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For Immediate Release |
MEDIA CONTACT: Juliana Minsky (805) 687-3322 |
Santa Barbara, CA, August 24, 2006—For three hours this Saturday morning, a serious Housing Authority initiative will look more like a Home & Garden hit TV show. Between 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. dozens of volunteers, will decorate 61 new studio apartments, to prepare for the first residents who will move in this September.
Teams of two volunteers will each set up and decorate two apartments with linens, blankets, lamps, and other personal necessities purchased or donated through the El Carrillo ‘adopt-a-room’ donation drive that has been in progress since July. Additional volunteers will help organize and move supplies.
The donation drive invites community members to contribute $200 or more to ‘adopt a room’. Donations received so far are allowing the Housing Authority to outfit the studio apartments and two community rooms, with the supplies and furnishings needed to truly make El Carrillo a “home” for Santa Barbara’s neediest residents. The residents, most of whom will be coming from homeless or transitional shelters, will have no possessions and little money to their name.
Donations will be accepted on an ongoing basis to build the endowment to continue to meet these same needs for future residents.
WHAT: |
Visuals: 50 volunteers decorate 61 new studio apartments for homeless moving into permanent housing. Linens, blankets, pillows, lamps, personal care, housekeeping and other supplies will be staged on each of the three floors of the building. Volunteers will work in teams of selecting supplies and setting up and decorating each room. |
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WHO: |
Volunteers include individuals and groups from the community, Housing Authority board of commissioners, employees, City of Santa Barbara employees. NO MORE VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED, MEDIA ADVISORY ONLY |
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WHEN: |
Saturday, August 26, 2006, 8:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (Best visuals between 9:30-10:00 a.m.) |
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WHERE: |
El Carrillo Apartments, 315 West Carrillo St. (between Castillo & Bath) |
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Note: |
If Saturday coverage is not possible, there will also be visuals on Friday as volunteers and Housing Authority employees decorate a ‘model’ apartment and prepare the many supplies for Saturday. Please call ahead: Juliana Minsky, 687-3322 |
El Carrillo is the Housing Authority’s latest approach to the reality and root causes of homelessness in Santa Barbara. It will increase the total number of permanent, affordable housing units/beds for the homeless in Santa Barbara County by 16%, from 375 to 436. The Housing Authority is providing the apartments and its nonprofit partner in this endeavor, Work Training Programs, Inc., will provide on-site supportive services to help residents get back to work and live and thrive in the community. El Carrillo will also bring together a network of community agencies to provide additional vocational, health, financial counseling, drug and alcohol rehab, and social and recreational support services.
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