When it comes to community volunteering and outreach, there are those who bite off more than they can chew, sometimes leaving behind nearly a full plate and other times choking under pressure, but not Melody Hunt.

For her, choice is not an option when it comes to being involved at Solvang School and in the Valley community as a whole.

“I definitely imagined and hoped to be involved with the community at this level,” she says. “My parents were always involved and I never thought it would be any other way for me.” 

Almost immediately after moving to the Valley, Melody began to sink her feet into the soil. She is the President of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Solvang School. She is a board member and the secretary of the Solvang School Education Foundation and has acted as a volunteer bible school teacher for the Santa Ynez Presbyterian Church for the past three years.

“She’s very generous in her time and is a [most] devoted parent,” says Michelle Leyva, one of Melody’s friends. “Our daughters were best friends and though I’m no longer at [Solvang School], I’m sure she’s doing a fantastic job.”

Melody deserves all that’s coming to her, Leyva says. “I don’t know how she does it,” she adds.

Born and raised in Kennewick, Washington, Melody met her husband Robert in1984, while attending college and volunteering for the non-profit organization Big Brothers Big Sisters of Spokane.

“I saw his legs and that was it,” she says, jokingly. “No, but he really does have nice legs.”

After getting married in June of 1988 and having their two children, Sydney, who is now 10 years old and Savannah, who is now 6, the Hunts moved to Goleta, then to Santa Ynez, finally settling in Solvang.

Though this is the first year Melody has acted as PTO president, she has been involved with Solvang School for about five years.

After getting continuous suggestions and recommendations to become PTO president, Melody finally decided that the leading role was for her.

“I said to myself, ‘You know, if I don’t do this, our poor school may become more fragmented,’” she says.

“Fragmented” is the term she uses to describe the varying departments and interests that are inherent in any school’s makeup, such as the administration, teachers, parents and students.

 The Solvang School PTO has seven officers and 19 chairs, who are responsible for varying fundraising activities and events such as the school carnival, the annual golf tournament and pizza Friday.

“Every year we raise about $30,000 to $40,000 from our fundraising drives,” Melody says. “Anything that comes in, goes out and is used to pay for incidentals like when a kid can’t afford to go on a field trip or when a teacher orders books and needs extra funding.”

The PTO’s mission is to “support public education and the parent-teacher relations at Solvang School.” It also gives scholarships to students and sponsors educational assemblies while bridging the different interacting groups that make a school successful.

“Nowadays we don’t have one parent working and the other staying at home, both are working,” Melody says. “I think that’s what makes the PTO different this year, is that we’ve tried to reach out to parents through different avenues so they can be involved without being put in the box of the traditional PTO.”

Linda Burrows, a parent of a Solvang School student and board member on the Solvang School Education Foundation, is encouraged by what Melody has accomplished as PTO president.

“She is an extremely gifted community organizer and has the gift of bringing people together and approaches everything with a great vision,” Burrows says. “A fundamental understanding and respect for the community and family motivates her.

“I hope she will be a friend of mine for life,” she said.