Events

Jordan Kear is an expert on the Ojai groundwater basin and among other duties is a consultant to the City of Ojai.  He will give us an update on from where our water comes, where it is stored and where it goes.. 

https://www.keargroundwater.com/

The Rotary Club of Ojai welcomes Dan Pingaro, the newly appointed executive director of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, as our featured speaker on Friday, October 16. Pingaro brings more than 25 years of experience in conservation, environmental policy, nonprofit leadership and philanthropy. A Southern California native, he began his career in natural-resource management and environmental planning with the Hoopa Valley Tribal Government, spent a decade with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency working on Tribal, water and ocean programs, and later led organizations including Sailors for the Sea, the Laguna Beach Community Foundation and the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.

Pingaro arrives at an important moment for one of Ojai’s most consequential civic organizations. OVLC has just completed its $7.5 million Land + Legacy Campaign and is taking on stewardship of Rancho Cañada Larga, the largest conservation project in its history, while continuing to protect and restore the preserves, trails and wildlife corridors that define the Ojai Valley. Come meet Dan, hear what drew him to Ojai, and learn how he sees the Conservancy building on nearly four decades of community-supported land protection in the years ahead.

Trade the meeting room for the quarterdeck — at least in spirit. Adri Howe, Deputy Director of Mystic Ocean Adventures, will introduce us to the Mystic Whaler, a magnificent 110-foot schooner that serves as a floating classroom in the Santa Barbara Channel. Based out of Channel Islands Harbor, the nonprofit uses traditional sailing to immerse young people in maritime history, ocean science, conservation, teamwork and hands-on STEAM education. Students don’t just hear about sailing — they haul lines, learn nautical skills and become part of the crew.

Adri brings an unusually local perspective to the story. A longtime nonprofit executive and communicator, she is also President and Executive Director of California Coastal Horse Rescue in Ojai (she spoke to our club in 2024 about the horse rescue operation), an officer of the Channel Islands Harbor Foundation, and former Executive Director and CFO of the Channel Islands Maritime Museum. She’ll tell us how an old-school tall ship is being put to thoroughly modern use: building confidence, curiosity and environmental stewardship in the next generation. Come hear what happens when the classroom has sails, the Pacific is the laboratory — and occasionally somebody gets to fire the ship’s cannon.

https://www.tasteofojai.org/

November is Rotary Foundation Month and here's what your International Service Committee is able to do by leveraging your contributions to TRF.

“Each of us has a unique experience and relationship with California,” said California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick. “It is a place of bounty of innovation, opportunity, and progress, as well as difficulty and violence, challenges, and areas of need. Poetry can be a bridge to personal and societal change, and it can show us new ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us.”

Almost a decade ago a box of letters  was received at your Ojai Valley Museum that chronicles the coorespondence between a husband and wife who both grew up in the Ojai Valley but were often apart.  The story of two restless families spaning roughly 1870 to 1920 and ranging from New England to Mexico to Southern California can now be told through the words of this couple, their multcultural parents and their progeny as a publication and as an exhibit at the Ojai Valley Museum.

Why do promising conversations, projects and partnerships stall — even when everyone involved knows their stuff?

Join the Rotary Club of Ojai on January 15 for a lively presentation by Ojai’s John Patterson, co-founder of Influential U and co-author of High TQ: Why It Matters More Than Expertise. Patterson explores Transactional Intelligence—the ability to recognize and navigate the human exchanges that turn good intentions into results.

From workplace frustrations to community projects, discover why expertise alone may leave us stuck — and how clearer agreements, curiosity and follow-through can help us move forward together.

Bring your questions, meet your neighbors and see what Rotary is all about. Guests are welcome!

John Krist is a Ventura County journalist and author who now travels the Western U.S. and beyond chronicling the natjural history of the area and those who have peopled it.  He will be speaking on two of the main routes of the great migration to our western shores: The Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail.  More of his travels and family lore can be found at:  https://johnkrist.substack.com/