Success!

We made it! ABC+ achieved its goal and raised over $70,000 in donations from local families, community members and the Art Fair/Hitching Post BBQ event. ABC+ also met the conditions of the anonymous matching $70,000 grant, which brings the total raised to $140,000 that will help fund the reinstatement of the premier International Baccalaureate Program at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School in the 2010-11 school year.

The Art Faire was a great event for the community, the artists and Santa Ynez High School academics. ABC+ raised over $11,000 at the Art Faire. The volunteers included parents, high school and junior high school students and teachers. We thank them for their hard work.

Thanks to the generosity of Frank and Jami Ostini, the Hitching Post BBQ was a fabulous feast; we sold out after serving 450 BBQ sandwiches and artichokes that generated $4,500 for ABC+.

Thanks to the Saarloos Family for generously donating the prime location, the Saarloos Sideyard.

Thanks to the Santa Ynez High School musicians, Alex Nishi and Mason Van Valin, for providing top-notch entertainment.

Thanks to Marcelino Jimenez for providing a unique quality mixed media assembly art project for the children.

Thanks to all the artists who agreed to participate, they generated $10,000 in sales at the event!
Finally, thanks to all of you who came out and supported the artists and efforts of ABC+!

ABC+ has reached its first goal with the generous support of our "can do" attitude in our community. During these challenging economic times, the community opened their wallets and gave what they could in support for our community's children with the goal to keep challenging them with quality educational programs. The hard work paid off with many fascinating stories and moments.

Thanks to the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School Board of Education, our elected officials. They opened the door for ABC+ to keep the International Baccalaureate Program on life support and not shutting us out of the process.

Thanks to Superintendent Paul Turnbull for making an excellent presentation to the out-of-state foundation, making the case for "why students at Santa Ynez High will benefit from an IB Program at our school". He was successful in securing a $70,000 matching grant and possibly a multiple year funding designed to help ABC+.

Thanks to everyone who donated and became involved in making this the largest community donation in the 114 year history of Santa Ynez High School in support of academics.

We know there are a lot of questions and many of those will be answered soon. In the meantime, ABC+ will continue to fundraise in support of higher academic learning so that all students in the Santa Ynez Valley who have the desire to excel academically will have access to higher level programs.


Thank you for your support,

Michelle de Werd, President
Theo Stephan, Vice President
Debi Gioia, CPA & Chief Financial Officer
Sharon Steele, Secretary
Jourdi de Werd, Director

Mission Statement

The Santa Ynez Valley Academic Booster Club Plus will bolster educational financial coffers in the Santa Ynez Valley so that all students who have the desire to excel academically will have access to 21st century thinking and learning. We will provide a long term financial network and become advocates of parent responsibility for our highly motivated students.