A Taste of Santa Cruz

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A Taste of Santa Cruz Raises $30,000 To Help Fund Housing Grants

Moving the annual “A Taste of Santa Cruz” to October this year provided guests with more room to enjoy food, wine, networking and shopping at the auction. With over 300 guests in attendance, this year’s event, held on October 16th at the MAH, raised more funds than last year for the Santa Cruz County Realtors Housing Foundation closing cost assistance program.

“People loved being outside, being warm, and having more space.” ATOSC volunteer Connie Landes, Sereno Group, said. “We were very happy with the new live auction opportunity of asking the guests to donate through a “fund a need” program. We are very fortunate to have generous community members who helped us surpass our fundraising goals.”

New restaurants came on board this year to support the annual event fundraiser, now in its 14th year and the raw oyster bar was a highlight of the event.

“Each year we work on making the event better for the guests and we had so many compliments from the attendees that they had a fantastic time and enjoyed the wonderful food and wine being served and had more room to enjoy the event overall.” David DeTeso, USBank and Chair of the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors Housing Foundation stated. “It is VERY rewarding to know all the work that our volunteers put into the event, along with the sponsor and restaurant support, helped us raise $30,000! We can not thank everyone enough for their time, dedication and energy.”

If you missed the Taste of Santa Cruz this year, mark your calendar for next October when we will be holding our 15th annual event.

Thank you to our generous sponsors for helping us make the event possible:

ATRIUM SPONSORS:
Bailey Properties
Bay Federal Credit Union
Chase Bank
Century 21 M&M Associates
Coldwell Banker
David Lyng Real Estate
Santa Cruz Lending
Stearns Lending
Opes Advisors
US Bank
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Xchange Solutions

GALLERY SPONSORS:

Band of the West BNP Paribas
Intero Real Estate Services
Karma Mortgage Solutions
Seabright Mortgage Company
The Madani Team
TIAA Bank
Vista Properties

In Kind Sponsors:
Blue Adobe Mortgage
Santa Cruz Sentinel

And HUGE KUDOS to our volunteers who donated their time to ensure not only that the event was a success, but that everyone had a really good time!
BIG THANKS especially to the planning committee who work for five months to make A Taste of Santa Cruz come together each year.

ATOSC Planning committee:
David Deteso
Connie Landes
Suzanne Schmidt
MJ Stearns
Inez Pandolfi
Shelly Vomvolakis
Selesa Webster
Will Allanson
Jerry Starr

Event Volunteers
Lela Willet
John Nink
Kim Havbo
Tamar Frey
Michelle Pappas
Jeff McCormac
Sherri Barcus
Loren Morse
Michelle Pappas
Kristie Goes
Brooke Squyres
Linda Pawlik
Liz Seeley
Spencer Hayes
Candie Noel
Kathy DeTeso
Kristie Goes
Jacob Willett
Linda Pawlik
Liz Seeley
Dwayne Dawson
Sandy Kaplan
Janet Vanzanen
Karen Schenk
Lori Doan
Lori Lester
Alex and Caroline

The Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS® Housing Foundation was established in 2003, to bridge the gap to homeownership in Santa Cruz County. The mission of the Housing Foundation is to assist residents in our community realize the dream of homeownership by providing education, financial programs, and by supporting organizations who embrace our goals. Visit us at www.sccarhf.org or call for information (831) 464-2000.

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Six Reasons You Should Buy Your ATOSC Ticket Today!

  1. Oysters. Yes, a raw oyster bar on the third floor and you can experience the luminescent oyster vodka shots to go with.
  2. 20 local restaurants are preparing today to serve you their best cuisine tomorrow at 5 pm. All you can enjoy.
  3. Wine lovers rejoice– vintners from 9 local wineries are picking out their favorite appellations today to serve you.
  4. The weather-it will be 75 degrees tomorrow and we have outside space to soak in all that fall warmth! We moved the event to October to avoid the rain and cold and we got our wish! Come enjoy the sunset from the third floor or share the joy of it all with your fellow attendees.
  5. Go to Hawaii. Or Maine or Scottsdale. Travel like a rock star with our live auction gifts and shop early for the holidays with dozens of valuable silent auction gifts.
  6. Support the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors Housing Foundation as we give the gift of homeownership to first time buyers who may be your children’s teacher, your mother’s nurse, your mechanic…all the people who make up the society we enjoy so much in our County.

We are absorbing the fees for your Eventbrite ticket today. Go ahead. Buy them now. See you there!

Tickets at: www.ATOSC.com

Here is a sampling of our participating restaurants, wineries and breweries: 

5 Star Catering

Aldo’s

Alfaro Family Vineyard

Back Nine Bar & Grill

Bargetto Winery

burger.

Buttercup Cakes

Casa Nostra

DeVincenzi Cellars

East Cliff Brewing Co.

East Side Eatery

Gordo Gustavo’s

H & H Fresh Fish Co.

Hula’s

Jerk House

Kissed by An Angel Winery

Loma Prieta Winery

Marini’s Candies

McHenry Vineyard

Nothing Bundt Cakes

Percy’s Pies

Rosie McCann’s

Roudon Smith Winery

Shucked Raw Oyster Bar

Splash

Stockwell Cellars

The Turkey Boat

Vinocruz Wine Bar and Kitchen

Woodstock Pizza

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Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay Collaborates With A Taste of Santa Cruz To Help Local Residents Become Homeowners

When two local housing organizations team up to help renters become homeowners so they can live and thrive in Santa Cruz County, it’s a good thing, When they both partner to create a food and wine event focusing on local food, wine and craft beers to raise funds for housing grant programs, it is even better.

The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors Housing Foundation’s annual fundraiser, “A Taste of Santa Cruz” is being held on Thursday, November 9th from 5:30-9 pm at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Tickets are $45 in advance and $55 at the door. 17 local restaurants and 18 wineries and breweries will be bringing the taste of Santa Cruz to 450 guests this year, all to raise monies for the Closing Cost Grant programs which the Housing Foundation administers. To date, almost $400,000 has been raised from the “A Taste of Santa Cruz “ over the past 13 years to fund these grants so local renters can become homeowners. Many of the Foundation’s homeowners have also been helped by Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay.

“We hope that by including Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay in our event, that more people can learn about their new program to help seniors stay in their homes. This whole fundraiser is about helping our residents STAY in Santa Cruz County to keep our community vibrant through homeownership,” stated David DeTeso, SCCR Housing Foundation Chairperson.

"Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay is so pleased to be a sponsor participating in this event. Every home built by Habitat volunteers is a community building event. The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors Housing Foundation has been there all the way with down payment assistance grants for our first-time homebuyer families,” stated David Foster, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay.

The public is encouraged to visit the Habitat for Humanity booth to learn about their new “My House My Home” program, which is a partnership between senior homeowners, Habitat for Humanity, the City of Santa Cruz and Senior Network Services. The program goal is to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on the existing property of senior homeowners to provide additional income and adjustable living accommodations to help them “age In place.”

Tickets are on sale now at ATOSC.com. Each ticket comes with a commemorative glass, all-you-can-enjoy food, wine and beer, access to the art exhibitions, silent and live auctions and a chance to purchase wine to take home.

The Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS® Housing Foundation was established in 2003, to bridge the gap to homeownership in Santa Cruz County. The mission of the Housing Foundation is to assist residents in our community realize the dream of homeownership by providing education, financial programs, and by supporting organizations who
embrace our goals. Visit us at www.sccarhf.org.

Habitat For Humanity Monterey Bay serves Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties as an independent, locally operated affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat's mission is to build decent, affordable homes with volunteer labor in order to provide homeownership opportunities to qualified low-income families. For more information visit www.habitatmontereybay.org.