With its innovative programs focused on healthy eating, Foodbank Santa Barbara County is not your ordinary foodbank. So it was only fitting that it did not throw the ordinary fundraiser either. Its Table of Life Gala, held at Jim and Stephanie Sokolove’s picturesque Montecito estate, was a lovely, refined, and fun garden party.
About 250 guests mingled in the late afternoon on the terraces and poolside before adjourning to a lawn for a tasty alfresco dinner. Master of Ceremonies Geoff Green, who heads the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Foundation, welcomed the guests and shared his enthusiasm for this critically important nonprofit, noting that one in four residents in our county receives assistance from the Foodbank. At SBCC, more than 15 percent of the student body is food insecure, and SBCC is one of the 300 partners that work with the Foodbank, helping to provide the sustenance students need.
Angel Martinez, the recently retired CEO of Deckers Brands and a mayoral candidate, pointed to the tremendous wealth and availability of food in this county alongside many people who either don’t get enough food or get the wrong kind of food. He declared that the community has an obligation to ensure that food insecurity here is a thing of the past.