Starting in February 2021, the Venice Chamber of Commerce began highlighting volunteers in the monthly Member Spotlight Email Feature. Ashley was highlighted in the March 2021 Volunteer Spotlight! Are you a member that would like to be featured? Email info@venicechamber.net to sign up.
I am passionate about strengthening the community and helping to connect resources to people who could benefit from them. This passion has helped to bring me into many different spaces throughout my career, such as the Public Rights Project in Oakland or Peace Corps in Cameroon. My background is in Social Welfare with an emphasis in Public Policy from UC Berkeley and my journey has now brought me to serve the communities of Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu as the Director of Development & Community Relations for Meals on Wheels West helping to connect seniors, veterans, recently discharged hospital patients and formerly homeless people to life-changing resources through the skills she has developed in grant writing and community building.
What is your involvement with the Venice Chamber? I continue to lend a helping hand at the Venice Chamber Cleanups putting the brooms and rakes to work by volunteering at almost every CIA Pop-up Cleanup, helping take care of different parts of the Venice community. When there is not a trash pick-up, I help Noel and Isabelle, also Venice Chamber members, plant trees and remove agroperm around Venice.
What would you like to share with others who are interested in getting involved with VCC? Volunteering with the Venice Chamber is a great way to get to know your community better and to help make your community as strong as it can be. Picking up a single piece of trash or planting one tree may feel like a small action, but when we come together as a collective the results are truly impactful. You also get to meet some pretty incredible people along the way and enjoy a lovely cup of coffee and a delicious Blue Star donut when you’re done. Thank you, Donna!
Do you have any news to share about your business or community involvement activities? Is there anything you’d like the community’s support with? If you are looking for different ways to get involved in Venice, then volunteering for Meals on Wheels West is a great way to show your community you care as well. Meals on Wheels West has a few volunteering options. Meal delivery volunteers are always needed and the great part about delivering meals is that you get to meet people in your community that you would most likely never have the chance to interact with otherwise because they are homebound. You can also volunteer for Phone Reassurance, which is actually a program I founded, where you have the opportunity to call 2-4 Meals on Wheels West clients on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. The Phone Reassurance program has been especially crucial during COVID because it is helping to reduce isolation among both Meals on Wheels West clients and Phone Reassurance volunteers. For more information, please feel free to reach out to me at ashley@mealsonwheelswest.org.
Words of wisdom/advice on adapting to the changing landscape: Be patient with yourself and with those around you. Make time to take walks and find joy in the little things. Even when times are tough, there are a million things to be grateful for.
Email: ashley@mealsonwheelswest.org | Phone: 310-394-5133×6
