Ojai Valley News • Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010

Realtors buck economy, send cash gift to OEF

Linda Harmon

OVN contributor

It has been a difficult economic year for everyone but it hasn’t deterred the Ojai Valley Board of Realtors from making a $1,000 gift to the Ojai Education Foundation, benefiting programs for Ojai Valley schoolchildren. Thayne Whipple, OEF president, gratefully accepted the check from Dawn Shook, executive officer of the Ojai Valley Board of Realtors. 

Shook is also a member of another nonprofit group, the Optimist Club of Ojai, and realized the OEF would be a great recipient of the Ojai Valley Board of Realtors Contribution- Marketing Committee program. According to Shook, the OVBR members annually support the local Adopt a Family Program, a Nordhoff scholarship program, community blood drives, along with the Community Assistance Program Food Drive. 

“The Optimist Club got a letter in past years from the Ojai Education Foundation asking us to donate,” said Shook. “We donated, but we were not quite clear as to how our contribution helped with children’s programs. This year I attended the OEF breakfast, and actually heard of all the great things the money goes toward.” 

According to Whipple, the OEF gives out $10,000 to $12,000 a year in its Mini-Grants Award Program for teacher requests, ranging from classroom technology and math curriculum, to money for school gardens, music and dance programs.  They also make occasional larger grants for educational support like the seed money used for the Nordhoff Health and Science Department. 

Like many Ojai residents, Shook and Whipple said they moved here to raise their children, have stayed, and are still committed to ensuring the quality of education for all Ojai schoolchildren.  “There is a continuing need to fund these great programs the district simply can’t afford,” said Whipple. 

For more information about the OEF or to make a donation, go to ojaief.org.