Stories

The Rotary Club of Ojai invites Ojai not-for-profit organizations to submit grant applications that support the youth of the Ojai Valley. Grants will be for youth services, arts, and music. The Rotary Club of Ojai is especially interested in funding grants from small nonprofits that fund new projects with minimal administration expenses.

Organizations which provide for charitable needs in the Ojai Valley are encouraged to apply.

To apply for a grant:

Click HERE for Application.   E-mail the completed application to Rotary Club of Ojai, Ojairotarygrants@gmail.com.

The deadline for applications is March 8th, 2024.

For further information, please contact ojairotarygrants@gmail.com

ROTARY CLUB OF OJAI EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS

 

The Rotary Club of Ojai Educational Foundation is now accepting Scholarship Applications for 2024.  They must be submitted by March  15, 2024.  For more information and to apply, please click RCOEF Scholarships.

On July 28^th, 2023, Marty Babayco passed away from pancreatic cancer. For those who knew him, his energy, enthusiasm, and passion for seeing students experience the arts in Ojai was a joy to behold. He was a beloved musical director, principal, and community figure – impacting the lives of hundreds of students. 

 

Rotarians and community members appreciated Marty’s sense of fun and inclusion, his leadership, incredible organization and wise counsel, and commitment to Rotary Club of Ojai community projects and the RCO Educational Foundation.

 

In memory of Marty, the Rotary Club of Ojai Educational Foundation has created a memorial fund in his name.  This fund will be used to award grants for student music education and student musical performances in the public schools in the Ojai Valley. 

 

If you have  been impacted by Marty – as a student, parent, educator, Rotarian, or friend -  please consider contributing to this fund. More than a memorial for Marty, it will help propel his legacy and love for the arts in Ojai for the next generation.

 

Click here to donate to the Dr. Marty Babayco Student Music Education Fund. ( http://bit.ly/marty-babayco-fund )

 

You may also write a check made out to RCOEF (with Marty on the memo line) and mail it to RCOEF, PO Box 1036, Ojai, CA 93024. 

 

Every year the Rotary Club of Ojai awards the Fred Clapp Memorial Business Ethics Award to a non-Rotarian business owner in the Ojai Valley who exhibits a commitment to providing ethical service and improving the lives of people in our community.  On March 17 Carolina Murillo of Flora Gardens Nursery received the award at a Rotary meeting, including a plaque that will be displayed prominently at her nursery. She also was featured in an article with photo in the Ojai Valley News.  Together with her husband, Carmen, and her son Danny, Carolina has managed Flora Gardens for almost 14 years. 
 
Carolina is grateful that her business allows her to pursue her love of plants.  “I’ve had an insane love for plants since early childhood.  I am a certified arborist with a strong background in pest management.  I thank the many people who took the time to talk to me about their garden and share their dreams and goals while I poked around their garden,” Carolina said.
 
Rotary Club of Ojai is especially appreciative of Carolina’s advice and service in obtaining trees for the club’s annual Arbor Day tree planting.  For the past 22 years the Rotary Club of Ojai has celebrated Arbor Day by planting trees with students at a local school. The Rotary Club meets at the school for lunch, and students put on an Arbor Day program and also learn more about trees from Rtn. Al West, retired Deputy Chief U.S. Forest Service. 

 

 

In celebration of Rotary Club of Ojai’s 75th anniversary year, we’re giving $25,000 to Ojai Valley area non-profit organizations.  Organizations that serve residents anywhere in the Ojai Valley are encouraged to apply.  This year’s focus will be on projects with an environmental, youth and/or educational impact. 

Click here for the Grant Application Form.

Submit completed applications to ojairotarygrants@gmail.com before the February 28 deadline.

Every year Rotary Club of Ojai sponsors the Ojai Fourth of July Freedom Run, an event where every kid is a winner.  An hour before the Ojai July 4th parade starts, children ages 2 to 12 line up at the Post Office tower and run a loop down Ojai Avenue.

 

Rotarian Drs. Bob Skankey and Fred Fauvre started the event 27 years ago to encourage youth fitness.  As in past years, Fred and his loyal volunteers, including his daughter, Rotarian Renee Halbrook, arrived early July 4th to blow up helium balloons for an arch across Ojai Avenue, register eager participants, and organize fun warm-up exercises using a parachute.  Once kids (sometimes accompanied by supportive parents) were lined up at the starting line, Rotary Club of Ojai President Marty Babayco started the race.

 

  Some kids were experienced runners, and for some it was an accomplishment just to complete the half-mile or one-mile race, especially if they were preschoolers.  Each participant got cheered across the finish line and was given a ribbon and a bottle of water at the end.  About 50 kids participated, and it was a real feel-good smalltown event.  The kids felt good about themselves, and parents appreciated having something like this for their kids.

 

  Thanks to Fred Fauvre for his longtime leadership, and to Renee Halbrook for enriching the community with the July 4th Freedom Run!

     

Rotary Club of Ojai’s projects aren’t always about giving money, although we did buy LOTS of baby wipes for Secure Beginnings Diaper Bank with a $3,000 district grant in April 2022. Last Wednesday during a record-breaking heat wave, intrepid Rotarians Wendy Barker and Tessa Turner and friend Dee Bennett helped Secure Beginnings move a roomful of Diaper Bank supplies to a storage pod. That is the true definition of “sweat equity” and service above self! 

 

The Rotary Club of Ojai’s International Service Committee (ISC) is a very active part of our Club. Over the past several years, we have developed long-term, close working relationships with communities in several countries such as Roatan, Niger, India, Bosnia, Ghana, and Cuba. Ojai Rotary has provided grants to support and help create sustainable, positive change in the areas of medical care, economic development, education & literacy, and water & sanitation. Here is a partial list of our club’s international projects:

 

 

Our $87, 515 global grant for education for indigent children in Puri, India, has been funded, and work is underway!  This is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Ojai, CA (D5240), and Srikshetra Puri Rotary Club in Puri, Odisha, India.

This grant will enable Prashanti International School (PIS) to provide quality education kindergarten through high school for indigent and fatherless children from Puri and surrounding villages, with an emphasis on English language learning and building strong values.  

The most urgent task is to complete the outside work before monsoon season starts in June, when torrential rains will make it impossible to dig foundations for the boundary wall and gates, grade the school grounds for flood control, or build the approach road.  It looks like we will meet this seasonal challenge.  Thanks to contractor Rtn. Rabi Mohapatra for starting work as soon as the grant was approved, rather than waiting for funds to be deposited into the bank account on April 12!  

These costly physical improvements bring Prashanti School one step closer to receiving the certification as an English education high school, so that bright indigent students will be eligible for exams that open up educational and vocational opportunities unimaginable without this schooling.

The photos below document the progress on the project in April 2019. What they do not show is the wonderful collaborative relationship, respect, and friendship that have developed between the Puri and Ojai Rotarians and the school principal as a result of the almost-daily WhatsApp communication about the grant.

Please click HERE for photos.