2018-2019

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Category: 2018-2019

Alan Greenberg says he didn't go looking for community projects to get behind, they just showed up unexpectedly.

Ojai Valley School was Mr. Greenberg's reason for coming to Ojai, looking for a boarding school for his young daughter. He decided to make Ojai his home in 2002.

In 2006, he endowed a new building on the lower campus of Ojai Valley School, named The Greenberg Activities Center, citing a need for a venue for assemblies, performance arts, and other activities.

Most recently, he donated monies to help rebuilding the upper campus buildings destroyed in the Thomas fire.

In 2013, Greenberg and two others sought to improve and upgrade the Jewish Community Center in Meiner's Oaks. The plan accepted the master plan. He raised over $250,000 to make substantial improvements to the Center. More social events are planned including hosting bridge clubs from Ojai and Oak View.

Alan and his wife, Valerie became involved in the Weil Tennis Academy and underwrite a young player's tuition and traveling expenses.

Over the past several years, the couple has supported the Ojai Tennis Tournament, the Ojai Valley Museum, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and the Ojai Music Festival.

Mr. Greenberg cites his business, financial, and problem-solving experience in the success of these community projects. "I gues I thought, I know how to do this and do it the right way, and make it work."

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Category: 2018-2019

Joyce Robinson has dedicated her life to giving back to the community she loves so much, both during her career and in retirement.

Joyce was a teacher on and off in the Ojai Unified School District for about 40 years. She gegan teaching sixth grade at Meiners Oaks Elementary in 1964. She taught fourth, fifth,and sixth grades there for nine years. She returned to school to get her Master's degree and counseling credentials. She returned to Meiners Oaks to teach fifth grade until 1980.

Then she began her 24 1/2 year stint as a social sciences and drama teacher at Chaparral High School, retiring in 2004. "I really enjoyed working with teenagers, Robinson said. "It was so rewarding, especially when they graduated."

She has been involved in the Ojai Education Foundation, Ojai Music Festival Women's Committee, and the Ojai Valley Museum. She volunteers every February and March for the Ojai Music Van, exposing young students to musical instruments. She serves on the Ojai Music Board and is a volunteer coordinator for the annual Ojai Holiday Home Tour in November. She serves on the Ojai Museum Board, volunteering as a docent and working on the oral history program.

David Mason, Ojai resident and historian, recent winner of the Sanford Drucker Award posthumously, was a good friend and she recorded Mr. Mason's story. "He said as long as I was one of the interviewers, he would do it." Some of the interview was shown at David's memorial service at Libbey Bowl.

Joyce summarized, "I like small towns. I like the fact that people know you and they put themselves out for people who need help, and they're very...just compassionate, and it's not like a big city, where you're just a number."

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Category: 2018-2019

Karen Evenden thrives on being busy. She is the co-founder of the Ojai Women's Fund, a former Board member of Help of Ojai, and a driving force behind the Ojai Valley Lavender Festival.

Karen and her husband Bill came to Ojai in 2002 from Seattle where she owned a kitchen store and cooking school. "We were looking for a place with sunshine."

The Ojai Woman's Fund was started by Karen and Peggy Russell. The program was modeled after a similar program in Seattle. Through donations from more than 300 members, they have sought to help fund special projects and expand efforts in the arts, education, environment, health, and social services. It celebrated its third year by awarding $105,000 in community grants to 13 local nonprofits. "It has been exciting to watch this grow!", she observed.

Her work with the Help of Ojai enabled them to acquire the lease from the County of Ventura for the Baldwin Road West Campus. In addition, Help of Ojai raised about $685,000 in goods and financial donations to help more than 160 households impacted by the Thomas Fire. 10 trailers were purchased for local fire victims who had previously lived in the Valley.

The Lavender Festival provides scholarships to residents involved in educational programs agricultue or the beneficial uses of lavender.

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Category: 2018-2019

Lynne Doherty, a musician and music teacher, brings the sound of music to the young students of the Ojai Valley.

She is in charge of volunteers working the Music Van, part of the Ojai Music festival's Bravo! music education program. It is a mobile classroom that brings dozens of instruments to the kids with a chance to blow, strum, shake, or beat a variety of brass, woodwind, string, and percussion instruments.

Her efforts began in 1992. She began with the Ojai band, playing french horn. She worked with Living Treasures, Bill Wagner and Laura Denne and gave music lessons between concerts.

This evolved into the Music Van, which for many of these young students, is their first experience with a musical instrument. A professional musician demonstrates the instrument, then the children get to hold and play the instrument. "It gets pretty noisy", says Lynne.

During Ojai Day, she has a booth where people get to try different instruments. She calls it the "musical petting zoo". Some of her students remember these experiences that led to their choice of instruments.

Aside from her music, she and her partner, Helen volunteer at the Ojai Tennis Tournament and started Ojai's Gay Pride March the last Sunday in June.

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Category: 2018-2019

Tobi Greene is the founder of Girls Empowerment Workshop. She first developed a passion for empowering girls when she was an educator and victim advocate at a rape crisis center. On the birth of her daughter, it became really apparent how important the empowerment of young girls was.

She started her first workshop at Matilija Junior High in 2006. Since then, the program has grown, developed, and was recognized. Their group has raised money for a trip to Malawi, where they taught girls self care and reproductive health care. These girls, in turn have traveled throughout Malawi, teaching what they have learned.

Tobi has incorporated a wildnerness component into the program feeling that "People are at their best when they are in the wilderness and close to nature." Teens that go through the workshop become stronger, more assertive, make informed decisions, and feel worthy enough to do so.

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Category: 2018-2019

Trevol Quirk was nominated a Living Treasure for his heroic work helping save lives, homes, and belongings during the Thomas fire. After the fire, he helped start Upper Ojai Relief to help people recover.

When the Thomas fire started in Upper Ojai on December 4th, 2017, he stayed with his home after evacuating his family. He helped fleeing residents and helped save his home and his neighbors homes. He and others cut fire lines to stop the forward progress of the fire. Having taken training in firefighting in college, he felt he was in the right place at the right time.

Upper Ojai Relief rose from the ashes during this time. Starting with a pancake breakfast, the post fire aid included social media posts, setting up aid stations, delivering food and supplies, and networking with people that wanted to help. The organization assisted those in need when the Montecito mudslide hit a month after the fire. Similar aid was rendered to victims of the Woolsey fire as well after a friend called, saying his mobile home had burned down.

In the aftermath of these tragic events, the group has sifted through the ashes, finding rings and other items, passed down from generations.

Trevor was chosen to be the Grand Marshall of the 4th of July Parade in 2018 in recognition of his efforts on the behalf of the victims of these horrific fires.