Our Story
November 2018
A community changed.
In November 2018, Thousand Oaks experienced the devastating Borderline shooting, followed by the Hill and Woolsey fires. In the days and weeks that followed, people across the community experienced loss, fear, uncertainty, grief, and profound disruption. But alongside that pain was an extraordinary response from the community. People showed up for one another.
They gathered.
They listened.
They shared.
They remembered.
And from that response, Thousand Oaks Remembers began.
Stories created connection.
When people were given space to share their experiences — and to hear the experiences of their neighbors — something happened. People discovered stories they had never heard before. They remembered experiences they hadn't talked about in years. They saw people they thought they knew in a different way.
And they found connection through listening.
Sacred Discoveries
The work of Thousand Oaks Remembers is continuing through a new grant-funded storytelling initiative: Sacred Discoveries.
Building on the original storytelling and listening work, Sacred Discoveries is focused on rebuilding community connection through story.
It asks a question that feels just as important today as it did when this work began: How do we stay in community?
Through storytelling, listening, and opportunities to gather, Sacred Discoveries creates space for people to share their experiences, hear one another, and explore the connections that bring us together.
2019 — Giving Stories a Place to Be Heard
Thousand Oaks Remembers created opportunities for community members to share their experiences and listen to the experiences of others.
The project developed several ways for people to participate:
Listening Groups - Small groups gathered in homes, offices, libraries, churches, community centers, schools, and other spaces to share and listen.
Written Stories - Community members were invited to preserve their experiences through written storytelling, with stories collected for the larger archive of the project.
Community Storytelling - On November 8, 2019, the community gathered at the Scherr Forum for T.O. Remembers: Stories from November 2018 — an evening dedicated to remembering, honoring, and listening.
In August 2019, more than 20 community facilitators were trained to help create these listening experiences.
From storytelling to remembrance
The work of Thousand Oaks Remembers continued beyond the original 2019 storytelling project, evolving into an ongoing commitment to remembrance and community gathering through the Day of Remembrance
.
This annual gathering creates space for the community to come together to remember, honor, and reflect.
