Preserving & Renewing La Casa de Maria Retreat Center
Last issue, we featured Alyce Faye Cleese’s determined effort to help former nuns Carol Carrig, Juliet Twomey, and Stephanie Glatt, raise some $600,000+ in order to retire the remaining principal on what had been a $2.2-million mortgage on the 26-acre La Casa de Maria in Montecito. That $600,000+ will be equaled via an anonymous $1-million matching donation; over $300,000 has already been raised and matched. Once the mortgage is retired, the La Casa de Maria capital campaign will be able to concentrate on much needed repairs to the buildings and the grounds.
Some of the things they need are: $50,000 for a new floor in the main chapel; $20,000 for a new heating system; $3,000 to repair the pipe organ; $23,000 (per room) to renovate each retreat room and its bathroom; $30,700 to install solar panels that would meet all the electric needs for all the rooms; $7,000 to install French drains and gutters around the meditation chapel; $25,000 for a half-year’s salary to a garden manager to replant the organic garden; $6,500 for a tractor and tools; $3,000 for a walk-in cooler; $3,000 to upgrade an existing shed & cellar; $2,400 for a rototiller; $1,000 per tree to restore and preserve the oaks; $1,000 per tree to plant fruit orchard.
Commemorative gifts for any of the above items qualify for tax deductions via a 501(c) 3 California non-profit corporation, and naming possibilities abound. If you’ve never walked the grounds (you can enter from San Ysidro Lane or at the end of El Bosque), please do; it will take you back in time and may even inspire you to help preserve what is surely a great Montecito heirloom. We invite you to call 805-969-5031 for information and inspiration. | 
