Our cover story this week features 72 nonprofits and spells out what they do and what your money can do to help them.
Some of the organizations will surprise you with their specificity: one gives guitars and lessons to needy kids; another offers tutoring to LGBTQ+ kids; one aids farmworkers, while another gives legal aid to immigrants; there’s a nonprofit that helps seniors repair their homes; another gives legal aid for seniors. The list is seemingly endless and gloriously beautiful.
In a world where needy people have been demonized by some in power, here’s the alternative: people who genuinely care about others and have set up nonprofits to help them meet their needs and enjoy the quality of life we all deserve.
So what can you do? Pick some of your favorites and donate individually or donate to all at once. I think it’s fun to pick some organizations you really love and get the feeling—like putting your hand in concrete or getting a brick with your name on it for making a donation—that you can look at these organizations and really feel connected to them for life.
Here’s the mission statement: “Santa Cruz Gives is a countywide holiday fundraising campaign that began in 2015 with a simple goal: to make it easier and inspiring for people to give back locally. By bringing dozens of nonprofits together on one online platform, Santa Cruz Gives helps donors discover new causes, support multiple organizations with a single transaction, and see the collective impact of community generosity in real time.”
Never has coming together as a community been more important. For all kinds of reasons, federal dollars are drying up. There’s apparently enough money to give ICE agents big bonuses, but not enough to help those in need. I’m trying not to be political here, but you’ve seen the news. All we have right now is our ability to unite and help those around us.
I just read an encouraging story about how people in Chicago are finding street vendors and buying up all of their food, donating it to food banks and protecting endangered vendors from ICE. Sure, protesting and holding up signs is one way to make a point, but directly contributing to those in need is really significant. You can do that right here, right now at Santa Cruz Gives.
On other fronts: we’ve got some great food news about a new Thai restaurant in Capitola and a new chocolate business at the Capitola Mall. The Mall is undergoing a major, long-awaited turnaround.
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts on our letters page.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
DOG DAY AFTERNOON Photo taken on Westcliff Drive. Photograph by Davis Banta.
GOOD IDEA
On Nov. 21, The Age of Disclosure will premiere in select theaters across the country and globally on Amazon Prime Video. This documentary brings together 34 distinguished voices from the military, intelligence community and government—leaders who have stepped forward to speak openly about UAP, non-human intelligence, and the decades of secrecy that have shaped global policy. Early reviewers are calling the film “world-changing,” and we believe it will spark an enormous public conversation in the weeks and months ahead. On Nov. 29, there will be a free community screening in Santa Cruz at the Resource Center for Nonviolence. INFO: newparadigminstitute.org.
GOOD WORK
Last Sunday, nonprofit Free Guitars 4 Kids gave away new guitars with lessons to more than 100 young students who couldn’t otherwise afford them. The children were recommended by the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County’s Mariposa Arts and Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s Expanded Learning. The event was held at The Grove, where families enjoyed watching their children receive a guitar, listen to pros play on stage, and join in on a song.
“When kids get their own guitars to take home, they thrive creatively, academically and foster lifelong skills such as perseverance and self-confidence,” said Ben Dudley, executive director of FG4K.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘Show me your budget, and I’ll show you your values.’ —Gabriel Barraza
In the coming weeks, I invite you to commune intimately with your holy anger. Not petulant tantrums, not the ego’s defensive rage, but the fierce love that refuses to tolerate injustice. You will be wise to draw on the righteous “No!” that draws boundaries and defends the vulnerable. I hope you will call on protective fury on behalf of those who need help. Here’s a reminder of what I’m sure you know: Calmness in the face of cruelty isn’t enlightenment but complicity. Your anger, when it safeguards and serves love rather than destroys, is a spiritual practice.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
The Korean concept of jeong is the emotional bond that forms between people, places or things through shared experiences over time. It’s deeper than love and more complex than attachment: the accumulated weight of history together. You can have jeong for a person you don’t even like anymore, for a city that broke your heart, for a coffee mug you’ve used every morning for years. As the scar tissue of togetherness, it can be beautiful and poignant. Now is an especially good time for you to appreciate and honor your jeong. Celebrate and learn from the soulful mysteries your history has bequeathed you.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
Over 100 trillion bacteria live in your intestines. They have a powerful impact. They produce neurotransmitters, influence your mood, train your immune system, and communicate with your brain via the vagus nerve. Other life forms are part of the team within you, too, including fungi, viruses and archaea. So in a real sense, you are not merely a human who contains small organisms. You are an ecosystem of species making collective decisions. Your “gut feelings” are collaborations. I bring this all to your attention because the coming weeks will be a highly favorable time to enhance the health of your gut biome. For more info: tinyurl.com/EnhanceGutBiome
CANCER June 21-July 22
Why, yes, I myself am born under the sign of Cancer the Crab, just as you are. So as I offer you my ongoing observations and counsel, I am also giving myself blessings. In the coming weeks, we will benefit from going through a phase of consolidation and integration. The creative flourishes we have unveiled recently need to be refined and activated on deeper levels. This necessary deepening may initially feel more like work than play, and not as much fun as the rapid progress we have been enjoying. But with a slight tweak of our attitude, we can thoroughly thrive during this upcoming phase.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
I suggest that in the coming weeks you care more about getting things done than pursuing impossible magnificence. The simple labor of love you actually finish is worth more than the masterpiece you never start. The healthy but makeshift meal you throw together feeds you well, whereas the theoretical but abandoned feast does not. Even more than usual, Leo, the perfect will be the enemy of the good. Here are quotes to inspire you. 1. “Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.” —Anne Wilson Schaef. 2. “Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” —Harriet Braiker. 3. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” —Vince Lombardi.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Now is an excellent time to practice the art of forgetting. I hope you formulate an intention to release the grievances and grudges that are overdue for dissolution. They not only don’t serve you but actually diminish you. Here’s a fact about your brain: It remembers everything unless you actively practice forgetting. So here’s my plan: Meditate on the truth that forgiveness is not a feeling; it’s a decision to stop rehearsing the resentment, to quit telling yourself the story that keeps the wound fresh. The lesson you’re ready to learn: Some memories are worth evicting. Not all the past is worth preserving. Selective amnesia can be a survival skill.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
A Navajo blessing says, “May you walk in beauty.” Not just see beauty or create it, but walk in it, inhabit it and move through the world as if beauty is your gravity. When you’re at the height of your lyrical powers, Libra, you do this naturally. You are especially receptive to the aesthetic soul of things. You can draw out the harmony beneath surface friction and improvise grace in the midst of chaos. I’m happy to tell you that you are currently at the height of these lyrical powers. I hope you’ll be bold in expressing them. Even if others aren’t consciously aware and appreciative of what you’re doing, beautify every situation you’re in.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Your theme for the coming weeks is the fertile power of small things: the transformations that happen in the margins and subtle gestures. A kind word that shifts someone’s day, for instance. Or a refusal to participate in casual cruelty. Or a choice to see value in what you’re supposed to ignore. So I hope you will meditate on this healing theme: Change doesn’t always announce itself with drama and manifestos. The most heroic act might be to pay tender attention and refuse to be numbed. Find power in understated insurrections.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
A day on Venus (one rotation on its axis) lasts about 243 Earth days. However, a year on Venus (one orbit around the sun) takes only about 225 Earth days. So a Venusian day is longer than its year. If you lived on Venus, the sun wouldn’t even set before your next Venusian birthday arrived. Here’s another weird fact: Contrary to what happens on every other planet in the solar system, on Venus the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Moral of the story: Even planets refuse to conform and make their own rules. If celestial bodies can be so gloriously contrary to convention, so can you. In accordance with current astrological omens, I encourage you to exuberantly explore this creative freedom in the coming weeks.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Let’s revisit the ancient Greeks’ understanding that we are all born with a daimon: a guiding spirit who whispers help and counsel, especially if we stay alert for its assistance. Typically, the messages are subtle, even half-disguised. Our daimons don’t usually shout. But I predict that will change for you in the coming weeks, especially if you cultivate listening as a superpower. Your personal daimon will be extra talkative and forthcoming. So be vigilant for unexpected support, Capricorn. Expect epiphanies and breakthrough revelations. Pay attention to the book that falls open to a page that has an oracular hint just for you. Take notice of a song that repeats or a sudden urge to change direction on your walk.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Awe should be one of your featured emotions in the coming weeks. I hope you will also seek out and cultivate reverence, deep respect, excited wonder and an attraction to sublime surprises. Why do I recommend such seemingly impractical measures? Because you’re close to breaking through into a heightened capacity for generosity of spirit and a sweet lust for life. Being alert for amazement and attuned to transcendent experiences could change your life for the better forever. I love your ego—it’s a crucial aspect of your make-up—but now is a time to exalt and uplift your soul.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
What if your anxiety is actually misinterpreted excitement? What if the difference between worry and exhilaration is the story you tell yourself about the electricity streaming through you? Maybe your body is revving up for something interesting and important, but your mind mislabels the sensation. Try this experiment: Next time your heart races and your mind spins, tell yourself “I’m excited” instead of “I’m anxious.” See if your mood shape-shifts.
I live at Dominican Oaks, a community of over 200 seniors on Paul Sweet Road. Santa Cruz County is facing dangerous threats from at least 20 new high-rise tenement housing projects, creating health and safety hazards. Why? Because state laws now allow developers to bypass local zoning and permitting requirements, taking away local control of community planning.
One of the most egregious of these proposed projects is right next to us at 3500 Paul Sweet Road, a six-story, 105-unit tenement building crammed into a tiny half-acre parcel.
Paul Sweet Road is the only evacuation route for Dominican Oaks as well as other surrounding residences and businesses. Hundreds of additional cars from this new project will create gridlock on this dead-end street that is so narrow that trucks and fire engines cannot turn around. This ill-conceived project will turn that sole lifeline into a bottleneck.
Our senior residents move slowly, using canes, walkers or wheelchairs, requiring more time and assistance to evacuate during a fire or other emergency. This project could significantly delay or block the ability of residents and emergency vehicles to reach the hospital quickly, resulting in the difference between life and death. Protecting clear and reliable access to medical care should remain a priority for planning decisions in our area.
In addition, our neighbor, Dominican Hospital, has an active heliport. Yet this project does not conform to FAA regulations for building height near a helipad. The maximum height for this project is limited to three stories.
Santa Cruz County does need more housing. But housing should not come at the cost of public safety. This project, in this location, is simply dangerous. It jeopardizes emergency access, evacuation safety, and the well-being of hundreds of vulnerable seniors.
Virginia W. Lieb | Santa Cruz
ANGELS AMONG US
We were having dinner at a sushi restaurant downtown last week, prior to attending the symphony at the Civic, when something very nice and totally unexpected happened. Our server came up and said that someone—who wanted to remain anonymous—had paid our bill! I have no idea who it was—or why they chose a couple of boring and ancient retirees for their largesse—but if it was anyone reading this, Thank You! What a nice gesture. I shall try to pay it forward. The world is often so dreadful, but nice things can happen. Thank you.
Isabelle Herbert | Aptos
STOP BIG BROTHER
Doorbell cameras can make me feel more secure from intruders on my private property. Cameras on every street corner tracking me as I go about my day—not so much.
Local cities have installed 38 Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs, aka Flock cameras) at intersections and want to install more. By law, the data can only be used by agencies within CA, but already there have been over 200 unintentional breaches in Capitola alone.
Here’s the problem: out-of-state agencies request and then share the data with ICE. We all know of the cruel tactics used by ICE, against anyone they choose. Capitola’s data sharing may have been accidental, but that would be small consolation to innocent people caught up in an ICE raid.
I grew up reading fiction about “Big Brother is watching.” I certainly didn’t expect to see it become a reality in my own city. Do we really want the government to track our every movement?
Removing these cameras is one small but significant step we can take to push back on mass surveillance.
Stephanie Singer | Santa Cruz
COVER BANDS VS ORIGINALS
Interesting read in the GT this morning on cover bands v. original music.
As a commercial trumpeter, I’ve played all genres of music, which means playing other composers’ work. Classical, symphonic wind ensembles, jazz big bands, musicals, church services—it’s all about playing the ink. But I’ve also played in bands that perform a mixture of originals and cover songs, but those covers are usually obscure.
Straight cover bands just don’t do it for me, either playing with or listening to. I find great joy playing original music, supporting musicians who are searching for new sounds and new lyrics. I hope your readers step out and seek the various original bands.
ELLEN BASS The 16th annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading honors a nurturer of Santa Cruz’s literary landscape, Ellen Bass, a Chancellor Emerita of the Academy of American Poets whose lyrical lines have graced The New Yorker and The Atlantic for years. This incredible evening of artistry is hosted by Gary Young and honors Morton Marcus’s legacy as a poet, teacher, film critic, and the 1999 Santa Cruz County artist of the year. While celebrating Bass’s journey from Anne Sexton’s student to Santa Cruz’s treasured poet-educator, this evening will also share the announcement of the winner of the Morton Marcus Poetry Contest. SHELLY NOVO
INFO: 6pm, Cultural Center at Merrill College, 641 Merrill Rd, Santa Cruz. Free. 423-0900.
FRIDAY 11/21
SKA
DAN P. AND THE BRICKS 2025 has been full of surprises. For fans of the Santa Cruz music scene, that includes several band reunion shows like Slow Gherkin, Fury 66, Here Kitty Kitty and now Dan P. And The Bricks. Led by Dan Potthast (MU330), this band was a staple in the Bay Area music scene during the 2010s with their sweet, rocksteady Jamaican ska sound. Opening the night is Potthast’s friend Mike Huguenor, who recently released his second solo LP, Surfing the Web With the Alien and is comrade in arms in the Jeff Rosenstock band. MAT WEIR
HERSTORY Every March, the MAH kicks off Women’s History Month with a special HERstory celebration. Taking inspiration from this annual event, the MAH is adding a permanent HERstory addition to its History Gallery. This addition seeks to highlight and amplify the voices and work of women both locally and globally for more than a month. Women have been speaking up, supporting their communities, leading, and resisting for a long time. Activism comes in many forms, which include being creative. This addition includes interactive pieces that allow visitors to hear some voices from the past and connect their ideas to the present. At the event, attendees can nominate potential 2026 HERstory awardees. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 5pm, The MAH, 705 Front St, Santa Cruz. Free, 429-1964.
PSYC-ROCK
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE Guitarist, singer and songwriter Anton Newcombe founded Brian Jonestown Massacre in 1990. The band has released more than 20 albums, showcasing Newcombe’s distinctive take on psychedelia and alt-rock. The band has been consistent in earning critical praise, but that’s where the predictability ends: wildly erratic in a live setting, Brian Jonestown Massacre can veer from sublime to ridiculous, often within the context of a single performance. At their best, Brian Jonestown Massacre is a must-see-and-hear act. At their worst, they’re an abject disappointment. In the end, that unpredictability is part of the experience. BILL KOPP
INFO: 7pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $56. 423-8209.
SATURDAY 11/22
SOUL
THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS First emerging as buskers, Polish-born vocalist Lech Wierzynski and drummer Ben Malament created a unique sound by drawing from contraband American recordings Wierzynski absorbed in communist Poland—Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong. The band swirls together Bay Area R&B, Southern soul, Delta blues and New Orleans second-line, erasing boundaries between stage and crowd. With an unwavering commitment to improvisation, setlists are abandoned and shows take requests and feature spontaneous jamming that showcases their musical dexterity. SN
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $52. 713-5492.
SINGER-SONGWRITER
JOHN SPLITHOFF
John Splithoff scored a Top Ten hit single with “Sing to You” in 2016. The Chicago-born singer-songwriter focuses more on singles and EPs than albums. To date, he has released six extended plays collections and 15 singles; 2025’s “Plateau” / “Same Page” is his latest single. Splithoff’s impressive vocal range—four octaves—gives him the versatility to showcase his inventive melodies. A classic rock fan, Splithoff’s musical worldview is an inviting and accessible one, and his songs explore familiar up-close-and-personal themes of love, loss and the connections that hold us all together. BK
WAX It’s not every day someone can say they’ve seen Wolverine and Freddy Krueger spit bars over beats on stage. But this Sunday, rap fans will get that chance when emcee Wax, who portrayed both on the show Epic Rap Battles of History, hits the Catalyst. He started as the guitar player and singer/rapper for early 2000s band MacGregor. After the band went on a “super-extended” hiatus, Wax teamed up with his twin brother, Herbal T., and began posting rap videos to YouTube. In 2008 they broke into the public eye rapping over a Stephen Marley song and haven’t looked back since. This past May he released his 12th studio album, Lifetime Achievement Award. MW
INFO: 8pm, Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $34. 713-5492.
TUESDAY 11/25
BOOK EVENT
PUNK SPIRIT On the surface, one might think punk and spirituality have nothing to do with one another. Local journalist, activist and radio host John Malkin argues otherwise in his new book, Punk Spirit!: An Oral History of Punk Rock, Spirituality, and Liberation, which he’ll present Nov. 25 at the Resource Center for Non-Violence, with a full musical set by Sihasin, a Diné (the correct name for the people called “Navajo” by Spanish missionaries) brother and sister rock duo. MW
INFO: 6:30pm, Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. $10. 423.1626.
COMEDY
DANIEL TOSH When one hears the name Daniel Tosh the first thing that comes to mind is his 2010s Comedy Central show Tosh.0. For 11 years Tosh critiqued internet videos with his trademark dark humor. Not for the easily offended, Tosh started his career in the clubs like most comedians. However, he got his first huge break only a couple years after starting when he was invited to appear on the Late Show With David Letterman. Over the past 25 years Tosh found success with his stand-up specials, tours and several television shows, earning him a place in 2013 as Forbes’ ninth top-earning comedian based on tour ticket sales. MW
INFO: 7pm, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. $65-$210. 420-5240.
WEDNESDAY 11/26
MUSICAL
A CHRISTMAS CAROL After a sold-out run in 2024, Santa Cruz Shakespeare is once again presenting A Christmas Carol. Running for almost a month, let this music-filled adaptation be a family tradition. Directed by Charles Pasternak and Alicia Gibson, this heartwarming story reminds us of the meaning of the holiday season. Entertaining music is given direction by Luke Shepherd, keeping the tale fresh. Mike Ryan will play Ebenezer Scrooge, joined by Julie James, Charlotte Munson and Andrea Sweeney Blanco. Christmas past, present and future come together to remind Scrooge and us why it is important to give and share with each other. Performances go until Dec. 24. IMS
INFO: 7pm. SC Vets Memorial Hall, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz. $20. 460-6399.
Published in cooperation between AdventureGamers and Good Times
California’s cardrooms just can’t catch a break. The long-running battle over whether these gambling halls are operating legally has flared up again, and this time the threats are coming from multiple directions. Fresh off a court victory in October, cardroom operators now face an appeal from the state’s gaming tribes, plus a separate set of regulations being drafted by the California Department of Justice that could wipe out their bread-and-butter games.
When a Sacramento Superior Court judge threw out the tribes’ lawsuit last month, cardrooms breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn’t last long. The tribes are gearing up to appeal, and even if that doesn’t work out, the state’s regulatory proposals might accomplish the same thing: shutting down the modified blackjack and baccarat games that keep these businesses afloat.
Public debate over what counts as a “casino-style” game often leaves out the player’s side of the story, how people actually learn the mechanics before they spend real money. As analyst Jovan Milenkovic has pointed out, there’s value in friction-free ways to explore game design and volatility curves first. For readers who want that kind of low-stakes familiarity, platforms that let you try titles with no registration or downloading required make it easy to test features, compare return-to-player ranges and understand pacing without sharing personal details or funding an account. It’s a practical step: quick access, no install and a chance to see how different mechanics behave before you decide whether any of it is worth your time or your budget.
Workers and community advocates didn’t waste time showing their frustration. They gathered outside Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Los Angeles office to protest what they see as an attack on their jobs and their cities’ financial survival. And they’re not wrong to be worried. For smaller municipalities like Bell Gardens, Commerce, Gardena and Hawaiian Gardens, cardrooms aren’t just local businesses; they’re cash cows. State estimates say the proposed regulations could eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue and wipe out hundreds of jobs.
So what’s actually going on here? It all comes down to how cardrooms get around California law. Tribal casinos can offer “banked games,” where players bet against the house. That’s standard stuff: blackjack, baccarat, you name it. But state law says non-tribal facilities can’t do that. So cardrooms came up with a workaround more than a decade ago: They brought in third-party proposition players. These licensed intermediaries essentially allow players to bet against each other instead of the house. Problem solved, right? Not according to the tribes, who say this whole setup is a legal fiction designed to skirt rules that were supposed to give them exclusive rights to casino-style gaming.
Now the state’s Bureau of Gambling Control wants to crack down. The proposed rules would bar cardrooms from using terms like “blackjack” or “21” in their games. They’d also eliminate key features like “busting.” You know, the thing that actually makes blackjack blackjack. Another set of changes would require cardrooms to rotate the dealer role among players more often, which would basically kill off the third-party proposition player system entirely.
Cardroom operators call the proposed rules a looming disaster. They say the limits would wipe out their money-makers and force a full reboot of their business model. Lobbyists have warned since 2023 that the changes could gut an industry worth about $5.6 billion a year to California’s economy, by the state’s own tally. Groups like the California Gaming Association and California Cardroom Alliance have filed detailed objections with the Bureau of Gambling Control, arguing that cardrooms have long followed state-approved practices and that the new rules conflict with decades of precedent and the state’s prior reading of gaming law.
The tribes, naturally, see things completely differently. Through the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, tribal leaders are pushing for even stricter limits on cardrooms. They argue the state has been way too soft on enforcement. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes have exclusive rights to Class III gaming in California, which are the casino-style, house-banked games we’re talking about. From their perspective, the cardrooms’ “alternative” versions are just smoke and mirrors, a thinly veiled attempt to muscle in on territory that’s supposed to be theirs alone.
This fight goes back decades, but it surged in 2024 when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 549. The law gave tribes a one-time path to sue cardrooms in state court, something sovereignty had blocked, meant to settle what gaming is allowed off tribal land. Tribes hailed it as a long-overdue chance to protect their market. Cardrooms saw a warning: survival may hinge on politics as much as operations. City leaders reliant on cardroom taxes pushed back, fearing budget holes.
There’s also a trust problem here that goes way back. A lot of the bad blood traces to 2007, when a state regulator named Bob Lytle reinterpreted the law in a way that let cardrooms offer these non-banked versions of blackjack and baccarat. After leaving government, Lytle joined the cardroom industry, later drew sanctions, and was banned from California gaming for life, a saga tribes still cite as proof of too-close ties between cardrooms and regulators.
In October 2025, Judge Lauri Damrell threw out the tribes’ suit, saying the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act outweighs the state law that let it proceed. She noted the fight may continue. The tribes plan to appeal, and even if they fall short again, new Bureau of Gambling Control rules could still gut the cardroom model that’s kept these halls alive.
Both sides returned to court on November 14 for a case management conference, but that won’t settle things. For tribes, this is about sovereignty and funding for their communities. For cardrooms, it’s survival and thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, the state’s rulemaking grinds on, and its final shape could decide the future of cardrooms, the balance of the gaming market, and the budgets of several working-class cities.
November 19-December 31 | Donate @ SantaCruzGives.org
Santa Cruz Gives is funded by the generosity of Good Times, Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Applewood Foundation, Joe Collins, Driscoll’s Inc., 1440 Foundation, West Coast Community Bank, Wynn Capital Management, Bay Federal Credit Union, The Pajaronian, and Press Banner.
Thanks to you, generous local donors, the Santa Cruz Gives holiday giving campaign grew 31 percent last year. This year, 72 nonprofits whose work benefits Santa Cruz County request your support. They tackle some of our community’s biggest challenges to improve our quality of life. They work to prevent homelessness, mentor at-risk children, clean beaches, teach job skills, provide informative local news, and so much more. Now it’s our turn: Learn and donate at SantaCruzGives.org.
ACTIVITIES 4 ALL
Support Children’s Music, Folklorico and Soccer Academy: All-volunteer Activities 4 All remains determined to offer quality sports, recreational, artistic and cultural activities to the low-income communities we serve at low to no cost. Funds raised will go toward music lessons, instructors, and coaches to greatly benefit K-12 students who join our academy. Our goal is that our students feel proud of their rich cultural heritage and go on to pursue higher education.
AMAH MUTSUN LAND TRUST
A New Decade: For 10 years, the Amah Mutsun Land Trust has been the vehicle by which the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band accesses, protects, and stewards lands integral to their identity and culture. We are the only Tribe in Santa Cruz County that provides Indigenous leadership in conservation through research, education, conservation, restoration, and Indigenous stewardship. We engage approximately 200 tribal members and many more county residents annually. We collaborate on projects at the UCSC Arboretum, the MAH, Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument, Wilder Ranch State Park, and more. To better tell our story we’d like to create a short documentary about our Native Stewards cohort and tribal members.
ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Arts Education: We are the leading provider of arts education, offering school performances, residencies, training, and after-school programs. Our grants support 300+ Open Studios artists, 11,000 youth, and dozens of arts organizations and artists. Investing in the arts is essential for youth. We prepare the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers with your support through our programs—SPECTRA and Mariposa Arts—where 11,000 young people will learn to dream big, speak up, and turn mistakes into opportunities. Your contribution ensures that youth develop vital life skills and experience the joy and connection that art brings to their lives.
ASSOCIATION OF FAITH COMMUNITIES
Sustainably Shelter Santa Cruz: AFC’s sheltering programs offer an effective and sustainable solution to address homelessness. By leveraging the space and resources of local faith communities, we offer shelter and safe parking at a fraction of the cost of most shelters, under $25/person per night. With 40 faith communities sharing the load, our staff can focus on case management. Last fiscal year, 48% of participants found permanent housing. We distribute more than 11,000 new socks and provide over 1,500 showers annually. We bridge the gap between volunteers and participants so that all find belonging and meaning.
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
It Takes Little to Be Big: Mentorship transforms lives. In Santa Cruz County, many children face challenges such as social isolation, housing instability, or anxiety without a stable support system. Through one-to-one, long-term relationships youth gain confidence, resilience, and a sense of belonging that helps them navigate life’s hurdles. Every gift you give directly fuels mentorship, ensuring more local children are matched with safe adults who show up for them consistently. Dozens of youth are waiting for a mentor. Your support helps recruit, enroll and train caring adults to be a steady presence in a young person’s life.
BIRCHBARK FOUNDATION
BIRCHBARK
Saving Pets, Supporting Families: Our core initiative is to reduce financial barriers that prevent loving families from accessing life-saving care for their pets that have a good prognosis. Local veterinarians reduce costs for our clients, allowing BirchBark to channel the compassion and generosity of our community to provide veterinary care that is urgent, fixable, and unaffordable. Behind every BirchBark case is a family whose bond with their pet is threatened by economic euthanasia.
BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT
Birds in the Schoolyard—Hands-on Science: BSP transforms schoolyards into outdoor classrooms for 4,500+ students annually, most from communities with limited access to outdoor learning, and supports teachers with resources and field outings, multiplying the impact. With your support we’ll expand this proven program to include more under-resourced schools. Imagine students trading desks for binoculars and journals—often for the first time—discovering the birds and ecosystems of Monterey Bay. Research shows that these outdoor experiences foster health, curiosity, and belonging.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER TUTORING
Reaching Rainbow Students: This fundraiser will create a robust scholarship fund to offer free and sliding-scale individualized tutoring support for local LGBTQ+ youth. Inundated by messages from news and social media that challenge their worth and existence, LGBTQ+ youth need our support! At Birds of a Feather, LGBTQ+ youth can be completely themselves and receive the academic support they need, regardless of their financial resources. Over four years, we’ve offered 500 individualized tutoring sessions for local LGBTQ+ youth. Please help us offer 500 more!
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Scholarships Support Youth Mentorship & Success: Our Big Idea is to ensure every local child has access to affordable, high-quality out-of-school programs by providing scholarships. These programs promote learning and growth with caring adult mentors, regardless of financial circumstances. As living costs rise, our Clubs offer crucial support for working parents. We will serve approximately 1,800 youth from families that rely on our services this school year at our daily after-school programs five days-a-week at our downtown Santa Cruz, Live Oak, and Scotts Valley Clubhouses for ages 6-18. We host summer and holiday day camps and offer a range of special interest programs, and provide more than $375,000 in financial assistance annually.
CAMP OPPORTUNITY
Send At-Risk Kids to Camp: We are all-volunteer and hope to raise money to send 25 kids to camp—all have been involved in the child welfare system, and many are at risk of abuse and neglect. Campers develop skills to make safe life choices and cultivate positive relationships that can be transferred to their community, school and home. No family has been or ever will be charged for their child’s participation. Therefore, fundraising is critical to continue this work. The estimated cost for one child to attend camp for a week is $1,800. This includes campground rental, room and board, and activities and supplies such as swimming, archery, tie-dye, and more.
CASA OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Advocating for Youth in Truancy Court: With 19% of county students chronically absent, in 2025 Santa Cruz County created Truancy Court to address the needs of families facing significant barriers to regular attendance. CASA, as a trusted organization, will take on a new role: Advocate for children’s best interests in the Truancy Court system to reduce barriers to school attendance, in partnership with the County Office of Education and the Santa Cruz County Court. Court appointed special advocates (CASAs) are trained volunteers who support each child in the dependency and juvenile court system and connect them with the people, families, and resources they need to heal and flourish into adulthood.
CENTER FOR FARMWORKER FAMILIES
FARMWORKER FAMILIES
Scholarships for Farmworker Youth: For many students from farmworker families, higher education feels out of reach due to financial barriers. Our Growing Futures provides scholarships to graduating high school seniors, helping them access college or vocational training. Your support helps to empower students—many of whom are the first in their families to attend college—to pursue careers that lead to stability and strengthen our community. CFF promotes the educational, financial and nutritional health of farmworker families, participates in research and advocates for changes to the federal and state legal structure that governs farmworkers.
COASTAL KIDS HOME CARE
Supporting Families Caring for Medically Fragile Children: We are the only in-home pediatric palliative and home health provider in Santa Cruz County caring for children with serious illnesses and complex medical conditions. For many local parents, juggling hospital visits, specialists in distant cities, and their child’s daily care is overwhelming, and the entire family is impacted. Our skilled pediatric nurses provide vital medical care at home, monitoring health, managing treatments, easing symptoms, and offering palliative care in the most comforting environment possible. Our social workers, child life specialists, and therapists also offer emotional support.
CAB | SANTA CRUZ COUNTY IMMIGRATION PROJECT (SCCIP)
Defending Our Immigrant Neighbors: Our immigrant neighbors are under attack. Fear and uncertainty prevail. CAB has responded—educating immigrant families about their rights, advocating for systems change, and mobilizing a robust defense if the worst happens and local people are detained. Your donation of $50 funds a legal consultation. $150 covers transportation to appear in immigration court. $250 staffs a virtual workshop where people learn to prepare for a potential encounter with immigration agents.
COMMUNITY BRIDGES
COMMUNITY BRIDGES
Immigration & Medi-Cal Support Fund: Many local families risk losing health coverage simply because navigating complex systems alone is overwhelming. Our Family Resource Collective helps families navigate immigration concerns and access vital Medi-Cal coverage. Without support, parents risk losing healthcare for their children, missing deadlines, or facing preventable crises. Your gift funds one-on-one navigation, trusted legal referrals, and bilingual outreach. Your support will help reduce poverty and prevent homelessness by filling immediate gaps while building long-term stability.
COASTAL WATERSHED COUNCIL
Connecting Santa Cruz to the San Lorenzo River: As new businesses open onto the Riverwalk and our community re-embraces this vital, overlooked resource—our primary source of drinking water, a diverse wildlife habitat, and an oasis of nature downtown—CWC is reimagining Santa Cruz’s relationship with the San Lorenzo River. For 30 years CWC has led community stewardship of local rivers through grassroots support. Hundreds of volunteers improve river biodiversity and habitat, thousands of youth discover their watershed, and artists and storytellers spark connections to nature. Your gift helps transform the river at the heart of our city.
DAMIANS LADDER
Senior Home Repair: When seniors and people with disabilities are unable to afford small repairs and updates to their homes, Damians Ladder provides these at low or no-cost to enable our clients to stay in their homes. Grab bars, stair rails, floor lighting, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, ADA toilets, and other small repairs reduce the risk of falls and improve safety and comfort. Our fully qualified and background-checked Service Volunteers provide the labor. Your funding allows us to purchase materials.
DIENTES COMMUNITY DENTAL CARE
Affordable Care for All: We work tirelessly to ensure financial barriers don’t stand between our neighbors and the dental care they need. We’re building a future where health isn’t determined by wealth. This program helps make going to the dentist accessible for families without insurance by offering subsidized sliding scale fees and free care to those who need it most. Our five clinics countywide transform lives for families with the greatest need: 97% have incomes at or below the federal poverty level. Your support focuses on uninsured patients of all ages, from 0-100+.
EAT FOR THE EARTH
Eat Well: Diet-caused chronic health conditions lead to disability and early death for too many in our community and too many of our loved ones. Dietary choices also contribute to environmental challenges we face. Eat for the Earth empowers people to adopt healthy, sustainable, plant-based diets. Local youth are experiencing increasing chronic diet-related conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Our project is to present in schools across the county to aid youth to feel good, reduce their risk of chronic disease, and contribute positively to environmental sustainability.
ECOLOGY ACTION
Ecology Action’s Community Programs: Our community programs make sustainable living accessible for everyone through a range of climate friendly initiatives. We teach kids to walk and bike safely, create community workshops, trainings, and events for sustainable action, help families access incentives for electric cars and bikes, and foster infrastructure for climate-smart, resilient communities. We serve 40,000+ Santa Cruz County residents annually with tangible solutions essential for protecting the planet. We partner with every city and multiple county departments to create streets safe for pedestrians and bikes, and help local jurisdictions compete for state and federal grants.
EL PÁJARO CDC
Women Taking Flight Loan Fund/Mujeres Emprendiendo Vuelo: We transform lives through entrepreneurship. Our Loan Fund opens access to capital for Latinx women entrepreneurs often excluded from traditional lending. Only 3-5% of small business loans go to Latinx women/women of color, and Latino-owned businesses are 60% less likely to be approved by banks. Since 2021, we’ve invested $474,500 in 18 Santa Cruz County women-led businesses, driving growth in childcare, agriculture, retail, and food. Through capital, coaching, and business support we fuel equity and an inclusive local economy.
EVERYONE’S MUSIC SCHOOL
Music for Everyone: We provide inclusive and affordable music education. We offer scholarships, group classes, and community programs so that music is truly for everyone. Traditional teaching methods don’t work for all and may also be a barrier to music, therefore we offer flexible teaching styles that welcome diverse learners. In 2026, we will expand scholarships, group classes, and outreach so that more children, teens, and adults across Santa Cruz County can access music education. Teaching 4,400 lessons annually to 65–89 students weekly, we nurture creativity, resilience, and belonging—strengthening our community through the joy of music.
FARM DISCOVERY AT LIVE EARTH
Nutrition Security Program: Our Big Idea is to address the increase in local food insecurity created by decreased federal funding. We will increase produce donations to food pantries to up to 60,000 pounds. Most is gleaned excess produce regeneratively grown by Live Earth Farm, and is considered “seconds”—not pretty enough for market standards but is as nutritious and fresh. We also plan to add a SNAP-eligible CSA. We offer field trips, workshops, and camps for youth, who are immersed in our 150 scenic acres while developing a connection to sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and environmental stewardship.
FREE BOOKS FOR KIDS
Free Books for Kids in Santa Cruz County: Our all-volunteer program gives free gently-used books to children with limited access to reading material, caregivers, and educators. Experts select high-quality novels, early readers, baby books, and nonfiction. Many books would otherwise be discarded or pulped. The demand for our books has increased 275% in the past five years. We work with all local school districts, and other partners. High-demand books can cost $3 each. With funding, we could distribute many more books.
FREE GUITARS FOR KIDS
Free Guitars 4 Kids Santa Cruz: Our big idea is to strengthen our local foundation so we can continue partnering with seven-plus nonprofits and schools—putting guitars into the hands of kids who need them most. Each partnership connects every guitar with mentorship, lessons, and supportive programming, amplifying the instrument’s impact and reach. Music has the power to change lives. Kids develop discipline, focus, and collaboration—skills that last a lifetime—and a guitar can open new possibilities for a child: creativity, confidence, and connection. The joy of music ripples outward, inspiring families, bridging generations, and building stronger communities.
FRIENDS OF THE SANTA CRUZ PUBLIC LIBRARIES
The New Downtown Branch Library Is for Everyone: Support construction of the Downtown Branch Library in the heart of our county seat to give everyone access to a vibrant civic space. As the hub of the 10-branch library system, the library is designed to grow with the needs of all children, teens, and adults with activity rooms, a toddler area, teen center, expanded children’s library with programming space, special collections (local history and genealogy), working and meeting spaces, an atrium, and roof deck. Your gifts will be matched 100% by a generous grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.
GARDENIA
GARDENIA
Wellness for You: We provide women with skills and resources to become their most empowered self. Gardenia, Amor & Bienestar Para La Mujer will integrate mental health, physical activity, nutritional information, connection with nature, bike rides, farm visits, and wellness events for all women of all ages in the Watsonville community. We offer 25 classes per month, 2 bike rides, 1 outdoor class, 2 farm visits per year, 2 wellness retreats per year, 1 camp per year and 2 community events. We work closely with local nonprofit organizations and businesses to efficiently use our funds to maximize services.
GREY BEARS
Grey Bears Grocery Rescue: This program partners with 25+ local farms, stores, and delis to recover imperfect or short-dated food six days a week. This food is shared with seniors through our no-cost market and weekday lunches. By diverting food from landfills to seniors’ plates, Grey Bears provides sustainable, dependable access to fresh food for seniors, as well as social connection. In the past year, Grey Bears diverted 1.7 million pounds of food from the landfill to create 63,000 meals and serve 34,000 market visits.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY MONTEREY BAY
Evan Circle Community Build: We are building 13 permanently affordable homes in Watsonville for first-time buyers earning 50–80% of AMI. Families contribute 500 hours of sweat equity alongside our professional construction crew and volunteers. Once homes are complete, families obtain an affordable mortgage, paying no more than 30% of income on housing. Sustainable, energy-efficient design lowers costs, while city-donated land and partnerships make it possible. We empower families with homeowner education to maintain all facets of their lives. Please support us in building roots, resilience, and a brighter future for Watsonville.
HOMELESS GARDEN PROJECT
Planting New Roots: Through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program—the longest-running CSA in Santa Cruz—individuals experiencing homelessness gain paid, transitional job training while working alongside staff and volunteers to grow fresh, organic produce for the community. More than half of our CSA shares are free of charge to food-insecure neighbors. Your support will help us transform this new land into thriving farmland that sustains our neighbors and program for years to come.
HOSPICE OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Know Us Before You Need Us: Navigating serious illness can feel overwhelming. Hospice of Santa Cruz County provides hospice and palliative care, education, music therapy, and grief support in English and Spanish—funded 100% by philanthropy. As your local, nonprofit hospice, a pioneer in the hospice movement, we are committed to ensuring that every member of our community has the opportunity to live and die with dignity, surrounded by understanding, care, and hope. Please support us as we provide experienced, high-quality care for all who need us.
HOUSING SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Paths to Safe, Sustainable Housing: We envision a Santa Cruz County where all residents—including low-income families, seniors, veterans, farmworkers, workforce members and students—have access to safe, sustainable housing. This project will support the creation of housing for all income levels (very low, low, moderate and market rate), help with short-term and long-term housing for unhoused residents, affect housing policy, and provide housing education and advocacy. Solving our county’s housing crisis requires that we join hands and hearts to advocate for a more vibrant, just and diverse community.
JACOB’S HEART
Forever Loved: We improve the quality of life for children with cancer by supporting their families. The majority of Jacob’s Heart children come from low-income homes with high levels of unmet basic needs. All are impacted by pediatric cancer, 80% live at or below the poverty line, 84% are Latino or multi-racial, and many are disenfranchised by larger systems of care. Currently we serve 124 families in Santa Cruz County. Your support will help us drive families to medical appointments and keep our Full Hearts Grocery Program stocked.
JAPANESE AMERICAN MEMORIAL PILGRIMAGES
Preserving Memory: The Redman-Hirahara House in Watsonville is a rare and irreplaceable witness to Japanese American and agricultural history in the Pajaro Valley. We are creating a documentary to preserve its powerful stories of immigrant farmers, WWII incarceration, and resilience. Built in 1897, the house was recently delisted from the National Register and faces demolition, making it urgent to capture its voices, images, and memories before they are lost. The documentary will be shared with schools, historical societies, and cultural institutions.
K-SQUID 90.7FM
Power to the People through Podcasting: K-Squid will train citizen journalists in the art of broadcasting and podcasting to better inform our community. Award-winning producers will conduct workshops on interviewing, editing, reporting, speaking skills, and more to nurture the next generation of storytellers and radio/podcast hosts to empower communities to tell their own stories. We serve a potential audience of 645,000+, and estimate 2,000+ at any given time at 90.7, 89.7 and 89.5FM. We stream at KSQD.org and archive stories so more people can hear them. Listener donations support 90% of our operating budget.
LIFE LAB
Summer Camp Scholarship Fund: Life Lab’s Summer Camp helps children to grow a love for nourishing food and nature! Joyful experiences in our garden develop a young camper’s sense of belonging in a college setting, build their love of community, and exercise their body and mind. We expect 350+ to attend the 2026 camp at UCSC. Camp educators are often trained college students who are excited to be outdoor educators. Donations will provide camp for at least one-third of enrollment: up to 70 children whose families have limited resources, and some are referred from organizations such as foster care agencies.
LIVE LIKE COCO
Bookmobile Project: We focus entirely on literacy, giving away thousands of new books to kids at local public schools, community giveaways and our little free libraries. In 2024, we launched a bookmobile. We partnered with PVUSD to drive it to every summer school site and events. This year, we gave 4,000 new books to students. We want to expand to do one community event monthly throughout the county. These donations will pay for a driver, operating cost of the bookmobile for four hours/event, and new books—especially favorites such as Dog Man and the Baby-Sitters Club.
LONG TERM RECOVERY GROUP OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Rebuilding Homes, Restoring Hope: After the CZU Fire and 2023 atmospheric rivers, many families still struggle to rebuild their lives. Recovery is challenging, especially for those with insufficient insurance. For families who lost everything, our project mobilizes skilled volunteers led by a licensed general contractor to build and repair homes. We act as a hub for organizations that address the complex needs of disaster survivors. We coordinate when many groups rush to help, we connect people with resources—legal aid, building permits, mental health support, etc.—and we address needs unmet by emergency response efforts or insurance. We build trust and cooperation among government agencies, nonprofits, and the community that can quickly be activated during emergencies.
MENTORS FOR BOYS, MEN AND DADS
Jr. MENtors Leadership Academy: This project engages teen boys—especially those growing up without father figures—in weekly mentorship circles, emotional development workshops, and youth-led service projects. Through a strength-based, trauma-informed approach, boys build confidence, accountability, and leadership rooted in empathy, identity, and community. We aim to partner with our alumni youth to reach more at-risk youth. We will also expand our program to equip fathers—especially those with experience in child welfare, reentry, or family court—to become mentors for other dads facing parenting challenges, navigating custody, and working to reconnect with their children. Boys are more likely than girls to experience academic failure, substance use, binge drinking, violent crime, behavioral disorders, and prescription of stimulant medications.
MONTEREY BAY MASTER GARDENERS
MONTEREY BAY MASTER GARDENERS
Portable Edible Gardens: Gardens don’t require a yard. We’d like to teach local families to grow food in 10-gallon reusable grow bags, with basic info and planting tips in bilingual classes. Participants leave our workshop with a portable garden, the promise of healthy vegetables for the season (they select 5-10 vegetables/herbs per bag), and empowerment to grow their own food. With your support, we will increase the number of plants we propagate, and refurbish a greenhouse offered at the SCC Fairgrounds. The greenhouse is plumbed, wired and sound. Contributions will allow us to install misters, timers, fans, etc. We are uniquely positioned to address food insecurity among underserved residents.
MONARCH SERVICES/SERVICIOS MONARCA
Safe Fields for Farmworkers: Our project brings culturally specific services to address domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking to farmworker communities in Santa Cruz County and Pajaro Valley. At outreach events at farms and community gatherings we provide education, legal advocacy, financial aid, and trauma-informed support. Our bilingual advocates have built trust through presence in the fields and at local gathering spots. They answer crisis calls, respond in person at hospitals and to law enforcement, and connect survivors to our confidential shelter program, housing assistance, legal aid, and holistic case management. With federal funding ending, Santa Cruz Gives will help sustain this program for farmworker families.
PAJARO VALLEY LOAVES & FISHES
Strengthen the Food Security Safety Net: In Santa Cruz County, thousands of families, farmworkers, seniors, and unsheltered neighbors rely on us for daily food security. We provide low-barrier access to nutritious hot lunches and distribute more than 15,000 grocery bags filled with fresh produce, protein, and culturally appropriate staples. With dignity and compassion, we plan to serve 30,000 hot lunches this year and support 1,200 families through our pantry program (42% are children and 60% work in agriculture).
PAJARO VALLEY PREVENTION AND STUDENT ASSISTANCE
Youth Leadership: Watsonville youth and families continue to face stress from COVID-19, the 2023 floods, and immigration fear. We seek funding for the 2nd annual Juntos Sanando/Healing Together Mental Health Awareness Day to foster healing, reduce stigma, and expand culturally responsive care. In 2025, over 300 community members participated in wellness, art, and food activities. PVPSA meets community members where they are while driving measurable impact. We expand access to essential services and mental health support through our youth group, community health workers, event tabling, and mental health awareness initiatives.
PAJARO VALLEY SHELTER SERVICES
Strengthening Family Stability: We operate a structured, drug-and-alcohol-free program in a warm, secure environment. We’ve seen a 15% increase in one year in participants reporting domestic violence histories, and requests for support from those with mental health issues. These individuals face greater barriers to stable housing. These can be overcome, even for the most vulnerable, with training and compassionate action. Our project is to increase counselor hours and deepen partnerships with NAMI and Monarch Services to deliver staff training, participant counseling and peer-led support groups. Last year, PVSS served 221 individuals. 79% of PVSS families exited to permanent housing, 70% exited with savings for housing; and 72% of adults exited with employment.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE
In This Together: Your local PP serves half of California’s counties, all of Nevada, and patients from 43 states who travel to us for abortion care. Our health center in Watsonville remains open and strong with most patients low income: 92% live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. PPMM offers in-person, phone, or video visits for many services to reduce transportation barriers, and services in languages other than English when possible. In July a budget bill was used to defund PP, forcing us to close 5 of our 35 health centers, including one in Santa Cruz. Your donation will help us provide quality non-judgmental health care.
POSITIVE DISCIPLINE
Less Stress More Joy: Parenting is hard! It is humbling and can feel isolating at times. Your gift helps us create greater access to Positive Discipline’s whole-child, whole-family relationship-based approach for 1,000+ families across our county. Our program is evidence-based, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate, providing 120+ programs year-round in three languages. We receive more requests for parenting support than we can fill. Beyond skills for difficult child behaviors, our training breaks cycles of harm and is deeply healing. Your gift supports our “connection before correction” programs via coaching, workshops, classes, playgroups, and parent/youth learning groups.
QUEER YOUTH TASK FORCE
Trans Teen Project: We would like to support trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive youth in Santa Cruz County this year with a website resource that educates and raises awareness among parents and the community about trans issues. We will facilitate conversations and understandings between trans teens and the wider community. Trans teens will control their own narratives and share stories and experiences that are important to them. Our goals are to promote existing resources available for the trans community, make short documentary films, implement teen-led small projects, promote an activity titled “Unbox Me,” and host radio shows.
REGENERACIÓN—PAJARO VALLEY CLIMATE ACTION
Young Climate Justice Champions: We achieve climate justice by building a shared sense of urgency among community leaders, grassroots groups, nonprofit agencies, researchers, and public agencies to work collectively. Our project is to mentor youth to amplify climate justice leadership of high school students through photo storytelling (presented by 8 students we train), 1 paid student internship, and class presentations for up to 400 students. Young people will live longer with the effects of climate impacts and their leadership is needed now!
RESOURCE CENTER FOR NONVIOLENCE
Together Against Hate in Our Schools: Every child deserves to learn in a place of safety and belonging—yet hate, bullying, and systemic racism still threaten our students’ futures. Let’s build schools where hate has no home. Please help us train teachers throughout Santa Cruz County to recognize and interrupt hate speech and bullying; supply classrooms with proven anti-hate lesson plans and student activities; and support youth leaders in building inclusive school cultures.
SANTA CRUZ ACTORS’ THEATRE
Empower Young Directors: As a volunteer-based, community theater, many who participate in our productions are older, with established incomes, and can do it purely for passion. Young artists are the future of theater, but having to work full-time to get by is a barrier to their participation in our productions. We created an endowment fund for young directors that patrons can donate to. We’d like to offer compensation to bring more young directors into our 8 Tens @ 8 Festival and offer a chance to direct a show in our season.
SANTA CRUZ BLACK
Black Freedom Farm: Santa Cruz Black celebrates the Black community’s history in Santa Cruz, addressing the historical invisibility of Black residents. Our role is in education, community projects and film series that support understanding, inclusivity and action. This project addresses food insecurity and food stability. We plan to establish community farms on donated land and rooftops for vertical gardens and hydroponic systems that will provide food and also be educational with workshops and cooking classes. We aim to create a community garden, enabling local Black residents to cultivate the foods of our families and ancestors.
SANTA CRUZ CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY
Affordable, High-Quality WonderWeeks Camp: With the advent of universal TK during the school year, families unfortunately lost summer care for preschoolers and are desperate for options. Because high-quality camps are too costly for many, our Big Idea is WonderWeek camps—giving 4–5 year olds a joyful summer of discovery, creativity, and skill-building with science, art, and play they can’t find anywhere else. Research finds that “guided play” can lead to stronger learning and development outcomes and stronger academic gains than formal curriculum during early childhood—a critical time to learn.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER FOUNDATION
Planned Pethood—Low Cost and No Cost Spay Neuter: Puppies and kittens are adorable but unplanned litters result in higher euthanasia rates in animal shelters and more animals living miserably as strays. One female cat can lead to up to 420,000 kittens in seven years, and one female dog can lead up to 67,000 puppies in six years, on average. Increasing spay/neuter numbers is the most effective tool for reducing shelter intake and euthanasia, and for improving the lives of animals. We spayed and neutered 3,000+ animals last year. Let’s provide spay and neuter for all!
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY COMMUNITY JOURNALISM INITIATIVE
Brio Sol Initiative: We bring Spanish-language news coverage to Pajaro Valley communities to promote institutional accountability and transparency on environmental, agricultural, land use, labor, housing, health care, food security and criminal justice issues. This initiative contributes resources to hire, train and employ three reporters—emerging voices—to ensure a just, informed public through analysis of underlying, unreported or underreported social justice issues. The publications in this initiative have served Santa Cruz communities with reporting, information and government oversight: The Pajaronian since 1868, Press Banner since 1960 and Good Times since 1975.
SANTA CRUZ SPCA AND HUMANE SOCIETY
Support the Journey Home: Every animal who comes to us has a story—some arrive scared, others sick or injured, many waiting to be noticed. Shelters are facing slowed adoptions, overcrowded kennels, and families surrendering beloved pets due to cost. Each pet takes healing, training, comfort, and care—and at the Santa Cruz SPCA, we don’t back down from challenges. With your support, we can grow our adoption program. This year we will find homes for 550+ animals; care for 207+ animals in foster homes; give 85,000 pounds of pet food to locals in need; provide preventative care and support veterinary care for low-income seniors, and more.
SANTA CRUZ SHAKESPEARE
Bring Shakespeare and Students Together: We bring live productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a bilingual Romeo and Juliet into schools, eliminating barriers of cost and access. Last year we reached 8,000 students. With support, we will double that number annually, ensuring every child experiences world-class theatre. This program inspires empathy, literacy, and joy—proving Shakespeare’s words belong to every student. Each show includes post-performance talkbacks and teacher resource packets tied to curriculum. Just $300 raised brings a fully subsidized production to another Santa Cruz school, ensuring no student, teacher, or family is turned away from experiencing the power of live theatre.
SANTA CRUZ WELCOMING NETWORK
Legal Aid & Free Legal Clinics for Asylum Seekers: We support people who seek asylum and refuge. Thanks to SC Gives donors last year, we helped all of the asylum seekers we accompany pay legal fees, and secure housing, food, transportation and medical care. This year, we will subsidize legal aid for asylum cases of new neighbors who we accompany. We will build an emergency response for those apprehended at check-in or taken by ICE. We will support free legal clinics that support other asylum seekers, staffed by attorneys and other volunteers. We helped organize two free legal clinics for asylum seekers in the past year with attorney volunteers. We would like to double this effort and need support for screening and preparing applicants, training volunteers, and other tasks.
SAVE OUR SHORES
Next Generation Ocean Stewards: Our Big Idea is to expand Coastal Classroom for K–12 students from under-resourced schools. This marine science program provides outdoor learning with field trips, classroom lessons, and immersive virtual reality “dives” into Marine Protected Areas. Students gain knowledge, confidence, and stewardship skills while experiencing the coast, often for the first time. We bring 300+ students from schools in underserved communities to local ecosystems—with transport, supplies, and bilingual instruction. Our transformative outdoor experiences bridge equity gaps in environmental education.
SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK
Standing in the Gap: Federal cuts to SNAP (CalFresh) created a hunger cliff for thousands of local families. Second Harvest is standing in the gap, scaling up the local response. Your support allows us to purchase tons of healthy food and strengthen logistics, ensuring our 100+ partner distribution sites can meet the rising demand. We anticipate the first wave of SNAP cuts will put nearly 40,000 local people deeper into food insecurity. Second Harvest is the frontline response. Our established network allows us to turn every $1 donated into 3 healthy meals.
SENDEROS
¡Artes Culturales! Cultural Arts Pathways for Latino Youth: Our free after-school Mexican dance and music program for Latino youth, most of whom are low-income, offers instruments, outfits, instruction, and performance opportunities while promoting culture, confidence, and academic success. Senderos youth proudly showcase their talent in over 18 community and school festivals annually with 8,000 in attendance, and are encouraged to achieve their dreams for college and career. Our volunteer-driven organization wants Mexican immigrant youth to find cultural pride in the face of racism, and avoid gang involvement and substance use.
SENIOR LEGAL SERVICES
Emergency Response Fund: We provide free legal services to defend the rights of seniors and other vulnerable populations to quality housing, government benefits, and protection from exploitation and discrimination. We serve low-income and vulnerable women and men over the age of 60 in Santa Cruz County, make sure that they have a safe place to live, fight for their social security, and appeal cuts to health and disability benefits. Thousands are at risk of losing homes, benefits, and access to critical healthcare.
SHARED ADVENTURES
Mental Health Support Through Recreation: The Shared Adventures program provides physical activities and is increasingly supporting a network for mental wellness through companionship, community, referrals and peer support. Involving participant families in our activities leads to social relationships among peer families as well as peers, which amplifies the special (and basic) needs of our participants. We also deal with various local agencies and connect participants and families to resources. Our work helps disabled individuals and their families achieve stable, healthy conditions and integrate in jobs and schools, leading to less institutionalization, crime and drug use, and family fragmentation.
TANNERY WORLD DANCE AND CULTURAL CENTER
Empowering Access, Equity, and Excellence: TWDCC provides need-based scholarships to low-income and underrepresented youth in Santa Cruz County, enabling access to quality dance education. Serving up to 20% of our students, this donation-supported initiative fosters discipline, confidence, and personal growth. By making dance accessible, we build a more inclusive community, empower young people, demonstrate dance’s transformative power, and nurture talent. Last season, we supported 41 students and increased our scholarship program to include classes and costumes, Youth Company fees, etc. Join us to include more students.
TEEN KITCHEN PROJECT
Medically Tailored Meal Delivery: Your funds will help TKP provide over 1,200 individuals (87% are low-income) who are impacted by serious illness with 230,000 medically tailored meals in 2026. Approximately 150 teen chefs from all areas of the county learn to prepare, cook and package meals for delivery. We are the only nonprofit in Santa Cruz County to prepare and deliver medically tailored meals.
THE DIVERSITY CENTER OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
DIVERSITY CENTER
Building the Future of LGBTQ+ Mental Health Care: Our Mental Health Trainee Program is transforming mental health care for LGBTQ+ people in Santa Cruz County. In 2025, our team provided over 700 free counseling sessions to LGBTQ+ community members seeking support. We partner with regional universities to recruit and train license-eligible Mental Health Trainees, equipping them with the skills to become identity-affirming counselors specializing in LGBTQ+ care. LGBTQ+ people face escalating mental health challenges driven by anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, policy rollbacks, and rising social marginalization. The demand for our services continues to grow.
THEATRE 831 (ALL ABOUT THEATRE)
An Inclusive, Vibrant Arts Hub: After a successful inaugural year operating the Colligan Theater—staging 11 musicals, 16 theater camps, several film festivals, dance performances, and more—Theatre 831, which encompasses All About Theatre (23 years), and Miracles Santa Cruz (2 years), seeks a managing director. We broke even last year, with volunteers and your funds through SC Gives. We transitioned the theater, hung a repertory lighting plot, rebranded The Colligan as a venue, and hosted local artists—but we need additional leadership to make the theater sustainable and more accessible to local talent, to produce more professional and youth theater, and to host diverse community rentals.
VETS 4 VETS SANTA CRUZ
Emergency Fund Program: We prevent small setbacks from spiraling into major crises when veterans fall through the cracks—waiting on delayed benefits, are ineligible for existing aid, or face urgent needs too small for larger programs. For veterans in crisis, even $250 can be life-changing. Our Fund provides immediate relief for urgent needs—food, shelter, transportation, or car repairs—helping local veterans avoid homelessness, ease stress, and regain stability. Last year we provided 70+ emergency grants, each one a lifeline. Support from Santa Cruz Gives donors builds a community of hope and belonging for veterans.
VILLAGE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
Workshops to gather what’s most important: Our project meets a broad need: It is to offer a systematic, proven method to organize and consolidate all essential information in one place—hardcopy and digital. An unpredictable medical crisis, dementia, or death can leave everyone scrambling, adding the stress of searching for documents and passwords. We request support to purchase a license and materials to run a pilot open to the public. Twelve workshops will be taught in person and online. Attendees would have a complete record, revisable as circumstances change, and easy to locate. Topics covered: legal, medical, personal, financial, insurance, real estate, living options, daily living, crisis plan, home health, hospice and end of life.
WALNUT AVENUE FAMILY & WOMEN’S CENTER
Legal Alliance Service Heroes: Walnut Avenue strives to offer trauma-informed legal services to domestic violence survivors, marginalized individuals, people with disabilities, and others who lack access. Currently we offer legal advocacy and provide legal assistance with domestic violence restraining orders and support at court. There is no funding stream to offer a more consistent and grounded structure for legal services. The more steadily participants are able to use our services, the more successful the outcomes and their shift for change and hope. We are determined to create new legal workshops, find more service providers and potentially broaden the scope of service to include protective orders, and more.
WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH
Growing Middle School Environmental Leaders: Our Green Grizzlies Club won the state of California Resource Recovery Association’s Next Generation Recycler Award (2025). With your support, WWW will collaborate with teachers and students to expand from Pajaro Valley High School to PVUSD middle schools, engaging students in on-campus food waste diversion, composting, litter cleanups, school greening, and peer outreach. This will develop environmental leaders, support student and environmental health, and offer skill-building and hands-on learning. We will provide staff, curriculum, presentations, supplies, stipends and incentives. High school interns will mentor and support the middle school students.
WINGS HOMELESS ADVOCACY
WINGS
Bring Back Beds: Last year, with $38,000, Wings transformed 167 empty spaces into homes—one bed, one basket, one sheet at a time. With no building, only 3 staff and 40 incredible volunteers, we run on community power. This year our program was paused as funding ran out. Hundreds of people moving into housing now don’t have the dignity of a place to sleep, rest, and heal. A Welcome Home package (bed, bed frame, bedding, essential household supplies) costs about $600. A birth certificate costs about $50—this vital document unlocks housing, jobs, and stability. We’re asking the community to help us ensure that no one must sleep on a floor.
YOUTH RESOURCE BANK (YRB)
Investing In Our Youth: We support vulnerable youth ages 18-22, particularly youth aging out of the foster care system. The challenges they face include housing instability, food insecurity, access to enriching activities/college, job readiness (work boots, clothing, uniforms). Your investment helps bridge critical gaps, opening possibilities for youth who might otherwise be disenfranchised or homeless. Examples of resources YRB provides: participation fees for classes and enrichment activities, transportation assistance, communication tools, sports gear, school supplies, clothing, and household essentials; health, mental health, and dental needs; child safety needs (car seats, bike helmets, locks).
From the world of jam bands, playing alongside icons Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, to the stages of Nashville, Bay Area singer/songwriter Nicki Bluhm has been busy forging her own path, on her own terms. Independently minded, with a voice that is at once unique but brings up comparisons to everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Bonnie Raitt, Bluhm sounds eternally American. And now Bluhm is bringing her newest collection of songs to the Felton Music Hall on Nov. 21.
Heralding her latest album, Rancho Deluxe, Bluhm is on a creative journey whose discoveries we all get to savor. From the opening track, “Bay Laurel Leaves,” you know you’re in for a fun ride. Sounding like George Martin orchestrated the strings, it’s a stirring song. Bluhm reveals that Kristin Weber, Americana Instrumentalist of the Year Award Winner in 2021, arranged and played strings on that track, and also on “Taking Chances.”
“She’s a good friend of mine, and an incredibly accomplished player. I really didn’t give her much direction at all. It’s the perfect opening track because it’s sort of mysterious. And for me, it makes me want to just stay and listen and see what’s going to happen next,” says Bluhm from her home along the Cumberland River.
After leaving her roots in Northern California, Bluhm now lives on a ranch in Tennessee, north of Nashville. Idyllic days are spent grooming horses, and in the evening, she performs in a home barn with a wide assortment of some of the most talented folks in the business. With her partner, musician Jesse Noah Wilson, she recorded her latest in their home studio.
Rancho Deluxe is a sonic exploration of picking oneself up, dusting off, and reaching higher. “It’s really special, and there’s lots of water out here, which is really nice too, coming from a drought state. Those are the kind of things that give you subconscious stress. I love it but it is hard to be away from my family. That’s the hardest part for sure. And I do love California,” Bluhm admits wistfully.
In a consumer culture with a short attention span, albums are often chopped up and consumed one track at a time, and out of the order the artist chose. A lover of vinyl, Bluhm admits to a hiccup with Rancho Deluxe before it was pressed.
“We actually had one little tangle,” Bluhm explains. “We had the master, the vinyl mastering was done, and it was in one complete track. And then we decided to change the order, kind of very last minute. And we thought we had communicated that to the record pressing company. We got the first test pressing back and we were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s out of order.’ And so we had to do a whole second test pressing where we switched it.”
Because it does matter how songs appear on an album. Bluhm and Wilson spent a lot of time arranging the songs, like puzzle pieces, to find the perfect sequence. Listening to albums in order might be a lost cultural artifact, but that’s the beauty of vinyl. “Yeah, and it’s fun, too, because the artwork is bigger. So, you can spend time looking at the art, looking at the lyrics, and looking at the credits. It’s just a part of the process to dive into a record, and know who you’re listening to, and where it was made, and who mastered it, and who mixed it,” Bluhm laughs.
The eighth track on the album, “Trying to Survive,” starts off with the deep, soulful sounds of a B3 organ, and it feels like you’re going to church. It’s not out of place to consider Bluhm moving toward being a hybrid Americana/gospel singer. It’s a simple song, but it vibrates like something you’d hear in Nashville’s church, The Grand Ole Opry. The long-haired, lithe singer might not have ascended to that level of Tennessee royalty yet, but if this collection of songs is any indication, Bluhm is going to have a long career with a full treasure chest of gems.
Nicki Bluhm performs at 8pm on Nov. 21 at the Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $35. nickibluhm.com
‘You’re talking ancient history here, man,’ laughed Lech Wierzynski, responding to a question during a late-June interview about the year he moved out to the Bay Area after studying ethnomusicology at Oberlin College in Ohio.
Ancient history by his definition is 20 or so years, but it’s easy to understand why things might be a blur for the dynamic frontman and trumpet player of The California Honeydrops, a retro-soul, brass-filled band steeped in the musical traditions of New Orleans with jug band roots.
For the first decade of the band, he was hustling all the time. “There was like 10 years where we did not do anything, anything, anything else but this band,” Wierzynski emphasized. “I didn’t go outside. I didn’t go to the park to play basketball. I did not watch TV. I had no life except for trying to do this thing and make it happen.”
Whether it was roots, ragtime or rhythm and blues, The California Honeydrops spent those early days refining a uniquely eclectic sound that pulls from the past while presenting snappy hooks and horns that resonate today.From busking at Bay Area subway stations in 2007 with founding percussionist Benjamin Malament to becoming festival and fan favorites, the current core of the band has been together for about a dozen years and features Yanos “Johnny Bones” Lustig on saxophone, Lorenzo Loera on keys and guitar, Beaumont Beaullieu on drums, Miles Blackwell on bass, Oliver Tuttle on trombone, Leon Cotter on saxophone and clarinet, and Miles Lyons on trombone and sousaphone.
Playing for tips at BART stops provided Wierzynski and the burgeoning Honeydrops with a real-world performing arts education in what works and what doesn’t, because at the end of the day they were paying their rent with what they earned from busking. They saw what people responded to and leaned into it.
Wierzynski recently dug through a bunch of old stuff in his house “so my memories have been getting stirred all day,” he said. Amongst handwritten signs and old posters from forgotten gigs, he found the original tip jar.
“Just a regular old jar, it had a bunch of hardware in it to fix the tub bass because the tub bass would always break,” he chuckled, listing utilitarian necessities like a screwdriver and nuts and bolts that came with them on those formative trips. Earning dollars, quarters and dimes was “sustenance” for the first two years.
“We busked a lot actually, because, you know, I wasn’t trying to get a real job,” Wierzynski said, “and I was trying to play music as much as possible.”
Wierzynski got his start playing trumpet with some older Oakland blues cats, “where I really learned [and] where I saw and got to play with my first real entertainers and singers.” Some had been doing it for 30 years so it “was a huge educational and influential experience for me,” he said, because the musicians he saw on TV during his youth were “grunge and gangster rap.” He began to base his style more on the Godfather of Soul than MTV.
This flair has been on display on stages with New Orleans legends like Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Rebirth Brass Band as well as alongside blues giants B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Notable admirers include bluegrass forefather Del McCoury, who’s covered a pair of Honeydrops’ tunes, and Bonnie Raitt, who appeared on the title track of 2018’s double album “Call It Home” and later reinterpreted Wierzynski’s “Here Comes Love.”
The impact of old New Orleans music—like jazz and brass bands—on the Honeydrops’ sound can’t be overstated, and many of the band members have links to the music or geographic area. These are sounds they’ve studied, learning the language and idioms of their inspiration.
There’s also a sense they’ve learned the rules so they can break them, bringing their West Coast amalgamation to the mix. “Being an outsider is always kind of good in a way. You get to see things from a different perspective,” Wierzynski said.
While some of the Honeydrops’ catalogue—now a dozen-plus albums, including live releases—is suited for dusky lounges, the large group truly shines in sweaty clubs and on open-air stages where their contagious spirit can spread and multiply. The multifarious act has always brought a joie de vivre, never taking themselves too seriously and always offering a bit of silliness.
“The band is a little bit wired toward novelty,” Wierzynski said, “and nobody takes that much pride in being perfect.” It’s all about authenticity and “actually enjoying it,” he added. Back to that concept of taking cues from the audience, the band lives and dies by having no set list at shows.
“Some days it’s just flowing and you know what you wanna play,” Wierzynski explained. “Some days… you ask the crowd what they want to hear, and that’s part of the fun, part of what makes it more of a together experience.
“And then some days, you’re just lost in the wilderness. You don’t even know what the f*** you’re doing up there,” he said with a laugh. “Some nights, you have higher highs because it’s spontaneous. You’re opening up to the spontaneous nature of life and music and creativity.”
Wierzynski often calls the songs, but sometimes the band discusses it on stage,” he said. “People throw out ideas.”
No matter what, we’re all living in the moment with The California Honeydrops. It’s not preplanned or prerecorded, and “when it’s flowing,” Wierzynski said, “it’s this never-ending source of energy and creativity”—for both band and crowd.
The California Honeydrops play at 9pm (doors open at 8pm) on Nov. 22 at the Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Ages 16+. Tickets: $51.85. 831-713-5492. catalystclub.com
That may be the case with barely three-week-old Spontaneous Confections (next to Daily Grind in the Capitola Mall Food Court), as SC logistics chief Stephanie Lenorovitz helps illuminate, while celebrating her pastry chef-chocolatier husband’s gift for innovation.
“True to our name, Justin is creating all the time, updating, rethinking,” she says. “So our menu changes very often.”
That means compelling holiday treats for Thanksgiving, including pumpkin tarts with vanilla chantilly and candied hazelnuts, apple tarte tatin domes over caramel and almond cream, and chocolate tarts with ganache and chocolate whipped cream ($55/9-inch).
That presents mouthwatering news for the fans the couple has gathered at farmers markets, special events and Food Truck Fridays at Sky Park in Scotts Valley, which wrapped last month.
Those treats pair with fresh holiday hours (noon–5pm Thursday–Saturday), aka additional good cheer for those looking to lighten the seasonal dessert workload with a few of their celebrated Dubai bars, mini mango-passionfruit tarts, eye-catching holiday butter cookies or fancy, glossy and multilayered entremet cakes befitting Justin Lenorovitz’s training at the Bourdeaux region’s Institut Culinaire de France. spontaneousconfections.com.
NO POISON PLEASE
Public health and education officials teamed with labor and anti-pesticide advocates in Watsonville City Plaza on Nov. 18—in concert with news conferences in Fresno, Modesto and Oxnard—to call for a statewide phaseout of all fumigants near schools, expanding the quarter-mile school pesticide buffer zones to at least 1 mile, while infilling the buffer areas with organic farming, noting new 1,3-D pesticide “regulation” allows school kids and farmworker community members to be exposed to concentrations 14 times greater than the lifetime cancer risk threshold established by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Safe Ag Safe Schools’ Yanely Martinez sums up the situation by saying, “The policy and the whole process is a cruel and glaring example of environmental racism.” pesticidereform.org.
AS GOOD AS EVER
I’m thrilled to report one of my favorite food businesses continues to conduct a tidy two-step by 1) limiting food waste and 2) stoking eaters with outstanding value for unsold dishes. Too Good to Go is a nonprofit that launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2016 and came to Santa Cruz in 2023. Restaurants participate by packing their choice of “surprise bags” of day-fresh goodies for designated time windows, then interested appetites can download the app, punch in a search radius, see what restaurants, bakeries and other eateries are offering, link payment and dig in. A friend just brought over two small Round Table combo pizzas for $6 and told me Whole Foods now does all sorts of bundles too. Other Santa Cruz outposts active at the moment include 11th Hour Coffee (1001 Center St., Santa Cruz), El Rosal Bakery (21513 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz) and Pono Hawaiian (120 Union St., Santa Cruz), among others. toogoodtogo.com/en-us.
ON THE OTHER HAND
Other times, truth in advertising is overrated: Woodhouse Blending & Brewing should be called Woodhouse Blending & Brewing & Music & Dancing, as the downtown hub keeps flowing great craft beer and also outsize entertainment, like line dancing (Nov. 19), global bass dance outfit Outernational (Nov. 21), high energy/deep groove practitioners Tokyo Hot Tub (Nov. 22), and NPR Tiny Desk 2024 winner The Philharmonik (Dec. 5), woodhousebrews.com/events…Savvy and stylish cocktail outpost Front & Cooper (Abbott Square, 725 Front St., Santa Cruz) reanimates its epic Christmas-themed pop-up “Miracle” with intense decor and seasonal drink specials, Nov. 24 through Jan. 1, 2026, frontandcooper.com…Blue honey is a thing now, from Alive, a Greek company that farms and sells colorful spirulina (the nutrient-dense algae often deployed as a dietary supplement), and just made its US debut via Laconic Foods under the label Cyano…Victor Hugo—a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician—fly us out: “Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”
Intimately involved with food throughout her entire life, Kae Bailes was born and raised in northeastern Thailand before moving to Santa Cruz 22 years ago. She learned to cook at a young age from her mom, who had a home-based mini mart that specialized in selling papaya salad, noodle soup and chicken.
Wanting to actualize this heritage knowledge, she always dreamed of having her own Thai restaurant. She met her current business partner, Nuni, while working together in town. They began looking for a space all their own, a collective aspiration manifested when Coconut Thai opened in September. Bailes says their spot’s ambiance is modern, yet homey with wood floors and dark, warm colors complementing an authentic Thai food menu.
Highlighted appetizers are vegetarian sweet potato curry pops with special seasonings and cucumber sauce, crispy garlic Thai-style pork jerky, coconut shrimp with sweet spicy plum sauce, and a Laos-style spicy papaya salad. Main dish bests include a very traditional fermented spicy soybean paste curry with minced chicken and shrimp, a ginger prawn clay pot with silver noodles, and a deep-fried branzino fish filet with green apple salad, mint, basil, cilantro and cashews. The do-not-miss dessert is fried banana ice cream.
What inspired your immigration to the U.S.?
KAE BAILES: It’s kind of like the American dream, right? For me, I didn’t expect to come to America until I met my husband. We met online and talked for two years until he flew to meet me in Thailand and it was love at first sight. He has since passed away, but without him I wouldn’t be here. And now I am living the American life I only dreamed about, I have no regrets and am surrounded by a great group of friends.
What do you hope Coconut Thai brings to the community?
We want to bring happiness, good food and good service to this wonderful area. Our slogan is “come as guests, leave as family.” We have plenty of parking, an open newly renovated space and a second large event room where we can host private parties. We love to have fun, celebrate and party, and love creating a space for guests to do that. We strive to work hard and enjoy it at the same time, appreciate customer feedback and always seek to improve.
3555 Clares St., Suite RR, Capitola, 831-476-4688; coconutthaisc.com
In a world where needy people have been demonized by some in power, here’s the alternative: people who genuinely care about others and have set up nonprofits...
n this week’s Letters section, Santa Cruz readers raise concerns about a dangerous high-rise proposal near Paul Sweet Road, celebrate anonymous acts of kindness, warn about expanding surveillance cameras, and champion original local music over cover bands.
Published in cooperation between AdventureGamers and Good Times
California's cardrooms just can't catch a break. The long-running battle over whether these gambling halls are operating legally has flared up again, and this time the threats are coming from multiple directions. Fresh off a court victory in October, cardroom operators now face an appeal from the state's gaming tribes, plus a...
November 19-December 31 | Donate @ SantaCruzGives.org
Santa Cruz Gives is funded by the generosity of Good Times, Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Applewood Foundation, Joe Collins, Driscoll’s Inc., 1440 Foundation, West Coast Community Bank, Wynn Capital Management, Bay Federal Credit Union, The Pajaronian, and Press Banner.
Thanks to you, generous local...
With a voice that is at once unique but brings up comparisons to everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Bonnie Raitt, Nicki Bluhm sounds eternally American. At Felton Music Hall, 11/21
The California Honeydrops spent their early days refining a uniquely eclectic sound that pulls from the past while presenting snappy hooks and horns that resonate today.
Spontaneous Confections offers pumpkin tarts with vanilla chantilly and candied hazelnuts, apple tarte tatin domes over caramel and almond cream, and chocolate tarts with ganache and chocolate whipped cream
Intimately involved with food throughout her entire life, Kae Bailes was born and raised in northeastern Thailand before moving to Santa Cruz 22 years ago. She learned to cook at a young age from her mom, who had a home-based mini mart that specialized in selling papaya salad, noodle soup and chicken.
Wanting to actualize this heritage knowledge, she always...
