1,000 Volunteers Gather to Help the Homeless

At the third annual Family Volunteer Night, thousands of people in need of services in the Inland Empire were helped by the generosity of volunteers at Loma Linda Academy. The annual community benefit is organized by Loma Linda Academy’s Home and School Association who provides thousands of hygiene kits, blankets, pet food, and other items to outreach organizations. The Adventist Community Team Services, Meals on Wheels, Helping Hands Pantry, various animal shelters and other groups were just some of the groups that benefited from Family Volunteer Night. Family Volunteer Night is a school-wide outreach endeavor involving students and their families. Organizers Kimberly Thomas and Alane Hegstad, along with the Home and School Association, collected hundreds of items for packaging from students and community members. Alane Hegstad, one of the co-directors of Family Volunteer Night, has been involved with the Home and School Association, which is the equivalent to the PTA, for about 7 years. She says, “We decided to create the event because we believe in service at our school. Small children aren’t able to volunteer at organizations because the age limit is usually 18 and older. We wanted to provide a way for students to participate and do something for the community.” The event has grown since it began 3 years ago, two years ago 600-700 people volunteered, last year there were 800 people, and this year 1,000 community members, parents, students, and staff participated. The production in the packaging has increased 35% from last year because of the number of people involved. Hegstad says, “The students enjoy the activities and will talk about continuing to do service activities and want to keep working on projects throughout the year. I think it makes them more aware of the community and becomes apparent when they find out about the needs of the community. It shows that they care about members and can show it in a tangible way, it’s nice for them to have that opportunity to help those needs.” The volunteers set up shop at 10 different work stations where they performed a variety of tasks including; assembling hygiene kits with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo along with fleece blankets, packages of soup and pet food. By the end of the night, the volunteers had assembled 1,600 cat/dog toys, bandanas, and blankets for the Humane Society of San Bernardino Valley, 3,500 cat/dog food bags packed through Paws to Feed and 700 soup mix bags for Helping Hands Pantry. Helping Hands Pantry executive director, Paul Dickau shares, “From the very beginning they’ve been involved in making hygiene packages and it’s been wonderful, the pet food has also worked out fantastically.” Some participants in Family Volunteer Night have become volunteers with Helping Hands, “we definitely had people [volunteers] and they’ve kept coming back because of that,” Dickau said. 3,000 hygiene packs were created for the homeless by volunteers. In addition, sponsors, Patterson Dental and Town Center Dental contributed a total of $400 in toothpaste and toothbrushes. One work station offered an opportunity to design greeting cards for home-bound seniors as well as decorating delivery bags for meals on wheels. Volunteers created 200 cards and 300 delivery bags. Bello Cristo hairdressers were on hand to cut and style the hair of individuals who wanted to contribute to Locks of Love, which 18 volunteers took advantage of. 150 Loma Linda Academy students lent a helping hand to a broader outreach program for World Vision International. The project is part of a national campaign called the 30-day famine, which involves raising money and awareness about student hunger and malnutrition. The students participated by seeking sponsors of $1 an hour for the duration of the famine in which they will go without food between Saturday and Sunday morning. All of the proceeds raised will help World Vision in its effort to aid malnourished children in 100 countries. Campus pastor, Jason Calvert stated, “The academy’s goal this year is to feed 15 children for a year.” Hegstad shares, “I think an important part of Family Volunteer Night is that volunteer occurs within families, I think it provides a way to spend quality time and adds an inter-generational sharing of the value of service.”