The community is invited to a dedication ceremony on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 4 p.m. at the newly renovated tennis courts at Buena High School. As part of a two year long community work effort, volunteers partnered with the Ventura Unified School District, City of Ventura and the Ojai Valley Tennis Club to raise over $50,000 to renovate eight unsafe tennis courts at Buena High School. Due to lack of funding available through VUSD, a community fundraising campaign, led by community volunteer and tennis advocate Wayne Bruce, was put into place to raise the much needed funds to resurface the courts and install fencing.
“Our community rallied together to raise these funds. Gifts came in from businesses, civic clubs and tennis players in our town who recognized the need for safe places to play tennis in Ventura,” commented Wayne Bruce. The effort was jump started with a significant donation from the Ventura County Lodging Association who knew the courts could be used to host the 2013 California Community Colleges State Championships as part of THE OJAI Tennis Tournament coming this April if the court improvements could be made in time.
Continued Bruce, “these improvements not only provide adequate tennis facilities for the Buena High School tennis teams, but they provide an economic boost to Ventura by hosting the State Championships. The Ojai Valley Tennis Club was proud to be able to help grow and cultivate tennis in our County. In addition, special appreciation to community volunteers Terry Lynch and Ed Wehan for spearheading the fundraising efforts.”
The dedication is open to the public and will feature presentations by officials from the Ventura Unified School District, Ojai Valley Tennis Club and various sponsors who helped fund the program. The Buena High School tennis teams will also be present to help celebrate.
