Spotlight

After being away for more than 10 years, Maria Fabula made her way back home to the Central Coast by joining the local Boys and Girls Club team as its new chief executive officer.  “There’s nowhere quite similar in the world to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. We’ve always been drawn to this area,” […]

Lompoc Village Library Manager Sierra Foster started a seed library at her branch after noticing several residents checking out gardening and landscaping books.  “Since we are in a small town, there isn’t a lot of things to do, so I wanted to give people some hobbies to do,” Foster said. “I wanted to support those […]

Over the past 12 years, Santa Barbara County riding group Rancheros Visitadores, in partnership with Wrangler, has donated more than $1.5 million to the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara to support local cancer research and care programs.  The Rancheros Visitadores was started in the Santa Ynez Valley in the 1930s by local ranch owners to […]

Santa Maria and Lompoc families looking for free summer programs for their kids can sign up for the Junior Giants coed baseball league.  The eight-week program starts in mid-June for children ages 5 to 13—with teams divided by age. The Santa Maria program registration ends April 30 with practices starting on June 6. The Lompoc […]

Going into the medical field, Nickie Brayton knew she wanted to work with infants and their families. As a respiratory therapist for Marian Regional Medical Center, she began working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) three years ago where she and her team help the youngest patients in the hospital.  “It’s been a great […]

Guadalupe resident Arnulfo Navarro III was always drawn to fashion as a form of personal expression.  “That’s where I think I’m breaking through the most. I’m showing up as myself and people are taking that at face value,” he said. “I’m just trying to enjoy life and enjoy my everyday life, and … I’m trying […]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lompoc Unified School District has been expanding its social-emotional learning program to help students navigate heightened anxiety and other mental health-related issues as they returned to in-person learning.  “We saw that the needs were really big; the district was awesome in supporting us by giving us more roles […]

To help Santa Barbara County residents file their taxes and get tax credits they’re eligible for, United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County teams up each year with Cal Poly and Allan Hancock College to host free, in-person tax filing.  The program launched about 18 years ago with United Way helping file taxes in Lompoc, […]

Rather than seeing pasta sauce, overnight oats, or untouched salad fixings go to waste, Marian Regional Medical Center, in partnership with Replate, will reallocate unused food to community organizations that serve individuals facing food insecurity, Marian Food Services Director Kevin Leitner told the Sun.  “This really was initiated by a [California] food recovery bill … […]

The Santa Maria Family Kite Festival is one of Jenn Malone’s favorite days of the year.  “There’s something about hundreds of kites in the air flying harmoniously at the same time. It’s a miracle they don’t get tangled, but I love the joy these kids are expressing [during] their fun and learning,” said Malone, the […]

Nancy Stearns was a longtime volunteer with NatureTrack, a K-12 program that helps kids experience the outdoors through field trips and accessibility programming, NatureTrack Founder Sue Eisaguirre told the Sun.  “She was a dedicated volunteer; she loved being out there with the kids and just getting them to use all of their senses. She would […]

 A man with dementia was reunited with his family after having been missing for an entire day, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.  “If you’ve had someone who’s gone missing or prone to confusion or wandering because of some sort of medical condition, [Project Lifesaver] would be a good thing to consider,” Sheriff’s […]