Unity Shoppe

Lending a helping hand

By Leah Etling on Sep 6, 2013 in Giving, People

It’s a time of transition for the Unity Shoppe, the food and clothing clearinghouse for people in need in greater Santa Barbara. In the process of moving to a new building on Sola Street, the loss of their longtime facility on Victoria (adjacent to the Victoria Hall) has been a setback. But with a clearly delineated path to recovery, it is clear that the well-known non-profit will quickly recover, aided by help from its community of friends.

Barbara Tellefson, Director of Operations for the 97-year-old program, has a way of telling the Unity Shoppe story that sounds like she is talking about her own family. And in fact, Tellefson’s strong passion for the work accomplished by Unity Shoppe is rooted in her own life, growing up in the U.S. as the daughter of German immigrants. Her family didn’t have much, and her parents did not want to ask for assistance. The situation is the same for many of the families Unity Shoppe serves.

With 11,000 families who make 71,000 visits to the Unity Shoppe warehouse each year, the charity helps with basic day-to-day needs like food and clothing, while helping clients keep their dignity intact. While they are receiving aid, the parents – usually mothers –  who “shop” for free groceries and clothes at the Shoppe are able to remain providers for their children. A total of 24,000 local residents benefit from Unity Shoppe services annually.

“We’re letting them come choose the things they need. That makes them look good in front of their children. Their children see them shopping, like a normal mother,” Tellefson explained.

Tellefson explains how important it is to meet clients on their own terms;

“Giving isn’t doing what I want to do. Giving is doing what a family needs me to do. If I want to help them, I need to say: ‘What do you need? What can I do to help you?’ We (usually) don’t do that when we help people,” Tellefson said.

With a client base that includes referrals from 300 other non-profit agencies across the Central Coast, the centralized distribution model for assistance is a unique one. But it has many benefits. Not only can referring agencies know that the people they send to the Shoppe are well-taken care of, but the system is efficient and eliminates duplication.

“That means we’re saving money. We’re not helping the same family over and over again at different charities.”

Most of the Unity Shoppe clients are not on welfare, Tellefson said. Rather, they are families who have suffered financial setbacks, are going through transition, and just need a little help to make ends meet.

“We want them working, and we want them self-sufficient. We want to get them past the problem, so they do not become a welfare case. This model really works,” said Tellefson. She changed the focus of the program from a holiday-only effort to a year-round one over 40 years ago.

The Unity Shoppe also serves as a job training program for teenagers. While working in the distribution center, they learn valuable retail skills that can be easily transferred to sales, inventory and customer-service related work.

The program has trained over 1,700 students, Tellefson said.

“Those are kids are taught how to run a store. They learn merchandising, inventory control, bar coding, how to put things on shelves properly, how to help clients through the store, how to check them out, how to do computer work. They learn the entire operation,” Tellefson explained. Teens who take to the work can build their first resume with the training.

Tellefson is a huge advocate for non-profit financial transparency, and encourages her donors to ask questions about how their money is being spent. To purchase a new building after being displaced from their old facility due to a real estate dispute, the Unity Shoppe has embarked on an aggressive capital campaign.

Typically operating funds of about $1 million  a year are raised by the annual Unity Shoppe Telethon, a 27-year fixture in the Santa Barbara community that has benefited from the involvement of local celebrities like Kenny Loggins and Jeff Bridges, among many others. Loggins was instrumental in helping Tellefson start the telethon and has been a major supporter since.

But the telethon was also displaced due to the renovation of the Victoria Hall facility, leading to increased costs for the event. Tellefson estimates that the price tag of moving will ultimately  total around $6 million. She’s confident, though, that ultimately the organization will be stronger than ever in its new location.

“I’m 77, and if I don’t live another day, I’ve seen such a loving spirit in this community, to help us do something this wonderful,” Tellefson said.  “I believe in this with my heart and soul.”

She believes the Unity Shoppe model could benefit communities nationwide, and enjoys sharing the set-up of the organization with visitors and guests from around the U.S. Tours showcase the hard work of volunteers and the student workers to help keep the shop running, and always impress visitors with the volume and scope of the operation.

Yardi has contributed to the Unity Shoppe with an unrestricted gift annually for the last three years. Read more about Yardi’s corporate philanthropy efforts with non-profits around the U.S. by clicking the link on the left hand sidebar.