Last week, we conducted our first ever Giving Tuesday campaign— ‘From the Ground Up’— to raise $20,000 for on the ground conservation and to give back to our community through donating to local food banks. Participating in Giving Tuesday has been a goal for the VCRCD for years, and now, it has been made a possibility with the help of our newly formed Development Team. Spearheaded by Agricultural Environmental Systems Specialist Ikuko Nakano and VCRCD Board Development Chair Remy Richardson, the Development Team’s main goals are to diversify revenue to make the VCRCD more resilient, create intentional public outreach, and host more events for our community.
At the center of our work is our desire to serve our community, whether that be through offering free educational programming, providing financial assistance to farmworkers and landowners, or better stewarding the land resilience, water resources, and native biodiversity of Ventura County. We wanted to further this goal by hosting a food drive and donating 10% of our proceeds to a local food bank as part of our Giving Tuesday campaign. According to Food Share Ventura County, one in every four people struggle with food insecurity in Ventura County. As an environmental organization, we understand that community well-being and resource conservation are deeply interconnected. The recent months have shown us the importance of showing up for one another, and we wanted to contribute to the vital work already being done to address food security and access in our community. When putting this campaign together, we felt it was critical to give people multiple ways to support their neighbors by hosting a food drive during our Giving Tuesday campaign. We’re grateful to the bounty of food items that were dropped off at our office for the Somis Food Bank, which feeds about 400 community members directly donates excess to other food pantries and local farmworkers.
Throughout our ‘From the Ground Up’ campaign, we were overwhelmed by our community’s generosity! We raised $3,176 to expand hands-on conservation work across Ventura County, with $317 of our proceeds going to the Somis Food Bank. We want to thank everyone who donated, shared, or showed support for our campaign. Because of community members like you, we can continue offering free workshops, field days, and training across Ventura County. The King & King Ranch, a Citrus and Avocado family farm in Ventura County, work with the VCRCD on various agricultural conservation programs and recently shared their experience with us.
“Our family has been farming in Ventura County for over 112 years, since the first-generation grandparents bought the property and started farming this land. We currently raise mostly avocados and citrus. As the world around us is changing, we’re trying to work more with the landscape instead of against it, and VCRCD has been instrumental in helping us gain tools to become drastically more sustainable – both environmentally and financially! They’ve helped us obtain grants for water & electricity-saving equipment, for increasing our beneficial wild habitat, which has helped us with not having to spray pesticides, and they have been a huge help to us as we transition to organic practices and get our organic certification! All along the way, their staff members have been encouraging and helpful – and very much appreciated! We would not have been able to do a fraction of what we’ve done without their support.”
If you missed Giving Tuesday but still want to contribute, you can still donate today. We hope to have more events for the public to learn more in 2026. In the meantime, stay connected with us through our newsletter and learn more about our work here. Thank you for helping us facilitate the conservation, sustainability, and restoration of Ventura County’s natural resources for current and future generations, and Happy Holidays!
