Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps joined us in our Community Legacy Garden to honor three longtime friends of St. Vincent’s

This September, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps joined us in our Community Legacy Garden to honor three longtime friends of St. Vincent’s: Claudia Lash, Pat Lupo, and Bill Cordero. At a private tree dedication ceremony, Supervisor Capps presented each honoree with a county proclamation, and Congressman Salud Carbajal’s office sent certificates of congressional recognition.

All three have given decades to our Family Strengthening Program, the county’s only 27-month transitional housing program designed for at-risk single mothers and their young children.

Bill’s ties to St. Vincent’s go back generations. His mother, Venita, was raised by the Daughters of Charity on our campus in the 1930s, and Bill has spent decades growing our Annual Charity Golf Classic, which celebrates its 25th year this October. Claudia and Pat co-founded our Fashion Show & Luncheon 16 years ago, and it has grown from a small gathering into one of Santa Barbara’s most anticipated events, now held at Rosewood Miramar Beach.

Together, these events help fund housing, job training, parenting support, childcare, and therapy for mothers rebuilding their lives. As one program graduate, reunited with her baby, told us: “You gave me a lifeline; you gave me my child back.”

Thank you, Claudia, Pat, and Bill, for showing up for our families year after year.