Alan Irwin’s Blog

I’ve been involved with the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center since 1985, serving on the Board of Directors, President of the Board, volunteer at fundraising events, computer nerd, and donor. Over those years, the agency has been at several locations, but for most of my active years it was at 111 North Milpas Street. It’s a lovely house, but it’s also old with rats and plumbing problems, and the landlords were a pain-in-the-ass to deal with. I know that it was becoming more and more uncomfortable over the years, and quite a bit of board time was spent trying to find a new, better location.

Thursday evening they had an open house at their new location. It’s a big space, consisting of the lower floor of a two story building on Canon Perdido Street. It looks great inside. They really spent a lot of time brightening up the interior. It doesn’t have a lot of windows or views outside, but they have the interior set up with lots of lights and light colors. And the two rooms with windows are the reception area and the training space, so your typically entry into the center is very welcoming and uplifting. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of it, yet. I may add one, later.

A lot of people attended the opening, including the local gaggle of politicos. The agency is doing quite well, and it serves as a testiment to the hard work and smart decisions made by the board, staff, and volunteers. Great job!