Dozing with Dozer

Student Finds a Home Among One of Us

Thousands of students are excited to be back after a year away from campus due to the COVID pandemic. Due to a variety of issues, there was a shortage of available housing in the community this fall. The university responded by contracting with several hotels to house students, and many staff and faculty opened their homes to help students in need.  

In late summer, an email went out from our University & Community Housing Services office asking if anyone had units or rooms for rent. Carol Dreste of the Campus Store saw the note but was in the process of planning a kitchen remodel for early 2022. She talked it over with her husband, Neil, as they had housed international students and even a couple of Santa Barbara Foresters (semi-pro baseball team) for a few summers. “We didn’t think it was fair to ask someone to pay and then be inconvenienced by not having a kitchen so we let it go for this year.” 

A few weeks later, Carol saw a post on Nextdoor from a mom in Oklahoma desperately looking for a room for her daughter who would be finishing her senior year at UCSB in December. “Now that might work!?” thought Carol… “but she’s going to have to get along with our not-so-small-dog Dozer and the chickens!” No worries. Elizabeth Turner arrived right before school started and everyone has been happier for it. 

Liz is an Aquatic Biology major and a member of the UCSB Dive Club. She’s happily wrapping up her final quarter and hopes to work in a local urchin farm if possible. The future may be uncertain but she sure is grateful for life in the present…and of course the Dreste’s. Thank you Carol!