Category Archives: This ‘n’ That

Seven young women are presented at 61st Annual Debutante Ball

Sophie Buffo, Maddie Kelly, Lauren Powell, Anna Casillas, Hannah George, Jackie King and Sadie McCormic are new debutantes.

Seven local young women made their debut as debutantes at the 61st Annual Las Patronas Presentation Ball held at the Ventura Beach Marriott. The Debutantes were presented by their fathers and grandfathers, and celebrated with family and friends at the white-tie fundraiser gala. The guests were welcomed by Las Patronas Chairman, Wendy Eales. Chuck Spence presided as Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

It was a magical evening with the ballroom filled with exquisite floral arrangements and the use of the Las Patronas fan, a time honored tradition. The girls wore a small gold and pearl fan necklace as a gift from the Las Patronas Auxiliary.

All high school seniors, the 2018 Debutantes represent 4 cities and 7 high schools in Ventura County. In their high school careers, they have distinguished themselves in academics, school government, community service and philanthropy, science, performing arts, and athletics.

All proceeds from the ball benefit Assistance League philanthropies, including the Assistance League School, the Girls Club/Teen Club, B.U.F.F.Y. Bear Program, and Operation School Bell ®.

The following are the 2018 Debutantes:

Miss Sophie Buffo, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Michael Buffo, Camarillo.
Sophie attends Newbury Park High School .

Miss Anna Lauren Casillas, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Casillas, Simi Valley.
Anna attends Oak Park High School.

Miss Hanna Elizabeth George, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James George, Westlake Village. Hanna attends Oaks Christian High School.

Miss Madeline Grace Kelly, daughter of Ms. Suzanne Kelly, Camarillo.
Madeline attends La Reina High School .

Miss Jacqueline Marie King, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph King, Camarillo.
Jacqueline attends Buena High School .

Miss Sadie Josephine McCormick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack McCormick, Camarillo. Sadie attends St. Bonaventure High School .

Miss Lauren Powell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold William Powel III, Ventura. Lauren attends Ventura High School .

Free workshop for ESL volunteer tutors

Laubach Literacy of Ventura County is offering a free workshop to help volunteers learn to become English as Second Language (ESL) tutors of adults.

The next workshop will be held Saturday, April 14 (from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM); lunch will be provided. The workshop will be held at Barrister Executive Suites in Ventura; directions will be given upon registration.

Various methods and materials for teaching English to adults will be demonstrated and taught during the workshop, enabling the new tutor to begin ESL tutoring right away. Neither teaching experience nor the ability to speak a foreign language is necessary. Open a world to an adult non-fluent English speaker with the gift of learning how to skillfully read, write, and speak English.

To register, get more information and directions, please call 385-9584, and please take some time to check out the website at www.laubachventura.org.

They painted the town green for the 30th year in a row

The parade Grand Marshal was the Thomas Fire First Responders. Photos by Michael Gordon and Bill Green

On March 17, starting at the San Buenaventura Mission on Main St. the St. Pat’s Parade was held under a beautiful Ventura sky. Over 80 “floats” participated in this year’s parade featuring many first responders.

The winners of the 2018 County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade have been announced.

Judges for the parade were Dave Creswell, Ventura Unified School District, Connie Stahl, Elks Lodge #1430; Nicole Ipach, California State University Channel Islands; Sue Georgino, Georgino Development and James Lockwood, Ventura County Fairgrounds.

The Parade’s theme was “Ventura Strong.” Of this year’s 82 parade entries, the winners are:

High School Band: Buena High School Band -Pride of the Gold Coast, Junior Band: Ocean View Junior High Seahawk Marching Band, Adult Band: Pacific Coast Highlanders Bagpipe Band, Adult Clubs: Women of Jewelia, Youth Clubs: Little Tree Preschool, Color Guard: Oxnard Air Force Jr. ROTC,

Commercial: Totally Local VC & The Local Love Project, Governmental Agencies: Troop Call Coast Guard with Lyn Fairly,Environmental “Green” Theme: Servpro Ventura -Water & Fire Clean Ups, Equestrian: Ojai Steppers, Families: The McGrath Family, Media: Cold Coast Broadcasting, Most Irish: Seaside Highland Games,Non-Profit Organizations: West Coast Derby Knockouts, Novelty: Ignite Martial Arts,

Restaurants and Pubs: O’Leary’s Tavern, Antique Cars- Prior to 1950: Ventura County Model A Ford Club,Classic Cars-1950 and later: Ventura Classic Car Club, Commercial Vehicles: Pizza Man Dan’s, Fire Truck Vehicles: J.W. Enterprises,Walking Entries: Billy Clower Dance Studio, Individual: Cookie the Clown, Special Interest Auto: Topa Topa Flywheelers, The Perpetual Arnold Hubbard Award (Best in Parade): Very Ventura Gift Shop, The Mayor’s Award (presented by City of Ventura Mayor Neil Andrews): Totally Local VC & The Local Love Project.

Win Genghis Kahn Exhibit passes and discounts at your local library

Enter for a chance to win free passes to the Genghis Kahn exhibition at any of the 12 Ventura County Libraries, or use promotional code “VCLIBRARY” for $3 off admission from now until August, 2018.

What do pants, the pony express, cannons, paper money, skis, violins, baklava and “hooray!” have in common? Answer: Genghis Khan introduced them all to the West.

Curated and developed by Don Lessem, the exhibition features more than 200 spectacular objects on display, including rare and sophisticated weapons, costumes, jewels, ornaments, instruments and numerous other fascinating relics and elaborate artifacts from 13th-century Mongolia.

“I went to Mongolia to look for fossils and discovered the truth about Genghis Khan, a civilizing genius,” said Lessem. “It’s a great story best told in a major exhibition.”

Now the most comprehensive exhibition of Genghis Khan and his treasures invades the Reagan Library, its only Southern California stop on an international tour that has drawn more than a million visitors.

For additional information, contact Nancy Schram, Ventura County Library Director at 256-8535.

Ventura Libraries:

  • Avenue Library, 606 North Ventura Ave.
  • E.P. Foster Library, 651 East Main Street
  • Hill Road Library, 1070 S. Hill Road
  • Saticoy Library, 1292 Los Angeles Avenue

See hours of service at https://www.vencolibrary.org/locations

Passover

Passover or Pesach is an important, biblically derived Jewish holiday. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan (Passover 2018 will start the evening of

March 30 and will end the evening of April 7) and lasts for either seven

days (in Israel and for Reform Jews and other progressive Jews around the world who adhere to the Biblical commandment) or eight days for Orthodox, Hasidic, and most Conservative Jews.

A day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover begins after dusk. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.

The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder.

In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.

The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to “pass over” the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.

When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten.

Visit Ventura honored

Visit Ventura has been awarded gold and silver.

Visit Ventura is honored to receive gold and silver awards from Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) in the 61st annual Adrian Awards, the largest and most prestigious global travel marketing competition.

Visit Ventura has been awarded gold for their “Pit-Stop Serenades to Celebrate Awesome Moms” public relations campaign orchestrated in partnership with dude. be nice. The campaign celebrated three moms whose endless support illustrates the community spirit behind Ventura’s sunny disposition, starring a backdrop of three iconic Ventura locations. Families led unknowing moms to pre-staged locations where busloads of well-wishers unloaded in flash mob style to sing moms their favorite songs. With the help of generous partners, moms also received Ventura staycations, reiterating the message that Ventura is the perfect holiday destination. Watch the video here.

Visit Ventura is also honored to receive a silver award for their “Destination Storytelling Through Music” marketing campaign orchestrated in partnership with Sound Off Films and singer/songwriter Haley Grigaitis. Upon finding the song ‘Pierpont’, Visit Ventura sought to partner with the singer/songwriter and a local production team to create a shareable music video featuring Ventura landmarks and cameos of well-known locals. The goal was to add a musical element to Ventura’s brand identity that would resonate with new audiences and develop a stronger sense of identity for existing audiences. Watch the video here.

“Our team is honored to be among the top tourism industry organizations to receive Adrian Awards for travel marketing excellence and ever-grateful to have a board of directors and community partners that trust our vision to bring kooky ideas to life,” said Visit Ventura President & CEO Marlyss Auster.

Out of over 1,100 entries submitted this year, Visit Ventura’s work was judged to be exceptional by expert hospitality, travel, tourism, and media professionals. Judges were asked to evaluate each entry based on its own merit and success in achieving its objectives. At least three judges reviewed each entry.

To date 7 countries and 49 states responded by providing quilts

Volunteer Staci Brown and Kat Merrick proudly display one of the quilts available for those affected by recent tragedies.

On December 4, 2017 the Thomas Fire and mudslides devastated Ventura and Montecito. Watching this devastation unfold the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild(MQG)

and “superbuzzy” Fabrics & Craft Supplies Store decided to help by creating quilts for those affected. To date 7 countries and 49 states responded by helping in the quilting efforts and over 400 quilts were delivered to the Modern Quilting Guilds headquarters in Ventura.

Seeing the need for help in distributing the quilts to those affected they contacted Kat Merrick Founder of Totally Local VC’s Local Love Project for help.

On Thursday, March 8, the Modern Quilting Guild, Mission San Buena Ventura, The Jewish Federation of Ventura County and Totally Local VC’s Local Love Project hosted a Pop Up Shop to distribute quilts along with other donated houseware items. The event took place in the Parish Hall at the Mission.

Besides the handmade quilts the Jewish Federation donated sheet sets, Totally Local VC’s Local Love Project donated many items as did FOOD Share.

Scott Griffin, Ventura MQG VP and Kelly Stevens, Ventura MQG founding member and owner of superbuzzy, each began projects to bring comfort and loving warmth to the fire and slide victims. As the fire spread northwards, these efforts were coordinated to answer the quilt needs of victims in both Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

When founder Kat Merrick created Totally Local VC (TotallyLocalVC.com) over 9 years ago she and her team made a solid commitment to our community. When she lost her home in the Thomas Fire her commitment to helping others became even stronger.

She stated “Our goal is to activate members of our community in the aftermath of a traumatic event within Ventura County and the 805 to provide relief and support to those affected by disaster or in a time of need. We work to solve immediate needs for those impacted by either a disaster in our community or those in need as well as provide the necessary items to help our neighbors as they work to restore their lives.”

Ventura Family YMCA gives to employees who lost homes

Dana is one of the staff who received $1,000.00.

At the YMCA Campaign Report Night on Feb. 23, four employees who lost their home from the Thomas Fire received $1000 from the Ventura Family YMCA. The $4000 was donated from San Francisco YMCA’s emergency relief fund.

Every year, the San Francisco Y donates to a fund to support YMCAs that have experienced disasters or have other dire needs. “When the Director of Human Resources heard about the fires in the Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, he gathered the team together and they determined, right away, that they wanted to support the work that Ventura YMCA was doing to help those impacted by the fire,” said Margo Byrne, Chief Operations Officer of the Channel Islands YMCA.

The Ventura Y has elected to keep the names of the four employees anonymous. At the report night, one of the employees shared her story about how the YMCA helped her during the Thomas Fire. The Y staff member explained that they didn’t take anything when they initially evacuated with her four children. “We were up to the left of Ventura High School so we weren’t that concerned.”

When her neighbors started evacuating, she and her family left to her father’s house. When they arrived, she asked her father to take her back to the house to pick up a few items. They returned to find her whole street on fire, and they left with nothing.

The morning after her house had burned down, Amy Bailey Jurewicz, Executive Director for the Ventura Family YMCA, was the first to check on her. The employee stated, “I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt if the Y had not offered the childcare that they did, I would not have made it through this.”

At the end of the night, Amber Stevens, Associate Executive Director at the Ventura Family YMCA, stated, “We have amazing staff here. It’s nice to be able to say we can help when we hear our staff is in trouble.” The Y also paid all of their employees for hours while the facility was closed during the fires.

Information about the Ventura Family YMCA, visit http://www.ciymca.org/Ventura or call 642.2131.

“Pig with no name” to return for St. Patrick’s Day Parade

When the Ventura Elks Lodge’s 30th annual County Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade makes its march up Main St., it will feature a new green pig.

As Ventura history can report, Shamhock – the giant inflatable green pig who’d been a mainstay of the parade for 26 of its 29 years – collapsed last year along the parade route, right in front of the judges’ viewing stand.

To parade committee chairman Tim O’Neil, who’d “fathered” the pig back in the 1980s, it was a devastating loss. “He died right there in front of me,” said O’Neil, who announces the parade every year.

Now, the parade committee is thrilled to announce that, using the dead pig’s “DNA” (i.e. fabric) along with copious photos, they’ve been able to create a new exact identical pig, who will debut at this year’s parade!

The resilient pig plays right into the “Ventura Strong” theme of the milestone parade, which will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 17, at the San Buenaventura Mission on Main St., and will proceed along Main to Ash Street.

The true heroes of the “Ventura Strong” movement are the parade’s grand marshals: the incredible first responders who worked tirelessly to suppress the raging Thomas Fire and to help its victims.

To honor them, the parade committee encourages all spectators to bring homemade signs thanking the first responders for their remarkable efforts and courage. We really want them to feel the love.

Also joining the parade this year will be Irish Belles Cameryn Boggio-Shean of Ventura High and Jonyssa Carrillo of El Camino High. For the first time in the eight-year history of its Irish Belle program, the parade committee has selected two winners to share the honor. Both Cameryn and Jonyssa are seniors at their Ventura high schools.

Presented each year by the Elks Club’s Ventura Lodge No. 1430, the popular St. Patrick’s Day parade draws thousands of spectators, and dozens of entries.

The judges who will select winning entries this year are Nicole Ipach of California State University, Channel Islands; Ventura Unified School District Superintendent David Creswell; parade committee member James Lockwood, Sue Georgino of Georgino Development and the Elks Club’s Connie Stahl.

Dozens of sponsors support the annual parade, including many who have given generously every year for decades.

Amgen Tour auction benefitting American Red Cross Disaster Relief

Amgen Tour of California fans around the world look forward to the race in part to see California’s natural landscapes and breathtaking vistas in person or via the worldwide race broadcast. Over the past year, parts of beautiful California suffered massive devastation due to the wildfires that engulfed parts of Northern and Southern California, and mudslides in response to heavy rain in some areas shortly after.

An Amgen Tour of California online auction benefitting American Red Cross Disaster Relief is launching to help with continued disaster relief efforts, and will be open indefinitely with new items being added periodically. Bidding for the current list of products below will end on March 30. Race fans – and California fans – can bid on exclusive items from merchandise signed by pro cyclist all-stars to behind-the-scenes race experiences to help people affected by disasters. 100 % of the proceeds from the Amgen Tour of California auction organized by Staples Center Foundation support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. More details at www.Amgentoc.gesture.com or at www.AmgenTourofCalifornia.com

Items will be added up to race time in May, and initially include these and much more:

Signed Marcel Kittel Team Katusha Jersey , Cavendish Dimension Data Jersey, TAG Heuer Best Young Rider Jersey, Amgen Leader Jersey (by last year’s race champ George Bennett),2017 LTD Ed. Jersey (by George Bennett, Peter Sagan & Rob Britton),Visit California Sprint Jersey (by 7-time winner Peter Sagan),Lexus KOM Signed Jersey (by 2017 classification winner Daniel Jaramillo) and Amgen Leader Jersey.