Welcome to the Rotary Club of Ventura-East. Our club was chartered on May 23, 1963; 55 years of service to our community and the world. We are also the first club to be a 100% Paul Harris Fellow club in our district and we were the 54th club in the world to achieve this distinction, having donated $1,000 per member to the Rotary International Foundation to fund projects in the United States and all around the world.
Ventura-East Rotarians meet for lunch from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. every Thursday at the Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura, 3451 Foothill Road. A delicious lunch, fellowship and networking, a short business session and usually an informative speaker who presents current and timely topics.
Rotarians practice our pledge of “Service Above Self” through our five Avenues of Service committees: Club Service, Community Service, International Service, Vocational Service and Youth Service. One of our most popular projects is the Push-em Pull-em Parade for youngsters and families on the 4
th of July. We started this parade in 1976 and celebrated the 43rd anniversary of the Push-em Pull-em Parde this year (Click on this link to see photos
PhotoAlbums/2017-push-em-pull-em-parade). Operation Splash, partnered with the YMCA, teaches youngsters to swim and learn water safety. We are, after all, a beach community! We support The Ronald McDonald House at VCMC, Food Share and Autism Society Ventura County. This year in June we awarded $125,000 in scholarships to local High School Seniors with plans to attend colleges and universities. This coming June we plan to also award scholarships to those students pursuing vocational programs.
Leadership training for our youth is an important part of what we do, sponsoring an “Interact” Club at Buena High School and sending High School Juniors to a program called RYLA, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a 4-day retreat for self-development and leadership experience.
On an International basis, we are partnering with “The Mossy Foot Project” based in Ventura and providing medical and rehabilitation services through their project in Ethiopia.
We have two major fundraisers each year to support our charitable work. In April, we host a jigsaw puzzle competition that benefits our club and Autism Society Ventura County and our club. Our second and most lucrative fundraiser is Poinsettia Sales for the holidays. Volunteer Rotarians deliver the cases of beautiful plants for each order to home or business. For large business orders, we can drop ship the cases. Ask us! These fund-raising events allow us to continue our services to our local community and to the world.
If you have an interest in Rotary and doing good in our world, here locally and internationally, please contact us through our website or see us on Facebook. We welcome your inquiry and would welcome you to join us at lunch to investigate the opportunities of Rotary Membership.
Carin Kally