During the summer months, Heartfelt staff and volunteers participated in two special service projects in the Los Angeles community.
On Saturday, June 15, a hearty team of volunteers donned their sunscreen, caps, and green thumbs to pitch in for the “June Blooms” service project. The project was held at the Serra Project’s Casa Long Beach, a beautiful residential home for people living with AIDS. The residents wished for a garden in which to sit and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
With the able leadership of project coordinators Connie Heitzman and Sharon Lord, Heartfelt volunteers planted hundreds of flowers and trees, cleared weeds, shoveled, bagged, fertilized and mixed perspiration, inspiration, and laughter as the Casa Long Beach garden took shape between 9:00am and noon. The garden project was especially dedicated to the memory of “Nana” Gerri Ellis, mother of Heartfelt Executive Director Patti Rayner, and a beautiful statue was placed in the garden in her name.
At noon, the volunteers and residents of Casa Long Beach gathered in a circle of fellowship to give thanks, celebrate the day’s work, and prepare for a fresh-cooked authentic June barbecue of hot dogs, burgers, slaw, and salad (complete with brownies for dessert). With oldies rock-n-roll music as accompaniment in the background, volunteers and residents relaxed, chatted and munched, and sat back to enjoy the glorious new garden and the fruits of the day.
To mark the end of summer, on August 17th Heartfelt volunteers joined in the spirit of the back-to-school season for the annual service project at the Maryvale Home for Girls. Joining together with the theme of “Service from the Heart,” a team of volunteers led by Jodi Improta, Pat Lund and Marla Ludwig worked with the girls for a service project packed with the spirit of caring and service for those in great need.
This year’s project had a surprise twist for the girls at Maryvale—ordinarily, the service project would have a different focus, and the girls would receive backpacks loaded with back-to-school essentials at day’s end. This year, the girls were given the opportunity to experience giving what they usually received—they filled and packed backpacks for homeless children living at the Union Rescue Mission in the Skid Row section of Los Angeles.
After spending some time sharing stories about their experiences of helping others and how that feels inside, the girls made their way down a line of tables loaded with backpacks, notebooks, folders, crayons, rulers, pencils, pens, and other back-to-school basics. The girls carefully selected items for each backpack, consulting with each other to coordinate colors and make sure every pack was complete. With packs in hand, the girls and volunteers moved to project tables to make cards for the children who would receive them, including messages like “Have a great school year!” and “You are never alone!” The girls put their hearts into the cards, carefully decorating them with markers and stickers, and fastened them to the backpacks with furled ribbons.
As the project came to a close, some of the girls gathered for a special snack of cheesecake and milk, and were treated to a beautiful song “I Will Remember You”, sung by Heartfelt volunteer Meghan Ivey. Other girls went with Heartfelt volunteers to distribute the backpacks to the waiting children at the mission, and returned to share that experience with everyone at the Home.
The Maryvale girls had the opportunity to reflect on how good it feels to give from their hearts and be of service, and Heartfelt project coordinator Melissa Ward reminded the girls to also be on the lookout for the ways that their gifts of service might return to them in kind. The surprise twist to the project came hours later, long after Heartfelt had left for the day, when the girls went to dinner and found that back-to-school backpacks had been made for them as well.
With these summer seeds planted, Heartfelt is moving into the fall and winter season. Please come and participate with us anywhere around the world as we continue our joyful work of touching to those in greatest need. Visit www.heartfelt.org for more information. Thank you!
