The 41st annual Mountain Affair will bring the San Lorenzo Valley community together next Friday to raise funds for Mountain Community Resources and recognize longtime volunteer Dan Selling for his decades of service.
The Oct. 30 event is scheduled for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Highlands Park Senior and Community Center, 8500 Highway 9 in Ben Lomond. The evening will feature food prepared by Barbara & Company Catering, wines from Alfaro Family Wines, live music and a silent auction featuring local businesses and community supporters.
Mountain Community Resources, a program of Community Bridges, has served valley residents for 43 years, providing food distribution, advocacy, counseling, parenting education, public benefits enrollment assistance, emergency preparedness and disaster recovery support.
Last year, the center directly served 744 residents from households that included 1,809 people, including 376 children and teens. Staff and volunteers distributed 5,170 bags of food to 576 residents, provided 575 crisis-support visits to 291 residents and delivered 427 hours of counseling.
Demand for services remains significant. Among residents receiving individualized advocacy and crisis support, half are renters and 28% are unhoused. Rising grocery costs and the loss of pandemic-era funding have also put pressure on the center’s food pantry and other essential services.
“Mountain Community Resources has been part of the San Lorenzo Valley for more than four decades because this community has always understood the importance of neighbors taking care of neighbors,” said Raymon Cancino, CEO of Community Bridges. “Whether someone needs groceries, help staying housed, counseling or support recovering from a disaster, MCR is a trusted place to turn. Mountain Affair gives people a chance to celebrate this community while making sure that support will be here when a neighbor needs it.”
Selling to receive Green Heart Award
Selling will receive the 2026 Mary Hammer Green Heart Award in recognition of his decades of volunteer service in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He has been involved with Mountain Community Resources since 1987 and has supported the San Lorenzo Valley Community Emergency Response Team since the program began in 2008.
The CERT program trains residents in basic disaster response skills so they can help their communities before, during and after emergencies.
Selling serves as a leader and radio coordinator with CERT and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and is a member of the San Lorenzo Valley Emergency Network. He also serves on the Santa Cruz County Emergency Management Council.
His radio communications classes train neighborhood groups to communicate during emergencies, helping establish a network that can relay critical information among isolated neighborhoods when electricity, phone lines and cellular service fail.
“Dan is part of our team and part of our MCR family,” said Erin Carlson-Jones, clinical director of counseling services at Community Bridges’ Family Resource Collective. “Dan is helping our neighbors develop skills that can genuinely strengthen the safety, connection, and resilience of our entire community.”
Selling’s wife of 52 years, Liz Taylor-Selling, received the Green Heart Award in 2016 for her leadership in organizing CERT from Mountain Community Resources’ command center. Honoring Selling a decade later recognizes the couple’s long-standing commitment to emergency preparedness and community service.
“If you look at Santa Cruz County and the number of disasters it has had over the last 40 years, we see the San Lorenzo Valley impacted more by disasters than any other part of the County,” Taylor-Selling said. “In some respects, the Valley and our County is a microcosm or test case for this kind of stuff.”
The award, named for Mountain Community Resources founder Mary Hammer, was established in 2010 to recognize people and organizations that go above and beyond in supporting the center and the community it serves. Selling is the award’s 16th recipient.
“He is always there to lend a hand, answer a question, fix something that needs fixing, or simply be a steady and supportive presence,” Carlson-Jones said. “He brings heart to everything he does. He’s someone we know we can count on, and he does it all with a wonderful sense of humor and a genuinely good heart.”
Emergency preparedness remains central
Mountain Community Resources was founded following the devastating 1982 mudslides and continues to work with CERT volunteers, Long Term Recovery Group partners and other community organizations to help residents prepare for and recover from emergencies.
The work is particularly important in the San Lorenzo Valley, where communities face risks from floods, mudslides and earthquakes. Organizers also point to the importance of preparedness ahead of a projected strong El Niño year.
Proceeds from Mountain Affair support the center’s ongoing services, including food pantry operations, crisis assistance, disaster recovery, emergency preparedness, counseling, legal assistance, parenting education and nutrition support.
Chef Marina Camarlinghi and grill master Victor Cuevas-Sanchez of Barbara & Company Catering are returning to prepare the meal, which will be paired with Alfaro Family Wines.
Advance ticket purchases are encouraged. Tickets, sponsorship opportunities and additional information are available at communitybridges.org/mountainaffair.
