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Funds raised for several non-profits by medical professionals at holiday party.
Seaside Emergency Associates, a leading provider of emergency room services for Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC) and Santa Paula Hospital, turned their holiday party into a benefit for Make-A-Wish, Toys for Tots, Health Care Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Paula.
Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, Dr. Martin Ehrlich, Dr. Scott Speier, Dr. Richard Rutherford, Dr. Stephen Roslansky, and Dr. Theodore Mandryk, asked party guests to make a donation of cash or toys and also hosted a silent auction. $4,400 was raised for Make-A-Wish, and the Health Care Foundation and 3 full boxes of toys were collected for Toys for Tots. In addition, Seaside purchased several dozen craft games and supplies for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Paula.
Make-A-Wish serves children throughout the Tri-Counties and many are treated at VCMC and Santa Paula Hospital. It means so much to the families of the wish kids, that Seaside Emergency Associates decided to help grant wishes through their holiday party.
Health Care Foundation is currently working on creating a Ronald McDonald family room at VCMC to help the families of children staying at the hospital.
The Boys and Girls Club kids were excited to have some new activities to play during the upcoming season.
Toys for Tots will distribute the collected toys to needy children in the community.
The physicians and other medical professionals of Seaside Emergency Associates provide state-of-the art emergency medical care at Ventura County Medical Center (a Level II Trauma Emergency Department) and Santa Paula Hospital. Seaside physicians have been nationally recognized for the outstanding emergency medicine training they provide to family medicine residents.
Brinkman-Vera is Partner in Charge of Tax Services-Oxnard at Farber Hass Hurley LLP. She is an expert in her field and has more than 18 years of experience in providing tax and accounting services.
Brinkman-Vera is passionate about her community and has served on the YMCA Board since 2004. She serves on the YMCA’s Finance and Governance Committee and is also the current Board Chair.
“The Y is a multifaceted organization that brings so much positivity to our community,” said Brinkman-Vera. “I love being part of a group that gives back and makes our community a much stronger place to raise my son.”
The Ventura Family YMCA will kick off its Annual Campaign on February 3, 2017 with a goal of raising $185,000. Every dollar raised in the annual campaign is applied to placing kids and families in need into YMCA programs such as healthy living programs, summer day camp, afterschool programs, senior fitness, afterschool care, the LIVESTRONG cancer survivor program, and memberships.
Donations to the YMCA can be made at the Ventura Family YMCA, 3760 Telegraph Road, Ventura CA 93003 or by calling (805) 642-2131. For more information on the Annual Campaign, visit ciymca.org/Ventura.
Established in 1887, the Channel Islands YMCA is a charitable organization of seven YMCA branches serving Santa Barbara and Ventura counties including: Camarillo Family YMCA, Lompoc Family YMCA, Montecito Family YMCA, Santa Barbara Family YMCA, Stuart C. Gildred Family YMCA in Santa Ynez, Ventura Family YMCA, and Youth and Family Services YMCA which operates Noah’s Anchorage Youth Crisis Shelter, the St. George Family Youth Center and My Home.
The Y is the nation’s leading nonprofit committed to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The Channel Islands YMCA serves over 46,000 individuals and provides over $1.3 million in financial assistance to families in need for child care, YMCA memberships, away and day camps, youth sports, and teen after-school programs. For more information at the Ventura Family YMCA, visit http://www.ciymca.org/ventura/ or call 642-2131.
City and Harbor dignitaries finally got to celebrated the groundbreaking of large project. Photos by Richard Lieberman
by Richard Lieberman
Portside Ventura Harbor a project sixteen years in the making has held its groundbreaking ceremony. The project initiated by developers Michael Sondermann and Doug Ring who spent nine years ushering Portside Ventura Harbor through many city regulatory provisions and city building departments.
Ring died in 2009, but Sondermann persevered pushing the project through the regulatory challenges, and facing a failing economy, and the death of his partner he kept the project alive. In 2012 the California Coastal Commission approved the project. The commission however added some additional requirements that the project would have to fulfill. The Coastal Commission provisions include a water-taxi service within the harbor and that the waterfront promenade be at least 50 feet wide. To fulfill the requirements a redesign of the original plan was needed. The project is located at Schooner Drive nearby and behind the Four Points Sheraton hotel.
Speakers and dignitaries at the ceremony felt it necessary to mention the time it took for project approval. Jim Friedman, chair of the Ventura Port District said, “You have to have a very special person to have gone through a process that has taken 16 years.” First selected in 2000 Sondermann and Ring were chosen to lease and develop the 21-acre site. Friedman added “Michael you are a very special person, and thank you for making this happen.”
The project is slated to include 300 rental units, 30 of them will be live/work spaces; 21,300 square feet of commercial property, and a recreational marina which will house 104 boat slips. Included in the plan is a two-acre park, a 50 feet wide promenade and a public dock for launching recreational vessels including kayaks and paddle boards.
Port commissioner Brian Brennan over the course of this long process voted favorably for the project when he was a City Council member, then voted again when he was a California Coastal Commission member, and finally voting from his current position as a port commissioner. Brennan said, “People will be impressed with their access to this site.”
Brennan also gave accolades to Sondermann for making 30 of the units scheduled to be affordable housing. Sondermann made this decision on his own, there are no city requirement for affordable units at the harbor. He also praised Sondermann for the economic advantages that will come with the project.
Mayor of Ventura, Erik Nasarenko said “this project is a move toward making a better Ventura and a stronger and bolder Port District.”
“The project will add badly needed rental housing and park space and will help revitalize and reenergize nearby businesses”, added Nasarenko.
Construction for Portside Ventura Harbor is expected to be completed in November, 2019.
Chamber honors those who make a difference in Ventura. Photo by Sharon Uhlig www.sharonmaephotography.com
On Friday, December 8, nearly 300 people turned out to celebrate the 20th Annual Poinsettia Awards luncheon hosted by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce. The event honored and recognized individuals and organizations that have truly stood out in our community as exemplary in the fields of business, education, and public service. This year, the luncheon was celebrated at the Marriott Ventura Beach and was attended by City officials, legislative representatives and the local business community.
During the event, the Chamber awarded the following:
The Ventura Chamber of Commerce is a membership based organization that advocates on behalf of the business community. With nearly 700 members, representing more than 25,000 employees locally, the Chamber engages on a variety of issues that help to drive a strong local economy as The Voice of Business.
The Boys & Girls Club provides a positive place for all youth.
As a part of their Santa’s Workshop Holiday Party teens at the Boys and Girls Club taught younger club members about giving back. Teens helped younger members wrap gifts which were given to children at Casa Pacifica.
The teens have been working with Branch Director Lea Cobb, Teen Directors Abel and Katie and volunteer Madhu Bajaj of Fastsigns of Ventura who was selected as a Kindness Ambassador and Joymaker by “generationOn”.
“Engaging young people in service is a priority for my life’s work,” says Bajaj. “When we get involved in our community, no doubt the community is strengthened, but so are the lives of the people involved. From new skills, confidence, friendships, job opportunities and much more, service supports our teens in leading vibrant, meaningful lives.”
One teen provided insight into the importance of being kind to self. “It’s challenging being a teen. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. It’s important we remember to be kind to ourselves.” Other teens added in specifics on how to be kind to self such as eating well, exercising, managing stress, and avoiding peer pressure.
The teens also agreed on the importance of kindness and making time for others as a way of building relationships. For their kindness service project, they decided to create a kindness tree to capture ways to express kindness and share kindness stories. They invited younger club members to participate and taught them about kindness.
Additionally, they wrote letters to people important in their life like a parent, teacher, friend etc. and to community helpers. After learning about Standing Rock and #NoDAPL the teens decided to write letters of support to the water protectors.
For their participation in the Joymaker challenge, the teens researched local groups where they could give the toys donated by Hasbro and decided on Casa Pacifica. They helped younger club members wrap gifts and talked with them about the importance of helping others and giving back to your community.
Pattie Birmingham, CEO says “We were so pleased to participate in this program. We strive to instill Good Character & Citizenship values with our youth in all that we do and this program was a perfect match! These youth will be the future leaders of our community. Learning to care about others will be pivotal to the direction that they take.”
The Joymaker Challenge is facilitated by “generationOn” and sponsored by Hasbro, details at www.generationOn.org/joymaker. Through Dec.23 for each kid or teen who engages in service, Hasbro will donate a toy or game to Toys for Tots – up to 1 million dollars!
The Boys & Girls Club Greater Ventura provides a positive place for all youth, especially those who need us most, and quality programs to help them become healthy, responsible, confident and productive members of our community. We provide critical youth development services to 1,200 members every year. Your contribution provides Academic Success, Good Character & Citizenship and Healthy Lifestyle programs to the youth of our community! http://www.bgclubventura.org/
Students enbjoyed a morning of shopping and lunch with Santa Clau
The Rotary Club of Ventura hosted local elementary school students for a morning of shopping and lunch with Santa Claus during the club’s annual Christmas party on Dec.14.
About 60 children from Ventura Schools attended a shopping trip with Rotarians and Interact students. Each student was given a $70 gift card from Rotary and then an additional $25 was provided by JCPenney for shopping purposes.
The Rotarians, with the help of a shopping list provided by the parents, shopped with the students and helped them make their purchases which will be wrapped up for Christmas at their home. Students were then bussed to the Ventura Unified School District where they had lunch, did crafts, sang Christmas carols, selected a coat from the Coats for Kids drive and had a special visit from Santa. They received a gift from Santa and were able to select gifts for immediate family members. The party included a distribution of coats to students who attended. Coats were collected from the community during the Rotary’s 13th Annual Coats for Kids drive held throughout Ventura County.
At the 20th Annual Poinsettia Awards luncheon publisher Sheldon posed with his buddy Tom Spence who was selected by the Chamber as the Citizen of the Year.
Photo by Richard Lieberman
The Ventura Improv Company (VIC), Ventura’s longest-running improv comedy theater troupe, will pull up stakes at its long-time home on Palm Street in mid-January 2017. Special shows, including an annual New Year’s Eve blowout, are planned.
Several factors went into the decision to give up the lease to the VIC’s space, its home since 1994. A too-packed performing schedule, personnel changes, and the company’s desire to evolve (among other things) caused the group members to vote to let the theater space go dark.
However, this does not mean the end to workshops or performances. The VIC’s popular New Year’s Eve show will happen on Saturday, December 31 at the Rubicon Theater, and the final shows at the Palm Street space are the first two weekends in January. After that, the Ventura Improv Company will go mobile, offering workshops and performances at other spaces in the area, including the Bell Arts Factory and Namba.
“This decision did not come lightly,” says Gary Best, co-founder and current Artistic Director of the VIC. “It’s great to have a dedicated performing space, but it can be a creative drain at times. We look forward to having the freedom to teach and perform with fantastic local collaborators from here on out.”
Best, along with Tom and Sally Mueller and others, founded the VIC in 1989 after taking an improv workshop and seeing the potential in the performing art form. “Little did we know we would still be around, nearly 30 years later, and that improv would be embraced as much as it has,” says Best. “We are looking forward to more years of shows and classes – all made up on the spot!”
The Ventura Improv Company will be performing at 34 North Palm Street on December 23; January 6 and 7; and January 13 and 14.
VIC’s New Year’s Eve Gala at the Rubicon is on Saturday, December 31 from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $40/per person; $25 for military and seniors 55+. Rubicon Theater, 1006 E. Main St. Tickets purchased online at www.venturaimprov.com/newyears.
Upcoming classes and workshops at Bell Arts Factory and Namba will be announced in early 2017.
For tickets or more information, go to www.venturaimprov.com.
