Past Events

Annual Benefit Dinner & Performances Two Shows, Four Great Nights - Supporting New Beginnings of Santa Barbara County October 23 - October 26, 2025 Laughter will take center stage this fall as New Beginnings brings acclaimed British comedy duo to Santa Barbara for two show-stopping...

Annual Fundraiser November 2nd, 2024 The Boys Next Doorby Tom GriffinNew Beginnings’ annual fundraisers are designed to educate and entertain our community around critical social issues and our key programs. For the 2024 year, our focus is on Mental Health and Permanent Supportive Housing. We are...

Safe Parking Program® 20th Anniversary Luncheon This special luncheon will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Safe Parking Program in Santa Barbara County. The event will honor Congressman Salud Carbajal and the Hon. Susan Rose for their commitment and dedication to ensuring the continuation of...

Annual Fundraiser October 28th, 2023: New Beginnings’ annual fundraisers are designed to educate and entertain our community around critical social issues and our key programs. For the 2023 year, our focus is on Veterans. We are proud to announce that on October 28th, 2023, we will host an evening...

The Honorable Susan Rose Educational Luncheon Series 2024 The Honorable Susan Rose Educational Luncheon Series will feature in-depth discussions regarding the social and human service issues most critical in our community in an open forum of questions and answers. Hosted at eateries and social...

September 24-26, 2022. We are pleased to announce that we will be holding our Annual Fundraiser this September with the British comedian Jonny Donahoe. Jonny Donahoe will perform his award-winning one-man show called Every Brilliant Thing . It is one of the funniest and heart-warming performances you will ever see!

2021. We held our annual fundraiser on September 30 outside in the beautiful patio garden at the Santa Barbara Club. The evening included a meet-and-greet, dinner, and a unique interview with Annabelle Gurwitch, a New York Times bestselling author, activist, and actress. We also held a free, online event for the community on October 7th, which featured an interview with Annabelle and Julie Bowen, a star in the wildly popular sitcom Modern Family.

June 19, 2021. New Beginnings staff and Board of Directors enjoyed an unforgettable night featuring guest vocalists performing favorites of Brian Wilson’s song list from Endless Summer, Pet Sounds, and more. The concert will benefit New Beginnings’ programs. Led by musical director Sal Leonardo and the best L.A. session musicians as the backing band. Featuring Brother Sal and The Devil May Care with Glen Phillips, Garrison Starr, Will Breman, Chris Pierce, Shane Alexander, Leslie Stevens, Todd OKeefe, Max Kasch, The Brambles, and more. The concert benefitted New Beginnings’ programs.

February 8, 2021. In partnership with the UCSB Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), New Beginnings Counseling Center held a clinical training on February 8 with Sherisa Dahlgren, LMFT. The training was called “Secondary Trauma Stress: Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout in the Mental Health Setting”. The purpose was to help mental health and social work professionals in our community learn strategies for coping with secondary traumatic stress.

2022. We are pleased to begin again offering to our community our Educational Luncheon Series this year on a quarterly basis. We will be holding luncheons in person outside on a quarterly basis.

October 22, 2020 In keeping with our tradition to educate our community through the arts, we held our annual fundraiser at the West Wind Drive-In and showed the comedy-drama film The Fisher King. The evening was a very special night under the stars, and we were grateful we could all come together to enjoy this film and celebrate our work!

Mar 7, 2020 New Beginnings initiated a collaboration with its community partners to bring the world’s leading expert on addiction, Dr. Darryl S. Inaba, to Santa Barbara to provide a free, day-long training to our local mental health professionals.

Nov 1, 2019 To provide an entertaining way to educate community members about our work, New Beginnings produced a theatrical performance of a Jane Anderson play called Food and Shelter at the New Vic. The evening included a wonderful dinner for sponsors at Bouchon beforehand. The performance afterwards was absolutely spectacular!

Sep 23, 2018 To celebrate our 50th year of service to our community, our agency held an intimate gathering at the Santa Barbara Airport with the legendary actor Harrison Ford. Only 36 of our top supporters attended the event, and we raised over $100,000!

Aug 25, 2018 New Beginnings organized two showings of the award-winning documentary, Skid Row Marathon, to offer our community members with an educational experience to learn about homelessness and addiction. We held a screening in Santa Barbara and one at UC Santa Barbara.

October 12, 2017 For our final traditional gala, we chose to recognize Glenn and Amy Bacheller. The Bachellers supported our organization by providing their expertise and financial resources during a time of uncertainty. They also have served as strong ambassadors for our organization and have helped to inform the community and our mental health and housing programs.

September 29, 2016 Keeping with our tradition to recognize our most impactful supporters at our galas, we chose to recognize Mary and Gary Becker. The Beckers invested in our Safe Parking Program when the program’s funding was uncertain. Mary built community among female Safe Parking clients, and Gary helped us to improve our external communications through online and public relations media.

Jul 17, 2016 New Beginnings held this fundraiser as a way to recognize former US Congresswoman, Lois Capps, for all of her efforts advancing legislation for disadvantaged community members. Capps retired later in the year, and we were so pleased to be able to honor her at this event!

October 8, 2015 After holding several galas in previous years, we decided to use the gala this year to recognize the Hon. Susan Rose and her husband Allan Ghitterman for the impact they have made on our agency and in the community at large. Susan helped to launch the Safe Parking Program when she was a County Board Supervisor, while Allan focused on the work of our Counseling Center as a board member for many years.