Over thirty conference-goers took a lunch excursion to the Ventura Botanical Gardens.
Recently the City of Ventura hosted representatives from 73 Rotary clubs in the organization’s Central California district. Ventura’s three clubs are part of Central coast.
“It was a great opportunity to showcase Ventura as a place for business and pleasure”, said Mario De La Piedra, the event organizer and Past President of Downtown Rotary.
Under sunny, clear skies, over thirty conference-goers took a lunch excursion to Ventura Botanical Gardens above City Hall. Bruce McGee, past President of Ventura East Rotary Club, arranged the trip.
“We wanted to share the unique joint investment our three Ventura clubs are making in the Gardens, a spectacular viewpoint to be called Rotary Plaza. It is situated at the heart of VBG, where the trail crosses Summit Drive. Rotary parks dot 200 towns across the U.S., but we have none in Ventura. We wanted to deliver something of lasting impact to the community and we knew this was the right project for us.”
Visitors learned about Rotary’s values, history, global and local projects, and membership information via the mobile app that VBG is installing.
Bruce added, “Rotary Plaza is our public endorsement of Ventura Botanical Gardens, a decades-long project that has the power to transform our city. This world-class destination in the making for Ventura County is expected to bring millions in new tourist revenue for hotels, restaurants, and other services. We are proud to be among their first large investors, raising $250,000 to build Rotary Plaza. We are past the halfway mark and are looking for additional Rotarians or other donors who believe in this legacy project. Groundbreaking for Rotary Plaza is anticipated next spring with completion by year end 2018.”
