us know if your donation supports County-Wide, North County, or South County.With warmth and gratitude,

Vilma P. Contreras, Executive Director