Video about being a VCC Team Leader

After 32 years of service I retired from UCLA in 2017. There is where I met my husband Frank and have been married for 32 years. I have 3 children, Lisa (from a previous marriage) Daniel and Marissa with Frank.    

At a young age I remember always wanting to help others. So in high school I began my first volunteer experience as a Candy Striper at USC County Hospital. For the past twenty years I’ve been part of the Granada Hills Holiday Parade Commitee and Mrs Clause for the last eight. As Mrs Clause I wave to the children and blow kisses. I love seeing the kids faces light up as I drive by. As a member of the committee, we decide on the theme of the parade and sort out the logistics. 

I also volunteer for the Center for Assault Treatment Services (CATS). I volunteer at their yearly 5k & 10k event. I also help in the CATS office when needed. After I retired I volunteered in the emergency room at UCLA Ronald Reagan every Friday for four hours. I also volunteer at running events (Dia De Los Muertos, Vacation Races etc.).  

As you know I’ve been with VCC since last year.   I believe in making a difference in the world. Volunteering is a great opportunity to make that difference. Volunteering makes my life more meaningful and rewarding. It’s also in my genes and DNA.  

David Weisberg, owner of Cavaretta's Deli on Sherman Way, is passionate about the earth and especially in our parks.  He is an avid climber, so we met through a mutual friend who suggest we help him out with park cleaning - Chatsworth Park north first by the railroad tracks in the hills.  He had collected a huge amount of beer bottles, beer cans, paint cans and lids, and just debris - as well as discovered a horrendous array of graffiti that he wanted help with to get it hauled down and hauled away.

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, David combines his love of hiking and the need for cleaning up our natural spaces. He is also a local business owner and father of three. Making our parks and trails a safer, cleaner experience is what David stands for.

Robert Newman is passionate about Mulholland Drive and Ventura Boulevard - partly because he lives in that area and partly because he is mad about trash being strewn around.  

THE MISSION: To keep Mulholland Drive, between Encino Hills Drive and the 405 freeway, as clean and litter-free as possible.  

"Howard Jaffe was an executive in a company which supplied mining and construction equipment and spare parts on a global basis. Howard was in the mining industry for over 40 years.  During his career he has travelled extensively on a global basis and has made friends across the globe.  Howard and his family have also lived in various regions of the USA including cities in both northern and southern California, Oklahoma, and the New York Metropolitan area. Howard and his wife Deborah have two children and two grandchildren. In 2017 Howard and his wife Deborah returned to Southern California to be closer to one of their two children and settled in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

Howard was disturbed that that an area as beautiful as Sherman Oaks and Los Angeles in general, was beset with a litter/trash problem.   
The City of Los Angeles was not doing a very good job of keeping streets and sidewalks clean in Sherman Oaks and Howard took it upon himself to clean the streets in his Sherman Oaks neighborhood. Howard learned of a VCC clean up and participated in it and subsequently joined the group which consists of folks who like Howard wanted to ensure that our LA neighborhoods were as litter free as possible. For Howard the group of people he is working with are now more than fellow volunteers, they are now friends and a very interesting group of individuals as well.  Howard also volunteers with the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association where he is a member of the Homeless Committee."  Howard has recently retired and enjoys cycling, working out, films, restaurants, family, friends, background acting and travelling with his wife. 

Amy Fujimoto is the new VCC Leader for the Brentwood / Westwood area.  She is taking the lead in this area from Gina, who established the community group.

Amy Fujimoto is an English and art history teacher at the Lycee Francais. She discovered VCC through Gina Greblo, and loves the community she has met through the VCC cleanups. As a Brentwood resident, she is excited to lead the Brentwood cleanups. You will often see her two teen children, Emiko and Hideo, cleaning along with her. Amy's goal for Brentwood is to grow the cleanup and to involve as many community members and partners as possible.

Meet Ilona Barsoomian, a real estate professional who has been making a significant impact in the San Fernando Valley for over 20 years. She's not just selling houses; she's building a community. Ilona is also a proud mom to Veronica, a smart UCLA grad who is heading into dentistry, and to Patrick, who is exploring new opportunities at SMC while building his soccer training business.

But there's more to Ilona's story. With her kids grown up, she's now focusing on cleaning up her community. What started as walks with her dog and a trash pickup stick has grown into a mission to keep her neighborhood clean. She's teamed up with Jill, a VCC founder she met online. With Jill's help and leadership, she is leading a group dedicated to keeping the Tarzana neighborhood pristine.

Ilona loves the San Fernando Valley, from its sunny weather to its nearby beaches and mountains. She's working hard to keep it clean because she believes everyone deserves to enjoy natural beauty. Besides her environmental work, Ilona is all about living a healthy lifestyle. She does yoga, hikes, explores local food spots, and enjoys beach walks, living life to the fullest and inspiring others to do the same.

Ilona Barsoomian is more than a real estate agent; she's creating a legacy of community, family, and environmental care. She's proof that one person's vision can motivate an entire community to make their part of the world a better place. Join her in making the San Fernando Valley, and beyond, a place we're all proud to call home.

I’m Lorie Sola, and I’m the VCC Co-Leader for North Hollywood. I have always been interested in improving the community, creating partnerships, and having fun doing it.

I have worked all over Los Angeles, including Hollywood and MacArthur Park. I have partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department on drug and crime prevention in high-risk areas, going out on the streets and into businesses, talking one-on-one with the community. I have participated in and organized cleanups, food pantries, murals, tree plantings, Christmas toy drives, etc.

I first met VCC as part of an LAPD group collaboration in Hollywood. I was immediately struck by how friendly everyone was and how they just treated me like family from the start. As soon as I started volunteering with them, I knew these were people who knew how get things done, and have fun and I wanted to be part of it.  

Wendy Kheel is acknowledged for expertise in tourism research, data, trends and marketing strategy and for presentations at a wide range of travel industry conferences and seminars.  

She joined Tourism Economics focusing on Symphony, a customizable market intelligence platform. Symphony is designed to help Destination Marketing Organizations eliminate the time and drudgery of processing and visualizing a myriad of data sources and data sets. 

Prior to Tourism Economics, she was Vice President of Tourism Insights for the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board where she oversaw global research and data analysis enabling the organization and its stakeholders to formulate fact-based marketing, sales and business decisions. 

Prior to LA Tourism, she was Director, Consumer Insights at Universal Studios Hollywood, Director of Market Research at Walt Disney Imagineering, and a Senior Manager at two hospitality-industry consulting firms; Laventhol & Horwath, and PKF Consulting (now CBRE).

She has a Masters of Hotel Administration from Cornell University, an MBA from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor of Speech from Northwestern University.

She is currently the president of the boards of the Travel & Tourism Marketing Association and the Greater Western chapter of the Travel & Tourism Research Association. She serves on the board of the NoHo Neighborhood Council and, in her spare time, she has organized the annual Lemp Ave neighborhood block party for several years.

In addition to her two rescued greyhounds, she enjoys world travel having visited 51 countries so far with another 20 or so on the bucket list.

Darlene Hayman is a resident of Tarzana, where she has lived for nearly two decades with her husband, Steve. She first became involved with VCC in late 2022 when she helped organize a clean-up as part of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council’s Beautification Committee. Along with Ilona Barsoomian, she has been coordinating VCC clean-ups in the Tarzana area on every second Saturday of the month. With enough volunteer support, Darlene and Ilona hope to expand their efforts to twice monthly in the near future. Darlene is a research analyst specializing in movie test screenings, which are conducted on nearly all films made by Hollywood studios and production companies before they are released into theaters or on streaming platforms. She is considered an expert in her field, and co-authored the book, Audience-ology: How Moviegoers Shape the Films We Love from Tiller Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

TBA