Board Members

The founding angel of Project-Angels Bearing Gifts, Evelynn Smith, is the parent of a developmentally disabled adult. She is employed as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) in Santa Barbara, California. Evelynn has helped many parents of children with disabilities and many adults with the grieving process and accepting the diagnosis. Evelynn is a past board member of New Directions, which sponsors travel experiences for individuals who are developmentally challenged.  She is also an honorary member of the California Advisory Board of Devereux in Santa Barbara, an agency that operates residential facilities across the country for children and adults who are developmentally challenged.  She is a past board member of Cornerstone House, an agency which sponsors homes and summer camps for individuals with developmental disabilities. 

Linda Cowen   Linda has a Bachelor's of Social Science  degree from University of Cape Town, South Africa and a M.A. Special Education degree from the University of Northern Colorado. I have been teaching special education students for 26 years and currently am the Resource Teacher at Santa Barbara Charter School. I have 2 daughters, one of whom is autistic and lives in her own home with supported living.

Julie Sorenson has lived in Santa Barbara for 13 years.  Julie was raised up the coast in San Luis Obispo and graduated from Cal Poly.  She has a Bachelor's degree in Human Development/Family Studies with a minor in Psychology.  Her work experience began with direct care and management in group homes.  Prior to her work with sbparent.com, she worked at Devereux for ten years, working primarily as a medical case manager.  For the past three years, she has worked with sbparent.com doing Marketing/Sales.   She has also done event planning for the Mother's Day 5K/10K event.  She is married with two daughters. 

Heather Neal  was born and raised in Santa Barbara. She attended Santa Barbara City College as well as California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.She has been providing services for people with disabilities for 17 years, and 15 of those years have been with UCP/WORK, Inc. She is the Director of the Applied Ability Program in Santa Barbara and provides in-house training to staff. 

Lynn Chou joined the Board of Angels Bearing Gifts in May 2008. She is a 14 year resident of Santa Barbara. She is a UCLA graduate and part time chiropractor and acupuncturist. She spends most of her time creating handcrafted spa and body care products under the name Mieko. She also serves on the board of directors for Laguna Cottages for Seniors, which offers low income housing for independent seniors. She is married and plans to start a family next year.

Pen Bourdet has lived in  Santa Barbara for 42 years. A graduate of  San Jose  State  University with a bachelor of science degree in nursing, she is a registered nurse and a public health nurse. She began her nursing career at  Tahoe  Forest  Hospital in  Truckee , where she worked for 4 years, and retired from nursing after 29 years at the Devereux Clinic, serving people with various disabilities, including mental illness. In the time between these two positions, she raised three daughters, supporting her family as a silversmith. Since retirement, she has become a santera, or “saintmaker,” carving and painting Cristos, bultos, and retablos.

Linda Grand, a native of California, graduated from Cal State Northridge with an Elementary Teaching Credential in 1980. She is currently a school librarian at Adams School. She enjoys hiking in the beautiful canyons around town, making art, and building community. She has two daughters who are studying law and nursing..

 

Mia Benavides-Willson is a native Costa Rican and has lived in Santa Barbara for 20 years. She is currently a stay-at-home mother of two, Ty and Mylie, who are the inspiration behind her current projects serving people with disabilities. Mia serves on the committee organizing the annual Ability Awareness Walk & Roll at the Goleta Lemon Festival, as well as on the committee for The Down Syndrome Association of Santa Barbara County. Mia has co-authored a brochure to be given to new parents of children with Down Syndrome at the time of diagnosis that reflects positive, real-life stories of families in Santa Barbara. Mia lives in Carpinteria with her husband and two children.

September Bowman has taught special education for two years after graduating from Stanford. She also worked at the Santa Barbara YMCA as a pre-school teacher and director for eight years. September became an RN and has worked for ten years at Devereux. She also worked at the Santa Barbara Medical Foundation clinic and the Santa Barbara County Jail. When her youngest child graduated from college, she went back to Stanford to become a family nurse practitioner. She worked for 11 years at the Westside Clinic, where many of her patients had disabilites. Although she retired from Westside last summer, she has continued to work part-time for two local doctors. She also volunteers at the Unity Shoppe. She has three grown children, including a son with cerebral palsy, and five grandchildren.

Michael Nutik was born and educated in Montreal, Quebec. He is the owner of Westbrook Trading Company, a meat packing plant in Calgary, Alberta. Michael is also an animal lover and owner of LMN Farms where standard bred horses are bred and raced across Canada. He moved to Santa Barbara in 2001. He is married and has three children and two grandchildren.

Lorna Owens

Meredith Catalini

Joe and Pat Borris