Make a Wish Tri-Counties 2014 Wishes in Flight Campaign Launches in Ventura County

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GREAT update! Wish Kid Ambassador Hazel and family recently received word that she is now cancer free! Congratulations! More at www.ourlittlehazelnut.blogspot.com. Hazel continues to be the Wish Kid Ambassador as Make a Wish Tri-Counties seeks to achieve its goal of one million donated airline miles in 2014. They are currently (as of 5/5/14) at 39% of this goal. 28 of 73 current wishes in process involve air travel. Donate at tri-counties.wish.org/ways-to-help/giving/airline-miles.

Originally posted in February 2014:

3-year-old Hazel, with stage 3 Neuroblastoma, and wishes to go to Disney World, is the official Wish Kid Ambassador for the Make a Wish Tri-Counties 2014 Wishes in Flight campaign, with a goal of one million donated miles.

When the volunteer Wish Granters came to Hazel’s house in Simi Valley to learn about her wish, Hazel’s parents asked how they could help make wishes come true for other kids, particularly, how they could help collect frequent flyer miles. Chapter CEO Shanna Wason Taylor reached out to Hazel’s mom, Lauren, and the 2014 Wishes in Flight Campaign was born.

Many wishes like Hazel’s come true with help from frequent fliers. Their donations of air miles are essential to getting wish kids to their destinations. The Wishes in FlightSM miles donation program is easy – and the miles never expire once donated.

63 percent of the wishes granted locally by Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties, which serves Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, include air travel for families to reach their wish destinations.

Locally, 8 million donated airline miles are needed to provide wish travel for wish kids and their families each year, whether it’s to meet a celebrity, go to their favorite theme park or reconnect with a close friend who moved away.

Less than 2 million are donated each year, making airline tickets the most avoidable but significant expense for the local chapter. Currently the local Make-A-Wish chapter has depleted their donated airline miles bank, and is paying rack rate for all tickets purchased.

Donating unused airline miles is an easy way for supporters to help grant wishes like Hazel’s and give them an experience that improves the quality of life for them and their families.

To donate Delta, US Airways, Continental, United or JetBlue frequent flyer miles to Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties, go to tri-counties.wish.org/ways-to-help/giving/airline-miles or call 805-676-9474 x4. It is extremely easy to do. Just have your frequent flyer account number on hand.

Learn more about Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties at tri-counties.wish.org.

ABOUT HAZEL: Hazel was diagnosed in April 2013 with High Risk, Stage 3 Neuroblastoma. She was referred to Make-A-Wish in August. To learn more about Hazel visit www.ourlittlehazelnut.blogspot.com.

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Highlight Their Favorite Family Eateries

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The other night, we ran a drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page. To enter the drawing, we asked folks to indicate their favorite family-friendly restaurant in the Conejo Valley or anywhere in Ventura County. There were over 170 entries and some clear winners.

Toppers Pizza Place was the clear overall winner, garnering 15 mentions, or nearly 9% of all entries. A perennial favorite, home grown here in Ventura County, with popular pizzas, salad bar and more. Toppers has locations in Lazy Dog Cafe coming soon to The Collection at RiverPark in OxnardThousand Oaks, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard and Channel Islands Harbor. www.topperspizzaplace.com

In the chase pack were Lazy Dog Cafe, Red Robin and Islands Restaurant, each gathering 10 to 11 votes. Lazy Dog is located at The Oaks shopping mall in Thousand Oaks as is coming soon to The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard. Red Robin has locations at The Oaks, Pacific View Mall in Ventura and Simi Valley Town Center (the Calabasas location recently closed). Islands has locations in Newbury Park, Agoura Hills and in Simi Valley.

Garnering eight votes each were The Cheesecake Factory and Stacked, located side by side at The Oaks. Cheesecake Factory seems to always be bustling with people. With its corporate headquarters in nearby Calabasas, Cheesecake Factory is a publicly traded company with stock symbol CAKE and a current market valuation of $2.3 billion...that's a lot of cheesecake. With its customized iPad ordering system and tasty food, Stacked has grown quite a following since opening in March 2013.

California Pizza Kitchen, with locations at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley Town Center and Pacific View Mall, received six votes, landing in 7th place on the list.

The following restaurants received a healthy 3 or 4 votes: BJ's Restaurant, Country Harvest in Newbury Park, Wood Ranch BBQ, Cho Cho San, Cronies, Souplantation, Stonefire Grill, Joe's Crab Shack and Pieology. A combination of home grown Ventura County favorites and larger chains.

Making the honorable mention list with two votes apiece were Pickles Deli, Dickey's BBQ Pit, Gandolfo's Deli, Bandits BBQ, Mulberry Street Pizzeria, Chilis, Panera Bread, Yolanda's, Junkyard Cafe, Sea Fresh at Channel Islands Harbor, Jinky's Cafe, Buca di Beppo, Sharky's, Lure Fish House and newly opened Mama's Hummus in Newbury Park.

PLACES WITH KIDS EAT FREE DEALS AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

RESTAURANT REWARDS PROGRAMS AND BIRTHDAY CLUBS AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

Spring Is In the Air at the Palo Comado Canyon Trail in Oak Park

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The 4.4 mile Palo Comado Canyon Trail runs from near the Cheeseboro Canyon trailhead to the China Flat trailhead in the Simi Hills, about a 1,200 foot elevation gain. But you don't have to hike the whole trail to enjoy it. One nice entry point to the trail is on Doubletree Road in Oak Park, most easily accessed via Sunnycrest Drive off of Kanan.

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Today was a perfect day for a hike. With temperatures in the low 70s and a cool spring breeze in the air, not to mention some springtime colors on the hills thanks to some recent, albeit brief, rainfall.

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More on Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyon, part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area, at THIS LINK.

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NHTSA Issues Rule Requiring Backup Cameras on New Cars By May 1, 2018

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Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final rule requiring rear backup cameras in all new vehicles under 10,000 pounds by May 2018. This new rule is expected to reduce the risk of fatalities and serious injuries caused by backover accidents.

The rule requires all vehicles under 10,000 pounds, including buses and trucks, manufactured on or after May 1, 2018, to come equipped with rear visibility technology that expands the field of view to enable the driver of a motor vehicle to detect areas behind the vehicle to reduce death and injury resulting from backover incidents. The field of view must include a 10-foot by 20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle. The system must also meet other requirements including image size, linger time, response time, durability, and deactivation.

On average, there are 210 fatalities and 15,000 injuries per year caused by backover crashes. NHTSA has found that children under 5 years old account for 31 percent of backover fatalities each year, and adults 70 years of age and older account for 26 percent.

Many children are killed or seriously injured in backover incidents. A backover

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The Ventura County Food Protection Program Publishes Online Inspection Reports of Over 4,000 Retail Food Facilities

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The Ventura County Environmental Health Division Food Protection Program (FPP) performs periodic inspections of over 4,000 retail food facilities* in Ventura County that serve or sell food to the public. Inspectors look for things like:

  • Proper training of food handlers
  • Proper maintenance of equipment
  • Food is free of contamination and properly labeled and stored
  • Conditions are safe, clean and sanitary
  • Proper food temperatures

* Retail food facilities include restaurants, markets that serve food, bakeries, mobile food, donut shops, retail stores like Target that serve food, coffee shops, gas stations, produce stands, bars, etc.

The FPP maintains an online, searchable database of food facility inspection reports since January 2004! CLICK HERE to explore. You can find out about all sorts of violations the facility has had in the past, be it vermin infestation, improper equipment sanitation, no soap or paper towels in the restroom, inoperable equipment, improper storage, you name it! All the restaurants I frequent are on the list and all of them have had violations. The good thing is that these inspections keep them on their toes, so I keep eating.

The FPP also publishes an online Food Facilities Closure Report of places where violations are significant enough to shut down the place until they are resolved. Usually the resolution takes place same day or up to 1 or 2 days, though at times as much as weeks depending on the issue. This is even more fun to look at! Some of the noted issues in recent closures have been

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Oxnard High School Stadium is Named After Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Houser

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I was at a kids track meet at Oxnard High School the other day when I stopped to admire the school track and field records reflected on the large sign shown above. In admiring my way through the impressive array, I did a double take when I saw the boys' shot put record. Bud Houser has the record of 56' 3" that was set in 1922. This record is 92 years old!!

That's not something you see every day. So I took a look at the Oxnard High School website alumni section, which indicated that 1922 graduate Clarence "Bud" Houser went on to compete at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and won the gold medal in both the shot put and the discus throw! No one ever since has won gold medals in both of these events at the same Olympics.

He returned to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam and earned another gold medal in his only event that year, the discus throw. Competing in the Olympics three times and earning the gold medal each time is pretty darn epic if you ask me. Bud Houser is a legend. I'm not the only one to observe that as the Oxnard High School stadium is named after him!

Houser was a three time national champion in the discus and two time champion in the shot put (including 1921, while he was still in high school). He held the world record of 158 feet, 1 3/4 inches in the discus throw from 1926 to 1929.

In 1979, at the age of 78, Bud was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame. He later enrolled in the dentistry program at USC and opened a dentistry practice in Palm Springs. He died in 1994 at the age of 93.

Beam Yourself Up to Some Great Upcoming Events Around Ventura County!

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"Beam Me Up" by local artist Chuck Trunks

"Beam Me Up" by local artist Chuck Trunks

Doesn't matter what time of year...there's ALWAYS something to do in and around Ventura County. Here are links to some of our favorite types of events and activities.

FREE EVENTS

FAMILY EVENTS

KID EVENTS

FESTIVALS

FUNDRAISERS

5K/10K RUNS

FAIRS/EXPOS

And there's movies, museums, theaters, community classes, pilates, kids eat free, skateboarding, shopping, volunteering, bowling and so much more!  Have fun!