Cate Students Spread Servons and Holiday Spirit with Food Drive

December 10, 2021

Just before Fall Break, Ellie Tunnell ’23 and a group of Cate students organized a Food Drive in Carpinteria to assist local nonprofit organizations in supporting the kitchenless during the holiday season. 

Through her work with Cate’s Food Committee, Ellie had a conversation with Siena Hooper from Santa Barbara Food Rescue concerning local nonprofits and their need for more resources. Not long after, the idea to run a food drive was born.

“I’m really interested in food insecurity myself, and I have been working with Santa Barbara Food Rescue to get all of our food waste at Cate to local nonprofit organizations,” Ellie said. “It is something that I have been interested in for a while, but I have never run a food drive before.”

Siena put Ellie into contact with Tom Spadoro, the Director of Genuine Concern for Others, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Santa Barbara that aims to assure people’s health, safety, and general welfare through a focus on self-sufficiency and relief for the disadvantaged. Throughout the pandemic, Genuine Concern for Others, Inc. has assembled snack packs with non-perishable items to deliver to those in need.

Spadaro, who has decades of experience running food drives in the area, provided lists of food that would be needed and helped spread the word about the drive beyond the Cate community.

“Big credit to Ellie; she did all of the work. I was just able to help facilitate,” Spadoro said. “I’m very thankful that she and the School would look at this need and try to help meet it. It’s very commendable.”

After ironing out the details, Ellie, along with Lylie Bechtel ’23, Jengus Ercil ’23, and Paige Rawiszer ’22, helped spearhead the efforts to put on the drive. Lylie worked closely with the Albertsons in Casitas Plaza to secure the location, Jengus worked up flyers to advertise to the Cate community, and as a Public Service Night head and senior leader, Paige helped to organize the process. 

“We were down there [at Casitas Plaza] for four hours, tracking down everyone that came into Albertsons,” Ellie said. “We honestly had more rejections, but it was just a great experience learning to market and catch people’s attention, and overall it was very successful.”

Successful only begins to describe it as the drive generated nearly 400 pounds of food that benefitted both Genuine Concern for Others, Inc. and the Santa Barbara Food Bank and countless kitchenless individuals as a result. 

“It’s a rewarding feeling collecting so much food and seeing all of the pieces come together,” Ellie said. “It took a lot of effort, but it was so doable. Everyone in the community wants to help out, and all of the people we connected with were so excited about students getting involved. It was great that it was so successful in the end, and now we have the experience to do more in the future.”

Will Holmes, Cate’s Director of Community Engagement, helped to weigh and deliver the food, but even he attested that the students ran the show. 

“The last time we ran a food drive, it was a Cate food drive, but this time the students took the initiative, and it was completely student-led,” Holmes said. “Because of the PR that Ellie and other students did, we had so much participation from the community. Sometimes things like this happen, and they become traditions.”

Ellie says she already has plans to run another food drive in the spring and continue helping with local nonprofits. 

“We’re already in the process of figuring out how we can get more involved with Genuine Concern for Others, Inc. after this,” Ellie said. “I think he [Tom Spadoro] thought it was going to be on a much smaller scale, so he was super excited with the result. I think it could be a great opportunity in the future to get more Cate students and other volunteers involved.”

No time like the holidays to spread Servons.

Spreading Servons in the Community

• Cate School is once again sponsoring local families in Carpinteria for its annual Holiday Cheer program. The Cate community is given a wish list from each family and shares this information with the community for donations. The Cate varsity basketball programs also help to collect and deliver the donations. 
• Lylie Bechtel ’23 and Tatiana von Bothmer ’23 organized a Clothing Swap at Cate, offering students a chance to swap, exchange, or donate clothes. In the end, half-a-dozen large bags of clothes were donated to the Transition House of Santa Barbara. 
• On Saturday, Dec. 4, many Cate students volunteered their time at Girls Inc. of Carpinteria, assisting with painting, landscaping, and organizing for Girls Inc.’s Holiday Cheer program.