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Shop Local This Holiday Season to Discover Unique Gifts for All

Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) encourages community to support local businesses

As the holidays are approaching, many people are joining the crowds at malls and big chain stores seeking the right gift for friends and family – or camping out in front of their screens, avoiding the crowds, shopping the biggest online retailers and buying as many of the Best replica handbags they can get away with for all of their loved ones! This season, Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) encourages holiday gift givers to do a little something different and shop local at the many locally owned shops and other local businesses.

“Purchasing gifts from local businesses not only provides loved ones with a unique gift, but also stimulates the local economy,” said Marsha Bailey, WEV founder and CEO. “When you purchase a gift from a small business, you can feel great about your money staying in the community and helping to create more local jobs.”

A study in San Francisco found that for every $1 million in revenue local businesses created 2.14 jobs while chains created only 1.27 jobs.

This year, consider purchasing gifts from these local shops, owned and operating by participants in WEV’s continuum of business training, support and small business loan programs. Gift giving will be made more meaningful with the help of these small business in Ventura County:

Paradise Pantry is a gourmet artisan cheese and wine market featuring shareable bites such as hummus, meats and cheeses as well as hearty salads and sandwiches. The market also features a popular weekly Mac’ n’ cheese special created by Chef Kelly. Past dishes have included a Thanksgiving mac ’n cheese featuring turkey, stuffing and cranberry; a loaded baked potato mac ’n’ cheese; and a chicken enchilada mac’ n’ cheese. During the holidays, Paradise Pantry will also feature sparkling wine flights to find the best bubbly for your Holiday and New Year celebrations. This eatery is a perfect place to find gifts for the foodies in your life – or to treat a friend to a tasty break during holiday shopping on downtown Main Street. Located at: 222 E. Main Street.

Sauna Studio: Help your loved ones relax this holiday season with a gift from Sauna Studio. Sauna Studio offers infrared sauna treatment, hot yoga and massage therapy designed to help you destress and give you a healthy glow. The infrared therapy will also help with weight loss, pain relief, and improve the strength of one’s immune system and cardiovascular health. Located at: 3459 Telegraph Road. A Sauna could be a nice healthy addition to your home, especially if you are looking for that extra place to de-stress. If you don’t feel know a lot about Saunas or feel a little apprehensive about getting one, doing some research and this Vital Health Sauna review might just change your mind.

Scrubs on the Run: is an affordable place for medical professionals to buy scrubs, with styles and sizes to accommodate all body types and personalities. Scrubs are also available for purchase online. Located at: 2542 E. Main Street.

Skincare by Adriana: Give the gift of healthy and radiant skin this season with a facial or waxing from esthetician, Adriana. Skincare by Adriana offers a variety of spa and express facials to help skins glow. Adriana is skilled in treating acne, rosacea and uneven skin tones and can help anyone achieve the results they want to see in their skin. Located at: 35 Oak St. in Ventura.

Spice-Topia: Gifts from Spice-Topia are sure to spice up any occasion or dish. This specialty spice and tea store sells products from over 25 local artisan food chef creations, including specialty ketchups, hot sauces, jams, coffees and much more. Perfect for those on your list who love to cook. Custom gift baskets and pre-made gift baskets are also available. Located at: 576 E. Main St. in Ventura.

Very Ventura Gift Shop and Gallery: offers an array of Ventura-branded merchandise for visitors and natives alike – and serves as a key source of recommendations for out-of-town visitors or residents looking for new ways to entertain their holiday guests. The gift store and website give an insider’s take on local dining, shopping, landmarks and unique excursions within Ventura County, aiming to please a wide range of interests and abilities. Located at: 540 E. Main St.

About Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV)

WEV is dedicated to creating an equitable and just society through the economic empowerment of women. Since 1991, WEV has been providing a continuum of comprehensive services – training, consulting and loans – to help entrepreneurs start grow and thrive in business. WEV’s service area includes Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, with offices in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Santa Maria. WEV provides start-up and expansion loans of up to $50,000 to pre-bankable microenterprises. For more information, visit WEV’s Web site at http://www.wevonline.org.

Scorpion Pier on Santa Cruz Island Closed Temporarily Due to Damage from High Surf

The Scorpion Pier on Santa Cruz Island is closed temporarily until
damages caused by the high surf last Friday are fully assessed and
repaired. The island will remain open to visitation. Landings at
Scorpion Anchorage will be beach landings via skiff until the pier
reopens.

Storm surge and high waves inundated Scorpion Anchorage last Friday,
causing flooding in the valley, road damage to the pier access road,
and damage to the pier decking, concrete abutment, and metal frame.

The Scorpion Pier is a flatbed railcar that was installed as a
temporary pier in 2000 and has been deteriorating due to wave action
and saltwater. The park plans to replace the existing pier in
approximately three years.

Scorpion Anchorage is the most visited destination in the park, with
over 55,000 people coming ashore each year to enjoy recreational
activities such as hiking, picnicking, camping, kayaking, and
swimming.

The high surf also caused minor damage to both the Prisoners Pier on
Santa Cruz Island and the Santa Barbara Island landing dock. Repairs
at each of these landings are underway. Public access was restored at
Prisoners Harbor on Sunday and Santa Barbara Island landing is
expected to be open by the end of the week.

Ventura City Fire personnel responds to structure fire, visible fire coming from the roof of a strip-mall

On Dec.13, at 5:16pm Ventura City Fire personnel responded to a reported structure fire, visible fire coming from the roof of a strip-mall in the 4800 block of Telephone. Units arrived to find occupants being evacuated out of a single-story retail business by Ventura Police. Sprinkler heads on the roof were flowing, the fire alarm system was alerting, and a small amount of visible fire and smoke was coming from the roof behind a large parapet facade. An aerial ladder on the first arriving support company was used to make access to the roof from the rear, while engine companies entered through the front of the business and made roof access via fixed ladders and hatches. Simultaneous efforts were required to effectively mitigate the hazard and prevent further damage to the business and its inventory. Rope bags were used to hoist hose lines up from the sidewalk to the roof, while chainsaws were used to open up the vertical rear surface of the parapet wall. Electrical utilities were controlled, a water supply was established and the building sprinkler system was supported. While the fire was being knocked down on the roof, salvage operations were employed to cover and/or remove inventory from the showroom area beneath the fire, where water and ceiling tiles were dropping down.

Santa Stops by the Ventura Family YMCA

The Y teams up with the ACTION Foundation and the Community Christmas Shoppe to Help Families in Need This Holiday Season

The Ventura Family YMCA presents their annual Santa Stops by the Y event on December 12th from 8AM-10AM.  This morning is a community event for children to have their photo taken with Santa and the opportunity to participate in fun crafts!  RSVP on the Y’s Facebook page and bring one unwrapped toy or gift per child to enter; with a suggestion of one gift per child. The donations will benefit low-income families by giving them the chance to find holiday presents at the ACTION Foundation’s Christmas Shoppe.

The Ventura Family YMCA, the ACTION Foundation, and the Community Christmas Shoppe

Unwrapped toys and gifts will be donated at the Y. These donations will help low-income families within the community.  Children participating in the event will have their photos taken with Santa and a fun time making Christmas themed crafts.

Ventura Family YMCA 3760 Telegraph Road. Ventura

A free community event for families to enjoy their time together, which also supports those who need help in our hometown.

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.

New West Symphony Harmony Project celebrates the season with free community concert Dec. 12th

Young members of the New West Symphony Harmony Project of Ventura County will present a free concert for the community on Saturday, December 12 at 6:00 pm at Bell Arts Factory, located at 432 N. Ventura Avenue in Ventura. The concert will include classical pieces, jazz tunes and holiday songs performed by 40 students from Ventura’s DeAnza Middle School and Cabrillo Middle School who take part in the New West Symphony Harmony Project youth development program.  The sixth, seventh and eighth graders will perform on violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and saxophone.

 The New West Symphony Harmony Project provides after-school music instruction to 140 underserved children in grades 3 through 8 in West Ventura, with 40 students on the waiting list.  The program, which is funded largely through individual donations and community and foundation grants, was founded in 2011 by Ventura arts philanthropists Sandra and Jordan Laby and is managed under the direction and auspices of the New West Symphony. During its first season, 35 participants began by learning rhythm and percussion on orange Home Depot buckets, and today the program currently offers instruction on 10 different musical instruments. All students receive a full scholarship and are given instruments to use for the duration of their participation.

“All of our students have been working very hard these past few months, attending rehearsals two-to-three times a week and regularly practicing at home,” said New West Symphony Harmony Project Director Andrea Landin. “Concerts provide a time for the community to come together to support these young musicians and listen to their accomplishments. Our parents and teachers are so proud of them!”

Ms. Landin, who has been instrumental in the development of Harmony Project as both administrator and teacher and runs the daily operations of the program, was recently named recipient of the 2015 City of Ventura Mayor’s Arts Award for Arts Educator.  She may be reached for further information at 805-279-2424 or [email protected].

Ventura Potters’ Guild Holiday open house Sun., Dec. 13th

Ventura County Potters’ Guild Gallery
Ventura Harbor Village
1567 Spinnaker Drive Suite 105

The Ventura Potters’ Guild is having a Holiday open house, Sunday, December 13, 2015 from 2 – 6 p.m.

Handbuilding and wheel demonstrations will take place from 2 – 4:30 by Joe Cervantes, Roe Estep and Kim Mehyre Clarke.

Come meet some of the 23 ceramic artists from Ventura, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Simi, TO and Oxnard that represent the Guild. There will be refreshments and fun. Bring the kids! Join us for our 5th year at Ventura Harbor!

Harbor Village Gallery and the Tina O’Brien Gallery will also be have their Holiday Open houses that day. The more the merrier!

WHAT IS REUSABLE BAG DAY?


Reusable Bag Day is an educational grassroots event hosted by the Surfrider Foundation Ventura County Chapter along with local community groups. We are asking holiday shoppers and retailers to forgo single-use, plastic shopping bags in favor of reusable bags to help protect the oceans and Ventura’s beauty one reusable bag at a time.

Surfrider Foundation and City of Ventura Environmental Sustainability Division volunteers will be out front at the Vons on Main St. and Ventura Ave. near the Ventura River from 10am-Noon on Saturday December 12th handing out free reusable bags to shoppers! Get your reusable bags now and remember to vote YES on the statewide plastic bag ban referendum item in November 2016.

Plastic bag litter is one of many issues around Ventura that impacts the ocean and reusable bags help to address TMDL (total maximum daily load) limits set by the EPA. Cities and residential neighborhoods create concentrated levels of bacteria (pet waste), nitrates (herbicides & pesticides), litter, and other unnaturally occurring contaminates that can enter our stormdrains and waterways. To mitigate this, there are stormwater pollution prevention best management practices to help keep our waterways clean and free of these pollutants such as choosing reusable bags to help reduce litter.

70 year old woman rescued after falling through living room floor into basement

Just before noon on Saturday, Dec.5 , in the 2000 Block of Hyland Ave a 70 year old woman was walking from her living room through a hallway when she accidentally fell through an opening to the basement that was 8 feet deep. The vertical fall resulted in multiple injuries and possible fractures of the arm, hip, and leg. The home was estimated to be built in the mid 1900’s and the basement served as a utility room for a floor heater and water heater. The only access to the space was a straight vertical ladder.

TechRescue1“The major difficulty was access– the room was compartmentalized with concrete supports, and we could only get one paramedic down inside the vertical shaft to provide for treatment and to place the patient in a rescue harness”, stated Fire Captain Thom Hoffmann. “There was only one way in and one way out, and the only option of getting her out safely, was to construct a hoist system in the narrow hallway system to lift the patient out.”

Firefighter paramedics splinted extremities and placed the patient in complete cervical spine immobilization in the cramped space. Advanced life support was delivered in addition to pain medications prior to moving the patient. A rescue system was assembled in the cramped hallway to create a high point in which a rope and pulley assembly could gently lift the patient vertically through the opening. It took rescuers 71 minutes to get the patient safely out of the shaft and onto the gurney.

Techrescue3During the fall, numerous pipes and ducting systems were compromised and it was suspected that the victim and rescuers were potentially exposed to asbestos. Firefighters provided for rapid decontamination of the patient prior to being received at the local trauma center. The patient was transported in serious but stable condition.

Due to HIPAA we are prevented from disclosing an individual’s protected health information (PHI). We may not release information regarding patient’s names, DOB, address, SS# or medical status.

Ventura City Fire responds to multiple, simultaneous fires near NB-101 / EB-126 freeway interchange

On Sunday Nov.19 Ventura City Fire personnel responded to multiple, simultaneous fires reported in the general area of the NB -101 / EB-126 freeway interchange, during a period of gusty winds.Structures at a nearby mobile home park were initially reported to be threatened, prompting a full first-alarm structure fire response to that location, but were quickly determined to be non-threatened upon arrival of units in that area. First arriving engine companies responding to the reported structure fire found a large body of wind-driven fire, in heavy brush and trees, moving rapidly across the freeway interchange area. The fire was spotting well ahead of itself and across the freeway, with flame lengths up to 40 feet. Additional companies responded to a nearby downwind location where several palm trees had ignited and were casting a large shower of embers over several commercial buildings. The fire, smoke, and crews operating in the area, resulted in closures of the 101 freeway in both NB and SB directions, as well as the EB 126. The two separate incidents eventually were merged into one single incident, and through a prolonged cooperative effort, involving multiple agencies, the fire was contained and ultimately suppressed. The origin of the fire was reportedly in the vicinity of a homeless encampment and remains under investigation.