Speakers

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.”

From the foothills of Santa Barbara to the remote Himalayan communities of northeastern India, the Odiyana Institute is putting the Buddhist principles of wisdom and compassion into practice. Our guest, Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teacher and founder of the institute, will share his remarkable journey and the vision behind the Odiyana Health and Education Project. The initiative brings healthcare, education and opportunity to underserved communities in India's Assam and Arunachal Pradesh regions. Learn how the Rotary Club of Ojai's partnership is helping transform that vision into reality — and how service can bridge cultures, continents and faiths.

Nordhoff High School's L.I.V.E. team (Leadership through International Volunteer Expeditions) joins us to share how Ojai students are changing lives — including their own — through service projects around the globe. From Laos and Peru to Tanzania, these young ambassadors are building bridges across cultures, developing leadership skills and putting service above self into action. They'll also bring delicious homemade baked goods for a lively fundraising auction to support their upcoming international expeditions. Come ready to be inspired, bid generously and satisfy your sweet tooth for a great cause!

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/