Community service spreads across town for Love Laguna Beach
Locals looked to instill a sense of community through dozens of service projects on Saturday for the third annual Love Laguna Beach event.
The day of community service had 160 volunteers signed up heading into the weekend, but organizers said they surpassed target participation levels in getting an estimated 250-plus people to help out with tasks around town.
Available projects included beach cleanups, beginning at Main Beach and branching out from there. There were also beautification efforts at community gardens, as well as some assignments that took on a more personal touch.
Gail Onodera, co-director of the children’s ministry at Laguna Presbyterian and an organizer of Love Laguna Beach, said some found their way to the home of Skipper Carrillo, a longtime community member with special needs and an avid supporter of athletics at Laguna Beach High. Carrillo, known for his affinity for baseball terminology, has wished for many to “have a home run day,” and participants hoped to return the favor by working to clear overgrown vegetation at his property.
“He’s been so supportive of all the sports programs at the high school, wears his baseball uniform every day,” Onodera said. “He’s really cute, and so the community’s just embraced him, and he’s given back a lot — just with his support and presence. The kids love him, and so we cleaned up his house. He has a lot of overgrown shrubbery and bushes leading up to his house … so we cleaned out what we could.”
Volunteers also created necklaces with residents of the Glennwood House, a foundation that supports nonprofit housing for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The jewelry will be auctioned off at the Oct. 19 gala for the Glennwood Housing Foundation at the Festival of Arts.
Other beneficiaries included the Laguna Food Pantry, the Bluebird branch of the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach and some public gardens. Several participants also made brunch for those staying in the Friendship Shelter.
“We had so many cool projects that connected so many people,” Onodera said. “That was cool.”
Two dozen projects were worked on during the day of community service. Organizers received more than $5,000 in donations to assist with the projects.
“We paid for all new sports equipment for the youth shelter to have and a bin to put it in,” Onodera said of how the donations were put to use. “We helped pay for the garden at Top of the World Elementary, to redo it. Then we paid for all the supplies at the day laborers’ location, so they didn’t have to incur that cost.”
Not all of the donations were cash. Odonera noted, for example, that the woman who oversaw the jewelry-making activity at Glennwood House donated the necessary supplies herself.
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