Giving and receiving during this pandemic season.

“Why should there by hunger and privation in any land, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?” – Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964

Updated 11/23/2020 – We will continue to update with new opportunities as they come in…

BLM-VC Canned Food Drive – thru Mid-December.

Collecting until mid-December, Cajun County Cafe (665 S Ventura Voad, Oxnard) & Ray’s Exclusive Cuts (1051 Patterson Rd., Oxnard), or call 818-641-2396 to arrange pick up. Organized by @blmventuracounty

NEW! The organizers also need donations of personal hygiene items, as they would like to give out care packs to the unhoused people who come. Socks, masks, toothbrush, toilet paper, wet wipes, feminine hygiene products, etc…

COVID testing information

Free, confidential COVID-19 testing is available to every Californian that needs it. Appointments are required. (CA state website here with locations and registration information.)

Continue reading →

Tues 4/28: Ventura County’s Mask & Gown Brigades rock!

(Photo of homemade gowns in action! Ventura County has an amazing group of volunteers creating PPE, including masks, face shields and gowns, as well as community members who’ve donated equipment to keep our frontline workers safe. Those workers want you all to know how much they appreciate your efforts! Information below from Amy Towner, CEO – Health Care Foundation for Ventura County from 4/23)

Dear Brigades,

Our nurses, doctors and staff wanted to thank the brigades for their sewn masks so I have been collecting video. I put out a call on Facebook and asked if someone would make them into a video and my friend Hugo Zamora Camilha Contreras put this together as a donation to show the circle of love of our community.

Continue reading →

Sat 3/28: Here are today’s featured volunteer/donation opportunities!

Photo above includes some of our health care professionals wearing masks made by community volunteers. (Use this pattern only.) They now have over 500 of the 3000 they need!

Here’s the list! There’s something for everyone!

Go here of all sorts of volunteer activities to help during this pandemic.

Our health care workers want to say “thanks for the awesome masks and please make more!”

From Amy Towner of the Health Care Foundation for Ventura County – “Your sewn mask donations are going into the hands of healthcare workers at both Ventura County Medical Center and at Santa Paula Hospital as a personal gift to them with the message that their community appreciates and values them. In a clinical setting, ideally, we want authentic personal protective equipment (PPE). With the national shortage and unavailability, our community (all of you) was not ok with that answer and found a way to help by using their talents at the sewing machine with readily available resources like cotton fabric to create a mask style that has been used for hundreds of years to protect those delivering care to us. These masks can be washed and sterilized hospital grade laundering and autoclave. Paired with the 3D shields, this duo from the community is great protection compared to no protection in the event PPE runs out. Our healthcare workers feel the time, energy and quality of the finished product. “We can’t buy masks made this well.” “These are incredibly comfortable, with great coverage and encourages me not to touch my face” are just a few comments amongst all the thanks and gratitude.”

If you want to join the mask-making volunteer brigade, go here for fabric specifications, how-to video and downloadable instructions and pattern. The hospital requires this very specific pattern which was designed by a nurse. It has no elastic, which dissolves in autoclaves and causes irritation around ears, and is the required size, shape and strength to last for 5 months. Continue reading “Sat 3/28: Here are today’s featured volunteer/donation opportunities!” →

Wed. 3/25: Ventura County volunteers step up! Update on requests for help.

UPDATED 4/01: Total cases: 160. Active under quarantine: 124. Deaths: 5. Tested: 2,987. (Source: VC Emergency)
New – Action #14 – Train online to be a volunteer certified nurses aid.

Action #1 – More masks please! They need at least 3000 3500!!

Check here for all updates to mask project pattern and specifications.

Update 4/02/2020: 2,194 completed masks out of 3500 needed!
Update 3/25/2020: Ventura’s mask-making volunteers have made the New York Times! Check out the bottom paragraphs of this article! Then watch this video of the project from KEYT. Local high school students are also using 3D-printing to create face shields for medical workers. Ventura County is full of awesome people!

Update from Amy Towner, CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County, Inc.:

“Our community continues to grow, today 250+ people to help protect and serve our county. Infection control is thrilled with the quality of masks being produced as is administration, doctors and nurses. (We knew all along that we could produce something better than money could buy and made with love to provide additional protection). We now have about 1,769 masks in current stock and we need at least 3,500 and we can do it.” UPDATE 4/01: 500 additional masks required for drive through clinic personnel.

Send an email to Amy here to volunteer (do this first!) Tell her the following:

1. Full Name
2. Cell Phone
3. Email address
4. Full residential address
5. Need/donation
  - “I have fabric/thread supply to donate”
  - “I need need fabric so I can sew”
  - “I can drive for supply/demand”

Mask pattern, instructions, fabric specifications and drop-off information are here.

Action #2 – UPDATED 4/01 – Check your garage and storage areas for unused baby monitors and other medical equipment!

Continue reading “Wed. 3/25: Ventura County volunteers step up! Update on requests for help.” →

Sat. 1/5: Standing Indivisible with folks right here at home.

You don’t have to go to a Tijuana refugee camp to find people who need help. It’s going to be a cold, wet night right here in Ventura County… (Three actions below)

Action #1: Today! – Saturday 1/5 – Help feed people at the new Emergency Shelter!

(This message is from Peggy Ayala-Rivera, Jan. 3rd.)
Good evening! I’m reaching out to you because I need your help.
With rain scheduled to start late Friday or early Saturday, we will be opening our Emergency Shelter at the National Armory located at 351 S. K St. across the street from the old OXNARD high school gym and I need your help to prepare some hot food and brought to the shelter by 5:30 p.m. if there is anyway possible you can prepare a tray of food like spaghetti or some other pasta to feed the homeless. salad, french bread for Saturday night I would truly appreciate it if interested to help please contact me Commissioner Peggy Rivera with the Commission on Homelessness here in our City@ 805-890-7414 as soon as possible…you can help make life a little better for those less fortunate…
Other things that are needed is paper plates, napkins, plastic utensils and toilet paper.
Thank you all so very much I truly appreciate your help.
Peggy Rivera

Indivisible Ventura responds… We are now shopping and cooking!
If you have a donation to drop off or need a pick up, please contact us at indivisibleventura@gmail.com Continue reading “Sat. 1/5: Standing Indivisible with folks right here at home.” →

Wed- 1/2: Resisters – Mark your calendars! This government isn’t going to fix itself!

Photo: SEIU’s volunteer caravan to Tijuana to deliver supplies & medical care to refugees. Members of Indivisible Ventura and DSA joined in…

One thing we’ve all discovered after Trump was elected, was just how much a bunch of committed volunteers could accomplish. Last year, IV & friends ran a (3)-precinct polling place, citizenship fairs, voter registration drives and postcard campaigns. Looks like we were just warming up…

Jan. 3rd – Join in! Our Women’s March isn’t going to plan itself either!

Women’s March Planning Committee (Event is on Jan 19th, see below), Ambrosia by Caffrodite Cafe, 1987 E. Main, Ventura

Jan. 7th – Start your Martin Luther King “Day of Service” work early!

Continue reading “Wed- 1/2: Resisters – Mark your calendars! This government isn’t going to fix itself!” →

Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.

Let’s Make Everyone Count!
Homeless Point-In-Time Count, Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Why: This effort helps to better understand who is homeless in Ventura County and gain access to state and federal funding.
What: Volunteers canvass the community in pairs and collect survey data through interviewing homeless persons or reporting observations.
Who: Volunteers must be 18 years or older and have the ability to walk distances in designated locations. A smart phone/device will be needed to download the “Counting Us” app for the survey. More information will be shared during the training.

Please register online at http://www.volunteerventuracounty.org/need/detail/?need_id=388508 and spread the word!

or…

Join Indivisible Ventura’s team! Email us here with your name, email, phone #, and preferred shift on Jan. 22nd, either [6 am-12 noon] or [11am-5pm]. Tell us if you’re signing up with a friend. The morning shift always needs more people (6 am!!!), so please indicate if you’re flexible.

Training time options: Continue reading “Help our Homeless Residents receive shelter, housing, rental, and outreach funding! Volunteer for the Point-in-Time Count.” →

Mon 10/29: Calling for more poll workers!

Action – If you’re not in Indivisible Ventura’s adopt-a-poll crew, volunteer to be a regular poll worker in Thousand Oaks, Simi, Moorpark, Oxnard or Port Hueneme.

We the People: What we political newbies keep learning is how essential the private citizen is in keeping the lights on in this democratic experiment we call America. One may think that state governments are in completely in charge of elections…organizing, facilitating and sometimes suppressing them, and we just show up to vote. But the person handing you your ballot and helping you feed it into the voting machine is a regular civilian, just like you.

After the polls close, and everybody else is home watching the early returns on television, county parking lots are transformed into a klieg-light bright islands of activity, as regular citizens – two representatives from every polling place in our huge county, pull their cars up, one after another, to return voting equipment and relinquish their sealed bags of ballots.

This, at the end, is what democracy looks like. Something to be very proud of. Something to protect and aid.

In Ventura County, they need more of you to help make our experiment work!

Continue reading “Mon 10/29: Calling for more poll workers!” →

Fri – 10/5: It’s time to do more than wait for your polling place to open…

Canvassing…Phonebanking…
These strategies help swing elections, but for us introverts, they can, at first, appear overwhelming and stressful.

“If you told me a year ago that I would be knocking on doors to talk to strangers about a candidate or to convince them to vote, I would not have laughed in your face. While I would have found the notion ridiculous, I would have just shrugged and smiled politely. That’s because I’m an introvert. I take my personal space very seriously, I’m usually exhausted (not energized) when engaging with others outside my normal sphere, and I try very hard to avoid confrontation.

Oddly enough, I’ve found that all of those traits make me a fairly ideal door-to door political canvasser…”

(click here for the rest of this great article on how introverts can shine at these activities.)

So here are activities for you to try out. We need everyone to help.

Action #1 – Sign up to phonebank

Continue reading “Fri – 10/5: It’s time to do more than wait for your polling place to open…” →

Tues 7/3: Local volunteer opportunity…

Despite the chaos in the legislature, there are some concrete actions we can take to protect our DACA neighbors…

Ventura County Legal Aid, Inc, Law Offices of Vanessa Frank, Law Offices of Gariella NavarroBusch, Kirwin & Francis LLP, Santa Clara Valley Legal Aid and RGA Immigration have teamed together to create free monthly DACA paperwork renewal clinics.

Here are a couple of ways we can help.

Part 1 – Donate.

Time/Brand new skill: Become a volunteer to help DACA recipients fill in their paperwork. Join us on July 9th at 5:00 pm at CAUSE – Centro Mujer, 4225 Saviors Rd., #2, Oxnard for a quick lecture on how to assist filling out the forms before the DACA recipients arrive. You do not need to speak Spanish.

Money: Sponsor a DACA recipient’s filing fee. ($495) or whatever you can.

Food/Bottled Water/Office Supplies: One night a month, a busy little office springs up to fill out forms. Donations are welcome.

Contact: Email: Legal Aid Clinic at support@vclegalaid.org or Call (805) 650-7592