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“Speaking of Ventura County”

Annual Lecture Series at the Museum of Ventura County an 8-week series features educators and experts who share the rich stories of Ventura County

All presentations are at the Museum of Ventura County on Wednesdays.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“Making the Garden Bloom: A History of Agricultural Water Use in Ventura County”
John Krist, Chief Executive Officer, Farm Bureau of Ventura County

Wednesday, February 15, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“There’s No Place Like Home: A Travel Writer’s Appreciation of Ventura”
Ken McAlpine, Local Author

Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“The History and Pageantry of the Dixie Thompson Saddle”
Tom Peterson, Director, Carriage Museum

Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“My Darkest Hour”
James Bachner, Holocaust Survivor

Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“California vs. the Nation: Gov. Brown’s Democrat California contends with President Trump’s Republican Federal Government”
Herbert E. Gooch III, Ph.D., M.A., M.B.A., Professor, Department of Political Science, Cal Lutheran University

Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“Delinquent Girls and Incorrigible Women: A History of the Ventura School for Girls”
Colleen Coffey, Professor of History, Ventura College
Catelyn Kindred, Education Specialist, Museum of Ventura County

Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
“Civil Liberties in Times of National Crises: Japanese Internment during World War II”
Megan Gately, Director of Education and Outreach, Museum of Ventura County

$7 per session, MVC members free.  Buy 8 sessions for $40 (pay in advance).
Please call  653-0323 x330 or contact Tina Nielsen at [email protected] for reservations.

 

Ventura County Concert Band “International Harmony”

On Sunday , January 29th the Ventura County Concert Band presented “International Harmony” at Ventura high school. The free concert featured the 60 member orchestra under the direction of Dr. Julie Judd. They played a variety of music from the Star Spangled Banner, Sainit-Saens to Fiddler On The Roof to the cheering audience. Featured soloists were Patrick Ingram, clarinet, Cathy Sanders, trombone and Randy Jones, trumpet. E-mail [email protected] to be put on their mailing list for future concerts.

Non-profit dedicated to enhancing the historic Ventura Pier elects officers

The Board of Directors for Pier into the Future.

Pier into the Future, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the historic Ventura Pier has elected their 2017 slate of officers David Fukutomi – President, Kathy McAden – Vice President, Doug McAden- Chief Financial Officer and Ronda Holden – Secretary.

“With the wonderful support from the community and the leadership on the board of directors, 2017 is looking to be a great year for our beloved Ventura Pier”, said Pier Into the Future Executive Director Jenise Wagar.

The organization was founded by a group of dedicated community leaders, in partnership with the City of Ventura, to establish an endowment fund to maintain and enhance the historic Ventura Pier for future generations to enjoy. The organization has contributed over $700,000 to the City of Ventura over the last 23 years to enhance the Pier. And an endowment fund continues to provide earnings to support the Pier each year.

At the core of its fundraising efforts is the opportunity to have your name or the name of a loved one engraved in granite at the Pier. In addition, the organization produces two signature community events: Sunset Dinner on the Pier in the Spring and Pier Under  the Stars to be held October 7, 2017.

Visit www.pierintothefuture.org for more information about Pier into the Future or how you can volunteer to help to raise funds for the Pier.

Park Outreach Team

The Team does more than hand out donations. 

by Jill Forman

Every Tuesday, rain or shine, they are at Plaza and Mission Parks.  The Park Outreach Team is there to make life a little better for those who often have no home, who spend their days in the parks and their nights…who knows where?  A good half of the Team has been in the shoes of these folks, and knows what they need.

They hand out wipes, socks, tarps, donated clothing, toiletries, female hygiene supplies.  One man in Mission Park only wants books; he gets those too.

What they don’t hand out is food.  Even bottled water and granola bars are now forbidden items for them to give out.  When they first started, it was summer 3 ½ years ago and temperatures had been over 90 degrees for three days in a row.  Two individuals, Rob and Kathy, went around handing out water.  Rob had been homeless and had recently inherited a small amount of money, and he used that to buy supplies.  The Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura adopted the program under its Lift Up Your Voice, a grassroots advocacy program dedicated to serving the homeless.

Kathy, a member of the UU church, is now the chair of the Team.  She says she does this work because her immediate family is represented by the ones she serves: the homeless, addicted, mentally ill, jobless, and disabled.  “I do this for others, because others have taken care of me and my family.”

Another stalwart of the team is Roy. A native of Ventura, he was in Special Education and never finished school.  Disabled, he was homeless for seven years while waiting for housing.  He knows “everybody” in the parks, because he went to school with them and has known many of them for 50 years.  He hugs them, asks about their families, takes them to appointments.

Chris, another member from the UU church has this to say, “I go with the park outreach team because I feel that it is important to look homeless people in the eye and listen to them to acknowledge that we all are equal and deserving human beings.”  She has had her share of personal tragedies understands what that can do to one’s spirit.

Macheel comes “…more for me, to get outside of what’s going on in my life.”

Gail, always on her bike with a big smile, used to be homeless; she works with the Team “…because I can, because I love Kathy, she has done so much for me and I’m grateful.”

The Team does more than hand out donations.  They listen if someone wants to talk.  Patiently, as on a recent day when a young woman tells a rambling story.  A man close by, bundled up in coats and a sleeping bag despite the sunshine, yells out, “I have a cold, don’t want to talk.”  He is given some wipes and socks, left silently next to him on the bench.

Simply Homeless

Written by Roy Foster, formerly homeless and now a member of the Park Outreach Team, inspired by the Homeless Persons’ Memorial Service

Where is the love when the rain hits me from my head to my feet

Where is the love when there is no place for me to sleep

Where is the love when I hold a sign to get me something to eat

Where is the love when I am behind bars and it looks like for keeps

Where is the love when I want my mom to sing me to sleep

Where is the love when there is no place safe for my kids to sleep

Where is the love when I’m on my knees trying to warm my hands toward the heat

Where is the love when the doctors take my feet

Where is the love when I need a house to keep me safe from the creeps

 

 

 

Shining Star Awards

Project Understanding requests the honor of your presence at the Shining Star Awards: Volunteer Appreciation Event at 6pm Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Poinsettia Pavilion. The Master of Ceremonies will be Ventura City Councilmember Cheryl Heitmann.

Community transformation occurs through great volunteers and community partners. Individuals and organizations will be honored for their community service, including these pre-announced winners:

Volunteer of the Year for each program:

  • Tutoring-David Ensminger
  • Food Pantry-Joanna Norstedt
  • Tender Life Maternity Home-Karen Collier and Carolyn Tabor
  • First Step Center-Nita Perkins
  • Administration-Meg Perry and Gina Norstedt.

Business of the Year: MortgageCouch

Collaborating Partner of the Year: CAPS Media

House of Worship: Ventura Seventh-Day Adventist Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Philanthropists of the Year: Oxnard Monday Club

Community Partner of the Year: Richard H. Bejune Memorial Foundation

Other Awards are secret until the presentation.

Project Understanding transforms lives and community by…
Housing the homeless, 100 last year
Feeding the hungry, 900 per month
Tutoring children, 325 each week in Oxnard, El Rio, Santa Paula, Saticoy, Ventura

Dress will be semi-formal/business attire. There will be appetizers and refreshments served. Please RSVP to [email protected] or by phone at 652-1326 ext. 301.

Aboard the USS San Diego

Photos by Richard Lieberman

The USS San Diego, is a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship. It was open to the press on media day at Naval Base Ventura County. This 684-foot-long ship can accommodate four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, and two LCAC’s (air cushioned landing boats), it can also carry two MV-22 Ospreys that land and takeoff like a helicopter. The ship’s crew is 380 Sailors (29 officers, 351 enlisted) and 3 Marines. The embarked landing force is 699 and a medical ward with 24 beds. The ship is designed to land service personel and equipment ashore for various missions. During combat it would be in a group of warships. The ship was at Naval Base Ventura County for a few days to accomplish crew training exercises.

 

 

 

Ventura County Community College District sets 2017 goals

Ventura County Community College District Chancellor Bernard Luskin, College Promise Campaign Deputy Director James Schuelke, Moorpark College President Luis Sanchez, Oxnard College President Cynthia Azari, Board Chair Bernardo Perez and Ventura College President Greg Gillespie.

The Ventura County Community College District held its first Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting of the New Year on Tuesday, January 3. It also marked the first meeting of his term for newly-elected Board Chair Bernardo Perez.  Perez used the opportunity to share his vision for working with administration and staff to increase efficiencies across the District – leading to more and improved services for students.  One of the top priorities is the collaboration between each of the three colleges in the District to form and support a District-wide College Promise program.  In alignment with this goal, Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura Colleges will work together on the Ventura County Community College District application for the California College Promise Innovation Grant released by the state Chancellor’s Office “to support the improvement in successful student transition from high school to college.”

Leading the initiative for the VCCCD is Vice Chancellor Rick Post and for the colleges, Ventura College President Greg Gillespie with the support of Moorpark College President Luis Sanchez and Oxnard College President Cynthia Azari.

Ventura College is home to one of the oldest College Promise programs in the nation and is the first program established in California (2006), following the Kalamazoo, Michigan, Promise launched in 2005.  Since the inception of the Ventura College Promise, 22 College Promise programs have followed suit in the state of California (13 of which were just announced in 2016). Throughout the nation, there are more than 150 College Promise programs across 37 states (College Promise Campaign 2015-16 Annual Report).

“In its 11th year of operation, the Ventura College Promise is a flagship program that has provided substantial opportunities to deserving students with important goals and tremendous potential to better our communities,” remarked Board Chair Bernardo Perez.  “Part of our mission at the VCCCD is to promote access to educational opportunities which makes implementing College Promise programs a natural fit to the functioning of the District,” said Chancellor Bernard Luskin.  “We’re excited to expand the Promise footprint to open more doors for students,” added Luskin.

The Ventura College Promise is supported and operated by the Ventura College Foundation; it was initially started to serve students whose families made less than $50,000 per year. In January 2007, the VC Promise expanded to all students who graduated from high schools or received GEDs in the Ventura College service area .

 

“Favorite teachers” honors given by Ventura college women’s basketball

68 instructors have been honored since the program was created.

The Ventura College women’s basketball team joined by Ventura College President Greg Gillespie and Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustee Stephen Blum presented the 2017 Favorite Teachers Awards on Saturday, Jan. 21, with a ceremony at Ventura College. This is the 12th year the sophomore class of the women’s basketball team has chosen to honor their favorite teachers with an essay that expresses their gratitude and appreciation in an authentic way.

Including the 2017 honorees, a total of 68 instructors have been honored since the program was created by Head Coach Ned Mircetic.

The student athletes escorted their favorite teachers to center court where the dignitaries presented the awards during halftime of the men’s basketball game against Moorpark College. President Gillespie and Trustee Blum were joined by Vice President of Academic Affairs Kimberly Hoffmans, RN, Ed.D., Vice President of Student Affairs Damien Peña, Ed.D. and      Dr. Tim Harrison, dean of Athletics, Health and Kinesiology.

“This ceremony is a reflection of the steadfast dedication Ventura College faculty has for its students and the mutual appreciation students have for their instructors,” said Blum.

The following teachers were selected as the 2017 Favorite Teachers:

  1. Gary Amar, Speech – selected by Kyleesha Green
  2. Laura Gillis, English – selected by Paige Larson
  3. Richard Goff, Criminal Justice – selected by Rhiana Dougan
  4. Liz Kraus, English – selected by Sienna Brown
  5. Preston Pipal, Anatomy – selected Mary Shirley
  6. Edward Reynosa, Aikido – selected by Christina Gonzalez

 

 

 

Good Bokeh photography exhibit

Dab Art has several exciting events coming up! Three exhibitions curated by Dab Art will be opening in the upcoming months; Vanishing Oasis, a solo exhibition by Janet Milhomme exploring the Salton Sea through mixed media. Back to The Future, another solo exhibition of retro abstracts by Krystal Becker, and Good Bokeh our  international juried photography exhibit. At H Gallery + Studios (1793 E Main). Dabster Arts is also offering affordable art classes in all genres of art.

Amy Jennings art at Poinsettia Pavilion

Amy Jennings art hanging in the main lobby of the Poinsettia Pavilion.

Amy Jennings has been a lover of nature and all things beautiful since childhood.   She would spend endless hours coloring, drawing, painting and making craft projects.  Art classes were always her favorite growing up!

After getting her Associate’s Degree in Interior Design, she worked as an Interior Designer in her hometown of Bakersfield before moving to Santa Barbara to live near the ocean.  Always a beach girl at heart, she now resides in Ventura.

When she is not busy painting or decorating – she can be found doing something active like playing tennis, hiking, Pilates or riding her cruiser bike near the beach – always with Gigi the dog in the basket.