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.