Village Beat

Kelly has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond. She is also a licensed realtor with Berkshire

Hathaway HomeServices, and is a member of Montecito and Santa Barbara’s top real estate team, Calcagno & Hamilton.

Cash Mob Exceeds Expectations

It was the little idea that could: born out of a mid-April brainstorming session – via Zoom – with Montecito business owners, stakeholders, and MJ CEO Gwyn Lurie and COO Tim Buckley. The overarching question from all: “What can we do?” Do to survive, do to help, do to show some love to the local businesses that make Montecito, Montecito?

Piggybacking on an idea that came to fruition following the 1/9 debris flow, the “Cash Mob,” originally orchestrated by local mortgage broker Jeff Bochsler and then-executive director of the Coast Village Association Sharon Byrne, an idea was had to hold another “Cash Mob,” but this time, for obvious reasons, make it virtual. Immediately a large team of people went to work to make it happen, including Lurie and Buckley, and reps from the Coast Village Association: board president

Clare Swan

Bob Ludwick, board administrator Jason Copus, social media guru Rachel Rock, and board members Kevin Frank, and myself; Montecito

Association executive director Sharon Byrne; and upper village mainstay Sandy Stahl. A quick partnership was born with the 93108Fund founder Ron Blitzer, who assembled his own team of people to build the web infrastructure, most notably Eric DelaBarre, who put in countless hours to perfect the site. Innumerable details – legal, logistical, and more – had to be ironed out before launching on May Day, Maison K

May 1. We enlisted multiple media outlets to help us get the word out, hoping that the virtual event, which was originally planned for just three days, would be a success.

The morning of May 1, we all sat by our computers with bated breath, waiting for that first sale. Click by click the sales came in, from $50, to

VILLAGE BEAT Page 484

Community Health is Our Commitment

• In-clinic appointments as needed • Urgent Care for unplanned medical conditions • Telehealth visits for primary and specialty care

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Please call (805) 681-7500, or visit telehealth.sansumclinic.org, and we can help you determine if a Telehealth visit is medically appropriate for you. Text #COVID to (805) 681-7500 for immediate information about COVID-19 symptoms, Telehealth appointments, and more.