Interface Fund-Raiser to Honor Activist

Interface Children Family Services will hold a fund-raiser dinner at the Doubletree Hotel next month in tribute to Elizabeth Blanchard, a youth activist in Ventura County for the past 50 years.

Blanchard, 82, has worked with several local youth organizations. She served as a trustee on the Santa Paula Elementary School District from 1948 to 1957 and the Santa Paula High School District from 1958 to 1965, and was a Ventura County juvenile justice commissioner from 1960 to 1982.

She is also former president of the Blanchard Public Library’s board of directors in Santa Paula, which was named after a family member.

The Santa Paula resident is the chairwoman of Interface’s new Partners in Caring Endowment Campaign, a three-year effort with a goal of raising $2.5 million for the organization.

The agency headquartered in Camarillo provides shelter, intervention and counseling for battered women, homeless youth and abused children. It also offers several programs for at-risk youth.

Tickets for the tribute dinner are $125 each. Entertainment will include the Santa Paula High School Jazz Band. For more information, call Chris Rutter or Christine Hamilton at Interface: 485-6114.

The event will take place May 21 at the Doubletree Ventura Hotel, 2055 Harbor Blvd. A no-host bar will begin at 6 p.m., with a surf-and-turf dinner starting at 7 p.m.