4 Santa Barbara Nonprofits That Are Quietly Changing Thousands of Lives

Santa Barbara is home to many restaurants, beaches, shopping centers, and places to have a night out with your friends. But the county is also a place where hundreds of nonprofit organizations are based and are doing charitable work to give back to their communities.

Some nonprofits are well-known and have been recognized by the state of California itself. Others, meanwhile, are doing great work that has flown under the radar.

From groups that give disabled individuals another chance at a fulfilling life to animal rescues that have taken strays that would’ve otherwise died young or been euthanized, here are four nonprofits in Santa Barbara contributing to their community.

4. Hinchee Homes

In 1965, Lessie Nixon Schontzle gave birth to her daughter Jessica. Shortly after, Schontzle would find out her beloved child had Down syndrome, epilepsy, and other challenges.

Raising a child with Down syndrome, or any disability, really, looked different in the 1960s. There was not a lot of awareness in this area, and where there was, stigma played a starring role in its creation. Many assumptions made about disabled people at the time would be found to be wrong decades later—even those made by professionals.

But hope was not lost. Schontzle and Jessica would form a community around themselves. And it is with the help of this community that Schontzle established the Jessie Hopkins Hinchee Foundation, or Hinchee Homes, in 1981.

Hinchee Homes provides residential care for adults with intellectual disabilities. The center has two homes on site.

For many years, Hinchee Homes was the only available group home for those with disabilities that wasn’t hours away.

It was at Hinchee homes where Jessica lived the rest of her life, living minutes away from her devoted mother rather than hours. And in the 45 years since its inception, the nonprofit has helped hundreds of other families to keep their loved ones close to them as well.

3. Heal the Ocean 

Heal The Ocean started with a news article.

In the late 1990s, local beaches in Santa Barbara were closing due to increasing ocean pollution. In response to this, journalist Hillary Hauser published an article in the Santa Barbara News-Press on August 9, 1998, called “Another Day at the Beach?”

In the piece, Hauser brought awareness to the issue of local water quality regulators neglecting their jobs and explored how their inaction contributed to ocean pollution and the closure of many beaches.

The article spread rapidly among residents, resulting in a protest at the Santa Barbara County administration building on August 27, 1998.

Hauser’s article and the subsequent outcry caught the attention of researchers and scientists locally and across the nation, and Heal the Ocean was formed.

The nonprofit works to promote a cleaner environment by reducing and preventing ocean pollution. They do this by conducting substantial scientific research and, on occasion, organizing groups to recycle and clean dumped trash out of the ocean and off the land.

The nonprofit was the first American environmental organization to use DNA testing on the environment to try to discover the origins of contamination. Additionally, Heal the Ocean undertook a 15-year project, which resulted in the removal of all septic systems in a 7-mile radius from Santa Barbara’s South Coast.

This only scratches the surface of what the nonprofit has achieved.

“HTO has successfully worked to upgrade wastewater treatment plants; to initiate recycled water studies and plans; to initiate groundwater studies, with information going into the State Geotracker system; and to inaugurate Styrofoam recycling/repurposing, together with MarBorg Industries Santa Barbara,” a statement on their website read.

For their work, in 2015, Heal the Ocean won a certificate of recognition from state assemblywoman Hannah Beth Jackson.

The nonprofit has gone on to win several awards since.

2. ResQcats 

As the name implies, ResQcats is a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating abandoned kittens and cats with the intention of finding them loving homes. The team even makes sure they receive the proper medical care beforehand, making the process easier for prospective adopters.

Each saved animal receives a routine veterinary exam, leukemia and FIV virus tests, first upper respiratory vaccination, fecal exam, worming medication, and spay or neuter surgery.

The kitties each receive a microchip as well, so none can be lost without a trace ever again.

The organization has a sanctuary where locals and visitors can visit the adoptable cats.

The nonprofit, which will celebrate 30 years of running in 2027, has saved and found homes for thousands of feline friends since its opening.

But whether it’s due to advanced illness, old age, disabilities, or other circumstances, some rescued kitties are unfortunately not adoptable. Yet founder Jeffyne Telson cares just as much about giving these kitties a safe, comfortable home as she does about adoptable cats.

“If they are too sick, too feral, too shy, too old…or just too anything, they stay [at the sanctuary],” a quote from Telson reads on ResQcats’ website.

Telson and her team have nursed hundreds of sick or injured cats back to health throughout the years. Many of these rehabilitated cats could even be adopted out.

But even with a great number of interested adopters, ResQcats takes the time to diligently vet the background and lifestyle of each one to make sure the cats are going to suitable homes.

Additionally, every person who fills out an adoption application must agree that the cat will be an indoor-only cat, that they’ll provide medical care for the entire life of the pet, and that the kitty will never be declawed, which has been classified as “cruel and inhumane” by experts.  

1. Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation

One day in the early 2000s, Nikki Katz sat with a mother whose three-year-old son had both Ewing sarcoma and brain tumors. The mother broke down in tears and confessed to Katz the difficulties she and her family were facing.

The mother was suddenly saddled with medical bills in the thousands; meanwhile, she couldn’t work a steady job as she was caring for her son.

This was alongside the unimaginable difficulties she was facing merely due to the fact that her toddler had cancer, and she didn’t even know if he would survive. And if he did, would he relapse? Would he have lifelong side effects? There were so many questions, and no resources to find answers.

This conversation prompted Katz to found the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. The nonprofit provides emotional, financial, and informational support to families in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties who have children battling cancer.