The Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks (“RCTO”) held two offsite meetings this year as part of Vocational Service. Both offsite meetings were at locations at which the RCTO had not held offsite meetings before.
The first meeting was held at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office East County Station. Club Member Jeremy Paris, a Commander in the Sheriff’s Department who is the Police Chief of Thousand Oaks, gave us a very interesting presentation on a variety of issues facing law enforcement in our area. Jeremy concluded his presentation by discussing some of the hard work that the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department did to investigate the organized theft rings operating in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, and to interest other law enforcement agencies outside of our County in the Department’s investigation. In spite of reports to the contrary, all of the 70 or so RCTO members who attended the meeting at the Sheriff’s East County Station were allowed to leave on their own recognizance, and none were detained.
The Club’s second offsite meeting was at America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, which is one of the two exotic animal training programs in the country. Our host was Mara Rodriguez, who is the President Elect of the Moorpark Morning Rotary Club and the Development Coordinator of the Zoo. While the hope of our Club’s Vocational Service Committee was that RCTO members might learn something from the animals at the Zoo about how to behave themselves in a more civilized manner than they usually do at Club meetings, the Club’s subsequent meetings demonstrated the committee’s hope was totally unrealistic. Nevertheless, the Club members learned about the Zoo and the programs it offers to the public. Club members also had a chance to interact with some of the current students in the Zoo’s rigorous training program, who brought some of animals out of their enclosures to interact with the visiting Rotarians. For those Rotarians who were not familiar with the Zoo and what a great place it is to bring children and adults alike, they now can spread the word among friends and family, and let those who might be interested in the Zoo’s Exotic Animal Training Program know of the existence of that vocation and Moorpark College’s program.
The Club’s second offsite meeting was at America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, which is one of the two exotic animal training programs in the country. Our host was Mara Rodriguez, who is the President Elect of the Moorpark Morning Rotary Club and the Development Coordinator of the Zoo. While the hope of our Club’s Vocational Service Committee was that RCTO members might learn something from the animals at the Zoo about how to behave themselves in a more civilized manner than they usually do at Club meetings, the Club’s subsequent meetings demonstrated the committee’s hope was totally unrealistic. Nevertheless, the Club members learned about the Zoo and the programs it offers to the public. Club members also had a chance to interact with some of the current students in the Zoo’s rigorous training program, who brought some of animals out of their enclosures to interact with the visiting Rotarians. For those Rotarians who were not familiar with the Zoo and what a great place it is to bring children and adults alike, they now can spread the word among friends and family, and let those who might be interested in the Zoo’s Exotic Animal Training Program know of the existence of that vocation and Moorpark College’s program.
