On June 8th, the Humane Society of Ventura County celebrated 87 years of service to Ventura County by hosting an Open House. The Shelter’s Board of Directors and staff were on hand to answer questions and tours were available throughout the property. The Shelter’s Board of Directors and staff were on hand to answer questions and tours were available throughout the property. Thank you to all our guests who attended and showed their support for improving the lives of animals throughout the County. 

We had many special guests this year. Thank you to Danny Rodriguez from US Congresswoman Julia Brownley’s office, who presented Shelter Director Jolene Hoffman and President of the Board Cyndy Treutelaar, with a Certificate of congressional recognition. Hannah Sullivan also presented the Shelter with a Certificate of Recognition on behalf of state Senator Hannah Beth Jackson and Assemblymember Monique Limon’s office. Also in attendance was Mayor of Ojai, Johnny Johnson; new Director of Ventura County Animal Services, Jackie Rose; and Deputy Director of Ventura County Animal Services, Donna Gillesby.

This year we were pleased to welcome Kris Humphries from the Ojai Valley Library Friends foundation who had a booth at our event to help promote our new Animal Reading Friends (ARF) program. Kris Humphries arranged for the Humane Society of Ventura County to host a Little Free Library on the shelter property, providing a free book trade program for people of all ages.

Our annual Birthday Bash and Open House is one of our favorite days of the year, and it is all made possible by the support of our community. We have many people to thank for this year’s successful event! Thank you to Laurie Kolkman at Firefly Ceramics who sent over supplies so that our guests could create some very stunning work for our Tiles for Tails Fundraiser. A special thank you to Sam’s Club in Oxnard for providing the delicious birthday cake, Starbuck’s in Ojai for their donation of Coffee, VONS for donating ice for the event, Nate Romo from Artemis for providing free pet food samples, Doug Rydbeck at Ojai Ice Cream for donating gift certificates, Wendy Trimiti at Ojai Valley School for hosting a banner, Lucy in the sky for face painting, IDEXX Laboratories for sponsoring Bliss Frozen Yogurt for our guests, and Gina Gables at Ma & Paw Kennel.

Our volunteers always play a huge part in ensuring that our events are a great success and many of the behind the scenes work is done by these dedicated individuals. We would like to thank everyone who worked so hard donating their time and skills to the shelter and helped create such a welcoming. Special thanks to Stephen Adams and Evan Maidaa for photographing the event. Teri Reid was once again instrumental in organizing a successful Bake Sale to raise funds for the shelter. Thank you to the following volunteers for sharing the gift of their time: Laurie McKnett, Laurie Adams, Linda and Keith Duval, Barbara Golding, Frank Salguero, Teri Reid, Denise Cotton, Virginia Storer, Dee Heatherton, Angela and Ella Brown, Ann Vargas, Melissa Goldman, Katie Miller, Mari Mortland, Marion Flanders, Hilda Bleauvelt, Lisa Babashoff, Cephanie & Huimin Burgman, Kirra Crane, Madeline and Melinda Sheller, Jonra Cross, London Fletcher, and Christina and Elizabeth Hofer.

We look forward to another prosperous year serving the Ventura County community!