On Saturday, June 8 Hillside House hosted our Sunset Soirée and Champagne Tasting, and it was a truly festive affair. This year, for the first time in ten years of fundraising events, instead of a featured speaker we held a champagne tasting and were lucky enough to have international wine expert John Tilson lead us in this.   

With nearly 200 people in attendance, including quite a few new faces that we were honored to welcome, delicious hors d'oeuvres, desserts that were out of this world, and the champagne tasting to delight the palate, spirits were high. In fact, although the Soirée officially ends at 7:00 pm, it was only the descending darkness that finally convinced many of the attendees to head home. To view a slideshow of the Soiree, click here. 

John Tilson had carefully selected four remarkable champagnes for the occasion. He introduced the wines with his tell-tale wit and incredible depth of knowledge. The champagnes were delicious and affordable, so those who wanted to purchase extra bottles could and did, and the selection covered a wonderful variety of both vintage and non-vintage, white and rosé, all from small farms, made with care.

Another highlight of the event was the silent auction which featured 47 items this year, ranging from a massage to a day at the golf course, from a week's stay in Matazlan to a hour-long glider ride, and featuring gift certificates to many local restaurants as well as some beautiful original art works and much more.

It was not only our Soirée that received a makeover this year, but also El Mirador's famed gardens. Already outstanding, in the past year the Lanning family has put substantial efforts into new landscaping, so that we held our Soirée in two different sections of the garden to feature the exceptional beauty surrounding us.

Final totals will not be completed for another week or so, but so far we have brought in over $53,000 net to support the residents of Hillside House and our programs and services that help provide them with rewarding, healthy lives. We were delighted to welcome new friends to our community of support and hope this will help us continue to support our residents long into the future. Thank you so much to all who helped make this a truly special day and for your support of the residents of Hillside House. 

A Better Plan for Our Future                    

Most of you know that Hillside House has been working to ensure our future by creating our Community Plan for  over a decade. The Community Plan spells out a project to develop the 23 acres, where our current facility sits, to create a thriving, mixed abilities neighborhood. The Plan was developed in response to several critical needs:

• To provide contemporary housing that meets changes in state standards and provides a better home for our residents

• To provide more integration into the community and more privacy and personal space for our residents 

• To help provide financial stability for Hillside House in the future, to better weather changes in state and federal budgets and to improve our programs and services.

What you may not know is that the structure of the Community Plan has recently been revised in some significant ways to better meet our own needs, the needs of our neighbors and the greater Santa Barbara Community. Here's a quick overview of these changes. We invite you to learn more by coming to a Hillside House informational meeting. Further details will be posted on our website soon.

A Decade of Thoughtful & Careful Planning

We have listened to our neighbors and the Santa Barbara community to create a revised plan that meets our needs and addresses the needs of the community. Therefore we have revised the plan in mutually beneficial ways:

• 40% Smaller:  We've reduced the number of buildings, created more open-space, landscaping,
  and onsite parking.
• All Rental Project: We've created a project that serves only rental tenants, filling a decades
  -old need in our community.

Front of New House

Meeting the Needs of Our Residents & Our Community

Hillside House desperately needs to create new housing for our residents. Our existing institutional facility is outdated and deteriorating. Likewise, the Santa Barbara community needs affordable rental housing. Our new Plan includes: 

• 10 six-bed units for Hillside House residents: Specifically-designed for their needs.
• 111 Rental Units: 67 moderately-priced rental units and 44 low-priced units for working families, seniors, and others with special needs.

An Integrated Neighborhood & Desirable Place to Live

We've created a project on our 23-acre site that takes advantage of the natural setting and offers amenities for our residents and future tenants alike, a place that better integrates our residents into the community and is close to the services they require to live the fullest of lives, a place of natural beauty and affordability that will be a desirable place to live for all.

• 77% Open-Space:  Natural undisturbed land, attractive landscaping, inviting common areas, public trails, restored Arroyo Burro Creek
• Hillside House Facilities: Activity Center, 24-hour health care, administrative building 
• Tenant Amenities:  Community pool, shared common areas, gardens, ample parking

Financially Feasible & Beneficial

This proposal represents the wisest and best use of the assets Hillside House has had for over six decades.  Owning our land allows us to finance the project without a for-profit developer and the income from the rental units satisfies the needs of a lender to fund the building the project. The future income, once the project is paid off, will allow Hillside House to invest in programs that will benefit people with developmental disabilities for generations to come.

• Maintain full ownership of Hillside House's assets and land
• No third party developer or ownership of the property
• Continued future income for the benefit of our residents

How You Can Be Involved   

We are excited about our new, improved Plan and invite you to support us in moving forward to a better future for Hillside House and our residents.    

Here are some ways you can do that now:

• Attend an informational meeting at Hillside House about the project on one of the following dates. (There will be no fundraising at the meeting):

Thursday, June 27 at noon

Wednesday, July 10 at noon 

Tuesday, August 6 at noon 

• Attend a public hearing as a supporter
• Write a letter of support (we provide sample text)
• Write a letter to the editor (we provide sample text)
• Be an advocate for the project with community organizations

Please let us know now if you'd be willing to participate in one of the above ways. Contact Curt Lauber at clauber@hillsidehousesb.org or (805) 687-0788 ext. 15. 

After months of piecing and sewing, the Coastal Quilters Guild delivered 118 handmade quilts to Hillside House; each resident received two quilts. Delivering the quilts were members of the Community Quilts Committee, Carol Hart, Edalee Keehn, Barbara MacCallum, and Nancy Miller.  

Hillside House resident Patty said delightedly, "My favorite colors are burgundy and white, and I was able to get one with those colors." Another resident, Joanne, exclaimed, "I think they're going to look great on our beds!" Gail Metzger, Client Services Director, said, "We are very grateful to the Coastal Quilters for their kindness. Having homemade quilts helps make Hillside House more homey and beautiful and gives our residents something special to cherish as their own. The residents responded really positively to the variety of patterns and colors and had strong preferences about which quilts they wanted. Thankfully, everyone seemed to get quilts they really like, and the residents very much appreciated this gift."

The Community Quilts Committee oversees the making of quilts for charities in the Santa Barbara area, as part of the Coastal Quilters Guild's overall mission. Started by Marty Frolli in 1988, the Coastal Quilters Guild has over 270 members, meets monthly and has made quilted items for Food from the Heart,