Ventura Master Gardener Receives Award

Deborah Mills of Ventura received the Community and School Gardening Conference “Search for Excellence Award” at a recent conference in Phoenix. The Seeds for Change Celebration, held at the Arizona Science Center, each year awards teachers and community garden volunteers who are devoted to “educating children about the connection of people, plants and earth.” Mills is a certified master gardener with Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and is garden manager of Cornucopia Community Garden in Ventura. A panel of judges from the Arizona Department of Agriculture, USDA and other organizations selected Mills out of candidates from throughout the Southwest.

Alliance for the Arts Receives $25,000 Grant

The Alliance for the Arts, the nonprofit fund-raising arm of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, received a $25,000 matching grant from the GTE Foundation. The money will be used to help underwrite the purchase of a new computer-software-management system. The alliance received a previous grant from the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation in March.

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Awards and Honors is compiled by Rodney Bosch. Please address items to Awards and Honors, Los Angeles Times, 93 S. Chestnut St., Ventura 93001. Items can also be faxed to The Times at 653-7576 or 653-7548.