On October 5, about 335 enthusiastic supporters of the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission (SBRM) gathered on the picturesque grounds of Rancho Dos Pueblos in western Goleta for its annual Bayou fundraiser, this year a race car-themed Bayou 500.
During the reception, guests in black-and-white checkered attire mingled, perused some of the 140 silent auction items, tried model car racing around the large swimming pool, checked out the fancy real cars lining the entrance, and enjoyed music by the Idiomatiques. The event netted about $350,000 for the SBRM’s Residential Treatment Program and its homeless services.
Guests were seated for dinner on the expansive lawn of the estate, which is reminiscent of a Southern plantation, hence the Bayou name. From a stage framed with black-and-white checkered flags, President Rolf Geyling welcomed guests. He stressed how the homeless are human beings who are suffering and that 65 to 70 percent of clients at a shelter have a mental illness. Over the past two years, the average age of clients at the SBRM’s shelter was 59 years old. Last summer, the Rescue Mission sheltered 13 clients in their seventies and a few weeks ago, it had three women in their eighties.