HELP of Ojai

05/30/2026

TWO HELPers became Ojai Living Treasures this year! Congratulations to Mark Sibernagel (food recovery and pantry volunteer), and Kathy Smith (Senior Nutrition Home Delivered Meals driver)! Well deserved 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

The 2026-2027 Rotary Clubs of Ojai Living Treasures

05/21/2026

Hey Ojai! All HELP of Ojai programs will be closed Monday, May 25th.

Save the date for the June 6th Saturday Sale. The donation center will be closed the days leading up to the sale as staff and volunteers prepare for the sale.

05/09/2026

Thank you to our friends at Rotary Club of Ojai West for hosting us once again!

The Floating Classroom took a group from Help of Ojai on a cruise of Lake Casitas.

05/07/2026

This Saturday is the annual Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive! Simply leave a bag of non perishable food items at your mailbox, and your carrier will deliver it to our food pantry.

This event is a big food raiser for our pantry, which means we could use some extra hands sorting incoming donations at our regular pantry work day Saturday. We will be there from 10-3 and invite you to come by at any time. New volunteers welcome!

04/25/2026

Celebrating our Transportation Volunteers 💙🚐

Our volunteer drivers are the reason so many of our seniors get where they need to go — to medical appointments, to the grocery store, to the pharmacy, to lunch with friends.

For folks who can no longer drive themselves, a ride isn’t just a ride. It’s independence. It’s connection. And our drivers show up, week after week, to make sure that ride is there.

Thank you to every single one of you who gets behind the wheel for HELP. You are quite literally moving this community forward. 💙

04/24/2026

Celebrating our Senior Nutrition Program Volunteers 💙🍽️

Five days a week, HELP of Ojai serves a hot meal to around 100 seniors across the Ojai Valley — some at our congregate lunch, others delivered right to their doorstep.

From prepping salads and plating meals, to loading delivery bags, to driving routes across the Ojai Valley, to clearing tables at the end of it all — SNP volunteers keep every part of this program running. Day after day, meal after meal. 🍽️

Thank you for the early mornings, the warm plates, and the friendly faces our seniors count on. 💙

📸 Meet Stephen — who has been showing up for HELP of Ojai for more than ten years, packing meals and delivering them across the valley. That’s a whole lot of meals, a whole lot of miles, and a whole lot of difference made.

04/22/2026

Celebrating our 2nd Helpings Thrift Store & Donation Center Volunteers 💙

2nd HELPings thrift store runs on people who show up — and wow, do they show up!

Our 2nd HELPings crew makes every part of it happen — from unloading donations at the donation center, to cleaning and pricing, to steaming wrinkles out of that perfect vintage dress, to ringing up sales at the front counter with a smile.

And here’s what makes this program extra special: for many of our volunteers, 2nd HELPings is as much a community as it is a place to serve. A regular shift, familiar faces, a reason to show up — the kind of connection that matters at every age.

Thank you to every one of you who gives your time to keep 2nd HELPings the best little thrift store in Ojai. 🛍️

📸 Just some of the crew. Look at those smiles.

04/21/2026

Celebrating our Community Assistance Program Volunteers 💙

CAP is often the first phone call someone makes when they aren’t sure what to do or where to turn for help and our volunteers are what help us turn that call into a meaningful connection.

From packing pantry boxes and handing out groceries twice a week, to making brown bag lunches for our unhoused neighbors, to answering phones and helping folks find their way to the right resources, CAP volunteers quietly hold so much of what HELP does together.

Thank you for showing up, week after week, for the people who need it most. 💙

📸 Meet our Monday/Wednesday pantry crew — the folks who set up and break down our food distributions twice a week, handing out groceries to more than 100 households a day. A few of them even bike in to volunteer. 🚲 Ojai at its finest.

04/19/2026

Happy National Volunteer Week, Ojai. 🤍

For 58 years, this valley has been held together by the quiet, consistent showing-up of neighbors helping neighbors. 250+ of you delivering meals, sorting food boxes, distributing food, driving seniors to appointments, staffing 2nd Helpings, answering the phones, and a hundred other things we couldn’t do without you.

All week we’ll be sharing the faces and stories behind HELP of Ojai. But today, we just want to say it plainly:

Thank you. For all of it. 🌼

Tag a volunteer who makes our valley better. 👇

Want to join them? Link in bio.

04/10/2026

Thank you Ojai Valley News for featuring our new CarePod in this week's paper!