With the holiday season fast approaching, it is time once again for our fall “Sealed Bid Auction” to support Oceanic Ventures efforts to help schools and communities in the places we dive. This years auction has some really special items on it including wine, spirits, cigars, art, beauty items and a whole lot more. To participate all you have to do is complete a bid sheet and email it to Ann or fax it to us. The items are on dispay in the store and will be here through the close of the auction on Saturday afternoon (11 November 2011).
The assistance program started a number of years ago when Ann came up with this idea of helping schools by encuraging our trip participants to carry school supplies in their excess luggage space. This prneuded the participants the opportunity to help a local school and left them space to bring back handicrafts made by the local people. A real win-win for everyone. Over the years, we have prneuded school supplies to small schools in the Philippines, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Honduras, Cozumel as well as adding running water and plumbing to a school in the Philippines.
It is a wonderful way to meet people and to share a little joy with some wonderful school children. The auction helps prneude funds for continuing projects around the world.
Charity
Oceanic Ventures Team Trash – Trashfest Texas 2011
Oceanic Ventures and Club Aquarius are once again a sponsor of Trashfest We are sponsoring TEAM TRASH and we are looking for a few more divers to join our team of 8 divers who will join 400 other divers in scouring the Comal river looking for trash and prizes. If you have an interest in joining TEAM TRASH, please contact Ashton. As a member of TEAM TRASH, you will receive a free Oceanic Ventures t-shirt, specifically made for divers and have your admission to the event paid. Be sure to let Ashton know you want to participate since the team size is limited. The fee to join the team is free to Club Aquarius members and $8.00 for non-members. Remember, space is limited!
TrashFest is the nation’s oldest underwater cleanup campaign bringing together scuba divers to improve the quality of the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas. The Comal River became famous when Ripley’s Believe It or Not featured it as the shortest river in the world. The 2.5-mile Comal River is one of the largest springs in Texas with 8 million gallons of water flowing through every hour. The water is pure, clear, about 73° – 85°F year round, and attracts thousands of tubers and tourists each year. After the tubing season winds down, divers from all over Texas and beyond gather to pull cans, shoes, sunglasses and other assorted trash and debris out of the river.
Since the first clean up in 1974*, more than 10,800 volunteers have removed more than:
- 205,000 pounds of trash
- 310,000 cans and bottles
- 353,400 pop-tops and bottle caps
- 7,200 sunglasses and shoes
- The above numbers include data from 1980-2010. No records available prior to 1980.
While cleaning up the Comal is the events top priority, TrashFest also:
- Raises public awareness of the aquatic environment in Texas
- Educates citizens about the sources of, and impact of, debris and litter in the aquatic environment
- Promotes recycling programs and community involvement
- Serves as a model for other river and aquatic cleanup programs around the country
- Involves young children and educates them about the importance of protecting our environment
This year, TrashFest will be held on Saturday on October 1, 2011.
Registration will be held at the Comal County Fairgrounds, and the trash weigh-in and collection will be at Prince Solms Park in New Braunfels, TX.
Santa Visits West University – an Underwater Santa Visit
Saturday was a busy day for the Oceanic Ventures staff as Santa Claus visits the West University Recreational Pool and posed for photographs with swimming children and adults. This is the third year that Santa has visited the pool, posing for photographs underwater and the first time in the new recreational facility. If you missed him this year, Santa will return in November 2011 for a repeat performance. If you would like to see the photos from the event, click here.
Thank you to the team that made this possible, especially Travis Hershey and Tamara Moser.
Fall Festival & Tent Sale on November 6th 2010 from 9:00 to 4:00
Join us for our Fall Festival & Tent Sale on November 6 from 9:00 to 4:00 benefiting the Oceanic Ventures Foundation and International School Project. There will be new and used diving equipment specials, educational specials, Oil from Fiji, Sarongs from the Philippines, Balloons for the kids, Hot Dogs and an old fash…ioned bake sale!
We are also having our clients anf friends help so look for Perfect Gifts from 
Mary Kay Cosmetics, Handmade Jewelry, Family Portrait Specials, Bubbles Hand Car Wash Coupons, handmade watercolour greeting cards and paintings and much much more.
Door Prized, Sealed Bid Auction, Hourly Specials
Please come by for a fun morning or afternoon!
For more information download our fall festival and sale flyer!
Wine and Diving, they do go together on occasion…
This marked the second anniversary of our Oceanic Ventures Shopping for Charity wine party hosted by none other than Pam Radford from Legal Media and Oceanic Ventures, Inc. Who would have ever thought of a little dive shop in Houston Texas having their name on a wall at a local school in the Philippines? Ann’s mother certainly could not have imagined it and yet that is precisely what happened in Puerta Galera where our diving friends helped us bring water and restrooms into a school, hire additional teachers, electrify the classrooms, introduce computers and computerized educational software, and beautify the grounds to make the entire school experience better for the students.
Ann started the school project to help schools and students in the areas we dive. At least that was the stated reason. The truth is Ann loves children and the has fun interacting with them and introducing them to new things (ask the little boys she taught to snorkel in the Solomon Islands). One way of doing this is to bring school supplies to local schools. She found that teachers are very appreciative and the students love meeting people from other places. Over the years, our divers have contributed paper, pencils, calculators, maps, construction paper, office supplies, books and other useful items to schools in Mexico, Little Cayman, Fiji, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Truk Lagoon, Kosrai and other diving destinations that we visit. Each one of the school visits is a special event for both the teachers and students as well as the visitors.
The school in the Philippines has been a true miracle in giving and Anne the administrator of the school has done wondrous things with the money and supplies donated. Adding water and restroom to the school did more than improve hygiene; it prneuded a method to improve the appearance of the school and introduced school pride by allowing the students to add flower gardens to the school grounds. If you visit the school, you will see students watering the plants with cans filled with the water that one of our clients paid to have brought in. But this event is more than asking for donations, it is really a way for people to experience the local cultures.
Two years ago, Ann was negotiating with the local sales ladies in the Philippines who were selling hand woven baskets. She turned to Pam and said, “I can’t say no.” Pam just looked at her and said “um, what are you going to do with all of those baskets?” Pam hen hatched the idea of an auction and she agreed to furnish the wine! Shopping for Charity was born and the first year we raised $1500 in proceeds and donations (one of our teaching staff even donated his teaching revenues to the cause). The owners of the Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera were impressed that we were able to raise the money for their community and they agreed to match the contribution. But that was last year.
This year the resort once again agreed to match our contributions and thanks to the generous support of our clients, we raised more money than last year (we are still computing the final total). We really appreciate all of the support we have received and the beneficiaries of it all are some very special children in countries far from Houston.
Thank You!
