Care Force Chronicle- Los Angeles, CA

Hillel Students listening to instructions
before begining service.

By Emily Kean

Partner: Hillel

Volunteers: 98

Service Partner: Nora Sterry Elementary School and Palms Elementary School

When: March 8-11,2011
TCF: Phillip St. Clair and Emily Kean

Reserves: City Year Los Angeles Corps Members: Amy Plouff, Dineth Sosa, Libby DeLay, Nick Heister, Mike Cherry and Rich Ruff; City Year Los Angeles Senior Corps Members Laura Lee; and Project Manager Bert Rivera

Phill and I were given the opportunity to plan an alternative spring break for college students involved in their campus’s Hillel organization. With the help of Project Managers Ken Wakwe and Bert Rivera we were able to have a successful and inspiring service week for 98 Hilllel students in west Los Angeles. Students came from Michigan State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Vermont, Virginia Tech, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and some additional colleges.



Hillel Student finishing painting a built bench.



Each morning during the week the Hillel students had the chance to learn a variety of physical service skills at Nora Sterry Elementary. Nora Sterry serves 390 Pre-K – 5th grade students in fifteen general education classrooms. The Hillel students completed 8 large hallway murals, built 4 children’s mural benches, built 6 decorative recycling can holders, built 7 picnic tables, painted 12 outdoor storage containers, and painted 4 additional murals for outside the school.

In the afternoon, fifty of the Hillel students stayed at Nora Sterry and worked in the STAR afterschool program tutoring and mentoring youth from the school. The other half of the group traveled to Palms Elementary and worked in two different afterschool programs; YMCA and Youth Services. Palms Elementary School serves approximately 440 K-5th grade students living in the Palms neighborhood. The afterschool programs provide students with a safe place to go for both recreational and academic activities. Hillel students continued to spend time in the same afterschool program everyday so they could help with homework, partipate in games and begin to form meaningful relationships with the students. On the last day both the elementary students and the Hillel volunteers were sad to say goodbye.



City Year Los Angeles Reserves

Without the help from the City Year Los Angeles Civic Engagement team this event would not have run as smoothly or been as impactful. Corps members Amy Plouff, Dineth Sosa, Libby DeLay, Nick Heister, Mike Cherry, Rich Ruff, Laura Lee, and Project Manager Bert Rivera helped us prepare for the volunteers every day and acted as project coordinators for our physical service portion. They demonstrated great leadership skills and Phill and I enjoyed getting to serve with them throughout the week.

Overall, the week was a great learning experience. The Hillel students learned a lot about physical and human service. And by leading the entire event ourselves, Phill and I were able to learn a lot about what it is like to be a Project Manager for Care Force.





Troy Gardens

In January, Care Force had the pleasant opportunity to perform service at Troy Community Academy in Miami, Florida alongside BUNN, an international company that designs and manufactures in-home coffee brewers and commercial beverage equipment. Check out a video made by Troy Gardens, the horticulture program at the school, showcasing the event day.

Also, read about the event day here!

Care Force Chronicle- Charleston, SC

By Florence Capinding

Partner: CSX
Volunteers: 38
Service Partner: Alliance for Community Trees
When: February 25-26
TCF: Phillip St Clair, Georgia Lawrence, Florence Capinding; Project Manager Huw McDonald

This was our first CSX trip for the year 2011. Although the event took place in late February, the weather in Charleston, South Carolina was just perfect!

This trip was a Trees for Tracks event with CSX. On our preparation day, Huw, Georgia, Phill, and I met Mike Sanders, the North Charleston arborist. He walked us through the planting site area and showed us where the various trees would go. He was just as ready for service as we were and it was inspiring!

On the day of the event, the CSX volunteers received a tree planting demonstration from Mike and from Leland Milstein, a Program Director from the Alliance for Community Trees. The CSX volunteers worked hard, planted 50 trees and laid pine straw around the trees in less than two hours. At the end of the event one of the volunteers stated:

“What a great way to get involved with the community. We even received immediate feedback when a community member stopped their vehicle and said thank you.”

Overall, it was a beautiful day to be outdoors working with co-workers, family, and friends. And I know the trees will also be beautiful when they grow.

After the CSX service event, we had the unique opportunity to go back to a Salvation Army where we completed a service event back in December. We saw that all of our projects—gym murals, mural benches, playground swing set, and rain garden—were still in great condition! The youth really utilized everything we had completed for them. Seeing the sustainability of our projects overwhelmed me with pride and joy.

Directly after visiting the Salvation army, we went straight to the airport. When we left Charleston, it was sunny and 68 degrees. In Boston the temperature was in the low 30s and it was beginning to snow. And even though I am not too fond of cold weather and snow, I know winter will soon be over, and with spring, Team Care Force will be blooming with service events and completing projects that will last for years to come. I can’t wait!

CSX Trees for Tracks volunteers in Charleston, SC.