Video by: Jued Martinez

Video by: Robert Klinger

In the crowd were a handful of ex-News-Press employees including Barney Brantingham, Melinda Burns, John Zant, Starshine Roshell, Sarah Sinclair, Barry Punzal, Andrea Huebner, Bob Klinger and yours truly.

Also in attendance were a few current News-Pressers Scott Steepleton, Don Katich, Marilyn McMahon and Karna Hughes. No revelent story on the News-Press website today though, don’t know if there was even a Brief in the paper – one would have to read it to be sure.  Hmmm, perhaps they were just looking. But, knowing the News-Press – it just may be in Mondays’ Edition. let me know if you Read it.

It was a capacity crowd for the evening, close to about 200 people .  After the Discussion Scott Steepleton of the S.B. News-Press walked out, foregoing the public question session. Missing the statement of David Pritchett who said that even though he refused to do a face-to-face interview with the News-Press, they incorrectly quoted material from his website and stated that the information was from his site. [ http://www.davidpritchett.org/ ]

Here is Susan Paternos’ (director of the journalism program at Chapman University) talk in its entirety.

She speaks of her News-Press Lawsuit and about the future of Newspapres in general along with other things of interest regarding journalism.

Atttended by: Jerry Roberts, former San Francisco Chronicle managing editor and former Santa Barbara News-Press editor and publisher; Nick Welsh, editor and reporter for the Santa Barbara Independent; James Rainey, media columnist for the Los Angeles Times; and Dick Flacks, UC Santa Barbara professor emeritus of sociology, radio host and community activist.

I Took a few Photographs as well just to show the size of the crowd. Additional Pphotographs provided by Robert Klinger, are available at reproduction sizes: Contact here using the comment form or the Contact page if interested. (edit: 06-20-2009 8:36p.m. -jm).

At Casa Esperanza in Santa Barbara their Goal is to provide Street Outreach workers comb the streets of Santa Barbara every day, building relationships that allow the homeless to seek shelter for the first time.

Through the Day center provide Food, clothing, medical care, job development, social services, life coaching, substance abuse recovery, and other vital services are offered to assist our members/clients into permanent housing.

There’s also the Transitional Shelter program where Opportunities are provided for those who are willing and capable of achieving self-sufficiency.

Also the Winter shelter where Two hundred beds are available from December 1 to March 31; includes breakfast, dinner, hygiene services (showers, laundry) and medical support.

Here’s a video from Casa Esperanza:

The Community Kitchen at Casa Esperanza Homeless Shelter

Being a community kitchen means having a Wish List of items to help them out in their daily volunteering, here’s a list of those items:

• Serving Spoons, Tongs, Ladels, Pie Servers
• Knives – Chef Knives – all sizes and types
• Spatulas
• Small pans
• Floor Mats
• Hotel pans – “Size 400”
• Blenders
• Microwave
• Utility Cart
• Towels-we will take used ones
• Pretty trays for catering events
• Salt & Pepper Shakers and Sugar Shakers
• Tires for our Van
• Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter & Jelly
• Cereal
• Paper Plates& bowls, plastic forks & spoons
• Coffee
• Napkins, Paper Towels & Latex Gloves
• Can Goods
• Pancake Mix
• Fruit (all kinds)
• Juice (all kinds)

Thank you for your support and generousity – Susan M. Krisher, Kitchen Program Director

Volunteers – We need people who can help us prep and serve the meals that are offered. You don’t need to have a lot of skill or be a gourmet chef – what is required is a big heart and love for your fellow human beings. Volunteers are urgently needed to help prep and serve food on Saturday’s and Sundays from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM. If you would like to help – please call Susan at: (805) 884.8481.

You can also Donate Goods – It takes a lot of food to feed so many. We can always use donations of food from suppliers, restaurants, and others in the food industry. To make a donation of goods, please call: (804) 884.8481. View our current “Wish List” of items we need. Click Here.

Or you can Make A Contribution – Your dollars enable Casa Esperanza to buy the items needed to keep the Community Kitchen open. Please make a gift today to support these efforts.