On Sept. 29, 2024, The Santa Paula Agricultural Museum (Museum of Ventura County) hosted the Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundations (SCVWF) second annual “Health & Harvest” fundraiser; an autumnal festival held in hopes of raising money to support the foundations student scholarship and internship programs focused on healthcare initiatives.
The SCVWF first began in 2005 as a “public benefit nonprofit corporation” dedicated to increasing awareness and access to medical services in the rural farming communities of the Santa Clara Valley. As such, one of the foundation’s greatest focuses is its student outreach programs, seeking to procure paid internships and scholarships to those looking to go into the medical field. One of the foundation’s internship programs, the Summer Health Internship Program (SHIP) is a paid summer internship that allows high schoolers to partner with local hospitals and clinics to experience real medical events and gain clinical hours.
Bea Frias, the executive director of the SCVWF, started these internships in 2012 as a way for students to have more opportunities within the medical field, especially because “the Santa Clara Valley is really an area that is underserved from a healthcare perspective.” Frias, a retired, registered nurse, was able to use her experience and connections to get local hospitals to partner with the SCVWF and give students an inside look at medical procedures such as labor and delivery, and live surgery.
The internships are paid, in which President Christine Johnston spoke on the importance of “[paying] the kids to go through the summer internship program because a lot of kids in this valley need to work, and we don’t want to exclude anybody because they have to have a job.”
Thanks to its dedication, the foundation holds multiple fundraisers a year to raise money for the internships, renewable scholarships and to support its active role in the advancement of local hospitals. One of the festival’s guest speakers, Dr. Shawn Steen, spoke on the “Centimag,” a localization tool used for breast cancer that the SCVWF donated money to the Santa Paula Hospital for.
With such an important initiative to raise funds and awareness, the festival was decked out in fall-themed decorations with stands selling pumpkin deserts and crisp fall leaves, both fake and real, scattered throughout the grounds. Other non-profit organizations were welcomed to pay for booths to sell items at, as well as local vendors who sold a variety of things from delicious lemonade to festive glassware.
Being able to support the foundation’s needs means the festival needs to raise approximately $15,000 Johnston shared. This goal becomes feasible, however, thanks to the collaboration of staff, volunteers and those who chose to come out to the festival by their own means. Frias shared that one of her favorite parts of the fundraisers is “seeing the community come together,” as she often sees those she meets as students coming back to volunteer or even having children of their own volunteer.
Frias exemplified that the entire Festival was a “collaborative effort,” and over nine months in the making with the entire board working tirelessly to pull it off. The SCVWF is an inspiring step in making healthcare accessible and the Santa Clara Valley more educated on their health and wellness. So, if you ever are in need of an autumnal celebration, or are looking for an organization to donate to, check out the SCVWF.
