"Love Our Water" is the theme of a Community Forum for all ages that will focus on Ventura County's fresh water and its sustainability, to be held on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon at Chalice Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Newbury Park.

The forum will feature activities for adults and children, including speakers, a nature video, making a watershed model, planting an acorn, Vegan snack making and a "hungry, hungry water hippos" game for kids. Water-saving grilled veggie burgers will be served at noon.

The event will begin in the Chalice sanctuary, where Cumash elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie will share indigenous stories about water. Following that will be a showing of a video for all ages, "The Story of Our Oaks," which explains the Ventura River watershed and the importance of oak trees in its ecosystem. Then attendees will move to activity stations in the Chalice fellowship hall and outdoors at an acorn planting station, rotating among activities so everyone can learn and ask questions.

Representatives from sustainability organizations will be on hand to throughout the event, including Caty Wagner, Southern California Organizer with the Sierra Club, Kat Selm of The Nature Conservancy, John Brooks with the City of Thousand Oaks Sustainability Division, Mary Freed from the Organic Gardening Club of Ventura County, and Barbara Leighton and Gordon Clint from the Chalice Climate Action Team.

The event is presented by Chalice Community Forum, a program of Chalice Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Conejo Valley. Co-Sponsors are the Conejo Climate Coalition and the Chalice Climate Action Team.
Organizers caution that space is limited to attend the event at Chalice, 3327 Old Conejo Road in Newbury Park. To register, visit forum.chaliceuu.org. For information, visit that website or contact Randall Edwards by e-mail at forum@chaliceuu.org or through the church office at (805) 498-9548.