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F R I DAY, M AY 21, 2 0 21
Police’s friendly faces Community liaison officers maintain contact with residents, organizations
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK
CommUnify to suspend Senior Nutrition Program
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By MADISON HIRNEISEN
Two Santa Barbara Police officers are on a mission to change the community’s perspective on policing. As part of the department’s broader philosophy of “community policing” — when police and communities work together to address crime and disorder — two new officer positions were created, specifically to focus on fostering relationships between the department and community organizations. Officers Heather Clark and Adrian Gutierrez hold the community liaison positions, and they’re focusing on crime and disorder issues that impact local youth. “It is clear, after meeting with a number of organizations in the city, that (this position) was much needed,” Officer Clark told the News-Press. Officer Gutierrez told the NewsPress that it’s difficult to pinpoint what he and his fellow community liaison officer do on a day-today basis, because every day is different. Officers Gutierrez and Clark might hang out on Santa Barbara’s Eastside to address any disturbances. Or they might go near Franklin Elementary School and do perimeter checks at the parks to ensure adult residents aren’t bothering students. The officers both attend the weekly Mobile Food Pantry at the Franklin Neighborhood Center to make themselves available for questions and concerns community members may have, with conversations in both English and Spanish. While helping at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County program, they’re approached often with citizens’ questions about traffic laws, parking issues or how to file a police report. “Every section of the city has its different issues, or just people to meet, so it’s hard to say day-today how it’s going to be. But for the most part, it’s community contact and resident contact as much as we can,” Officer Gutierrez said. In addition, the liaisons have Please see COPS on A4
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CommUnify will relinquish its Senior Nutrition Program for local residents in July due to a lack of funding. The Senior Nutrition Program began 47 years ago and serves about 720 seniors between Carpinteria and Guadalupe every day. During April alone, the program provided 17,000 meals. The program has suffered from significant funding gaps in the past decade, receiving only about 40% to 45% of the funding needed to provide their services. For years, the organization absorbed the outstanding costs by tapping into their reserve, but this is no longer sustainable, CommUnify CEO Patricia Keelean told the News-Press. This financial strain is forcing the local nonprofit to hand over the nutrition program to the Area Agency on Aging, which is now responsible for finding a replacement provider to keep the program alive. CommUnify will officially suspend the program July 1. “After 47 years, it’s a very difficult, very painful decision,” Ms. Keelean said. She later added, “We would never let go of this program if we didn’t have these funding challenges.” Despite the impending program suspension, Ms. Keelean is hopeful that if local officials and community members provide funding, the program could remain under CommUnify’s purview. In order for this to happen, Ms. Keelean said between $600,000 and $700,000 in permanent funding is needed.
By DAVE MASON It’s a big weekend for the big screen in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. After a year-plus closure, the Arlington Theatre reopens today on upper State Street with a celebration of the movie palace’s 90th anniversary. Today, Saturday and Sunday, you have a reason to phone home; you can watch “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.” Other 1980s sci-fi classics, today through Sunday, are “Ghostbusters” and “Blade Runner: The Final Cut.” Check metrotheatres.com for each day’s times. All movies cost $5 and come with free popcorn. What’s more, there’s free music with the theater’s iconic organ at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. No ticket is
COURTESY PHOTO
needed, and the Santa Barbara Theatre Organ Society concert’s bound to strike a chord with fans. For more information, go to metrotheatres.com. Up north, Regal Edwards Santa Maria is reopening at 1521 S. Bradley Road. The city’s other Regal Edwards theater (officially Regal Edwards Santa Maria & RPX) reopened earlier this month inside the Town Center mall and is known for its comfortable seats. (The RPX auditorium features a giant screen similar to an IMAX screen.) Viewers at Regal Edwards Santa Maria, the Bradley Road theater without the RPX screen, can watch “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Judas and The Black Messiah,” “Tom & Jerry” and other movies. Upcoming films include the Disney movie “Cruella,” “F9” and “A Quiet Place Part II.”
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Reopening plans include health and safety measures that comply with CinemaSafe protocol, according to a news release. For more information, go to regmovies.com/theatre/edwardssanta-maria. Back in Santa Barbara, Fiesta Five and Metro 4 theaters have been opened. In Goleta, Camino Real and Fairview Theatre are open. Still closed are Santa Barbara theaters Hitchcock Cinema & Public House, known for its “art house” films (including some foreign titles), and Paseo Nuevo, where commercial and independent movies have screened. All Santa Barbara and Goleta theaters are operated by Metro Theatres (metrotheatres.com), which offers a free rewards
program. Indoor movie theaters everywhere are requiring masks except when eating or drinking inside an auditorium. Drive-in theaters, meanwhile, continue to show movies. For information about Hi-Way Drive-in in Santa Maria, go to playingtoday.com. The same website announces that two indoor theaters — Plaza Park Theaters in Buellton and Movies Lompoc — will reopen soon. (The Buellton theater offers an intimate experience with small auditoriums but big screens.) For details about Goleta’s outdoor theater, the often packed West Wind Drive-in, go to www. westwinddi.com. Roll credits! email: dmason@newspress.com
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is unable to hold its annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive due to the pandemic, so it’s asking for the community’s help to fill a gap of about 80,000 pounds of donated food. To address the need, the Foodbank is holding its bi-annual Fill the Foodbank! drive on Saturday. But this year, it is a drivethrough food and cookware drive. “One of my colleagues brought it to my attention that we have quite a few clients who don’t even have the most basic cooking utensils or cooking tools to actually prepare the food we’re providing them. So we thought that this was a great opportunity to tie it in with Fill the Foodbank! and help make sure that, not only are we providing our clients with the food to nourish them, but also the tools to nourish them,” Jordan Jenkins, the food drive’s team leader, told the News-Press. The cookware drive aims to
help those community members who have recently become homeless or are in temporary or transitional housing, potentially as a result of the pandemic. Acceptable cookware items must be clean, new or gently used, and include rice cookers, toaster ovens, pressure cookers, crock pots, electric kettles, can openers, hot plates and more. Microwaves will not be accepted. In addition, the Foodbank is experiencing an extreme shortage of non-perishable food items, in particular nut butters, whole grain cereals and pasta, canned tomatoes and sauce, canned protein and tuna. But the Foodbank is accepting all kinds of non-perishable food items. Ms. Jenkins added that the Foodbank began serving elderly populations during the pandemic, and many of them requested Ensure nutritional shakes. The goal of the Fill the Foodbank! drive is to receive 20,000 pounds of donated food. “It’s no news to anybody that Please see FOOD BANK on A4
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Foodbank to hold foodand cookware drive
Community Liaison Officer Heather Clark helps at a Foodbank of Santa Barbara County pantry as part of her duties to maintain relationships between the Santa Barbara Police Department and the community.
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However, this would still leave the organization forced to fundraise between $400,000 and $500,000 annually just to break even. While community donations would help, Ms. Keelean said she believes a solution would require the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to allocate funds on a permanent basis to sustain the program. Currently, most of the program’s funding comes from federal Older Americans Act dollars allocated by the Area Agency on Aging. For many of the seniors enrolled in the program, the suspension is bringing a lot of anxiety, Ms. Keelean said. Prior to the pandemic,
Fill the Foodbank!
Lights! Camera! Action’s back in theaters NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
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“After 47 years, it’s a very difficult, very painful decision,” CommUnify CEO Patricia Keelean told the News-Press. The organization is suspending its Senior Nutrition Program this summer due to a lack of funding.
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