Make regular volunteering one of your New Year's resolutions. It's easy to plan ahead for your volunteer commitment by looking over the new January to June Community Service Opportunities Calendar for 2012.

If you have favorite parks or facilities, consider becoming a "Friend" and participate in their monthly events at the Leo Robbins Community Sailing Center, Cornucopia Community Garden, Ventura Aquatic Center or Arroyo Verde Park.

Only have volunteer time for a one-day project or event? Choose from the series of individual park cleanups or MLK Day of Service, Earth Day, Family Festival in the Park or the popular Program Your Gadgets where high school students teach seniors how to use their smart technology devices.

Speaking of new technology, we've set up new software to make it easier than ever to sign up for volunteer activities. Volunteers may now register on line for individual volunteer events with just your name, email address and phone number. Check out the links on the calendar below, which is also available on the Volunteer Ventura! website or on Facebook.

Help us spread the word about this bimonthly e-newsletter by letting your friends know that they can sign up for the Volunteer Ventura! Newsletter simply by texting VOLUNTEERVENTURA to 22828. 

Of course, you are always welcome to contact me at the Volunteer Ventura! office at (805) 652-4555 or rornelas@cityofventura.net.  

Make it a resolution to be part of the solution! 

        -Rosie Ornelas

• NEW! SIGN UP ONLINE
  It's never been easier to sign up as a volunteer! Click here to view the calendar and register online. Register online for the event of your choice simply by providing your name, email and phone number.
           

• PRINT THE CALENDAR
  Print the  January to June 2012 Volunteer Opportunity Calendar (pdf). Contact the Volunteer Ventura! Coordinator if you want copies delivered to your school or organization.       
   

• INVITE YOUR FRIENDS 
  Follow us on Facebook and invite your friends to subscribe to our e-newsletter by texting VOLUNTEERVENTURA to 22828.

• CONTACT THE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
  Rosie Ornelas at rornelas@cityofventura.net or 805-652-4555 in the Volunteer Ventura! Office

These community service projects are available to students, non-profits and service clubs, community groups and councils, faith based organizations and military personnel, businesses, corporations and individuals. 

 Click here to get a printable calendar (pdf) of the image below. 

Two "SHARKS" have been circling the Leo Robbins Community Sailing Center at Marina Park and that's a good thing! Because these SHARKS are teen Sailing Helper And Recreation Kayak Staff. They volunteer their expertise for sailing and kayaking, level one sailing, beginner sailing, summer camps and during the other seasons.

Jenna Willard (age 14) and her brother Danny (at age 13 a future SHARK) are stellar examples of the dozen or so young sailing/kayaking SHARK volunteers (ages 14-18) who inspire Leo Robbins Center novices and veterans alike with their infectious passion and teaching skill for sailing, according to Nancy King, an instructor who directs the sailing center.

"It makes me happy to learn and to teach about sailing a boat," says Danny. "The classes for me are not just about having a good time. It is about learning a skill of how to navigate, boat safety, and getting along with others. It is a great lesson on learning how to get along with others and work as a team."

"I love volunteering for sailing," says Jenna. "Sailing is a passion and wonderful experience I will never tire of and that I hope to carry on throughout my whole life. Ventura has a great sailing community and the counselors such as Dawn Brooks and all the people who work at the sailing center are my greatest friends."

Last summer's Leo Robbins Sailing Center volunteer SHARKS

Like her brother, Jenna gained her sailing experience by taking the City of Ventura's summer sailing program classes for three years. Jenna gave over 260 hours of volunteer service last summer, with level one students, with Girl Scouts working on their sailing merit badges and for Skipper Sail, a center program that invites parents and families of sailing students out into the harbor with a sailing instructor to spread sailing enthusiasm throughout the entire family.

Jenna is also active in the Acton Hand Bell Ensemble, consisting of twenty teens directed by Larry Rowland. The group was selected to perform at the annual Community Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center in Los Angeles, broadcast by KCET in December.

Remarkably, both sibling volunteers are students attending Antelope Valley School and discovered Ventura's sailing program during summer visits to the beach.

Volunteers for Environmental Education and Awareness

Be a docent and make History Come Alive
Be a volunteer docent at the Olivas Adobe, the original hacienda of Rancho San Miguel built over 150 years ago, and discover the exciting history of the Olivas Family and the Rancho Period of California. This volunteer program has many levels of opportunities and events for participation.

Olivas Adobe Rose Garden Volunteers needed
The Olivas Adobe has one of the most beautiful rose gardens in Ventura. Be one of the volunteers that maintains the garden year-round.

National Family Volunteer Day

On Saturday, November 19, the Volunteer Ventura! Program hosted an ambitious day of service - National Family Volunteer Day - designed to provide families with several opportunities in which to volunteer and beautify the Ventura community. National Family Volunteer Day is held annually the Saturday before Thanksgiving and kicks off National Family Week.

• A youth volunteer from the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints helps spread mulch at Marion Cannon Park.

  Montalvo Elementary School - 56 teachers, parents, students and community members came together to revitalize the Montalvo Elementary School community garden by removing weeds, mulching, and preparing the raised beds for a spring planting. Volunteers also brightened up the entrance to the school by planting flowers that were generously donated by Green Thumb.
   
• Marion Cannon Park - this popular residential park received a major facelift, courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ & Latter Day Saints. Volunteers weeded and mulched flowerbeds, painted trashcans, curbs and benches, raked the tot-lots and removed litter and debris from the park.        
   
• Cornucopia Community Garden - a small but dedicated group of volunteers spent several hours weeding and mulching the City's much beloved Community Garden. On-going volunteer opportunities are available the 2nd Saturday of each month from 9-11:00 a.m.
           

• Student volunteers from Ventura and Foothill high schools help east Ventura residents dispose of their unwanted items during the East Ventura Collection Event on Saturday, November 19.

  Collection & Recycling Event - held at the Ventura Community Park, provided an opportunity for east end residents to dispose of their trash, green-waste, metal, and electronic waste free of charge. Items that were deemed reusable were donated to the Boys & Girls Club Thrift Store. The response to the event was very positive with over 230 residents participating and filling 10 roll-off bins!

We thank these community partners for supporting Volunteer Ventura! events.

for "hosting" Thanksgiving Food Collection boxes to provide disadvantaged families in our community with a nice Thanksgiving meal

for spending a Sunday morning giving Hobart Park a mini-makeover

for picking up litter at 11 city locations for their 4th Annual Trash-a-thon

for assisting with the Mayor's Art Awards in November

for coordinating all of the volunteer efforts for the school garden project in honor of National Family Volunteer Day

for their generous donation of plant materials during National Family Volunteer Day at Montalvo School

who gave Marion Cannon Park a make-over on National Family Volunteer Day

All of the volunteers that assisted at the Cornucopia Garden and at the Aquatic Center Collection Event for all your hard work on National Family Volunteer Day

for assisting with and putting on the Candlelight Tours in December

Thank you for another wonderful year of participating in Volunteer Ventura! events and projects! We look forward to continuing to partner with you in 2012 to make our community a beautiful, clean, safe, and enriching place to live!

1. Check out the NEW calendar of events and register online!   
2. Subscribe to our bimonthly e-newsletters HERE.  
3. Find us on   Facebook www.facebook.com/volunteerventura 

Cary Glenn, Supervisor (805) 658-4732 cglenn@cityofventura.net

Rosie Ornelas, Coordinator (805) 652-4555 rornelas@cityofventura.net