Strokes of Kindness Brighten Girls’ Home : Charity: A crew of students marks National Child Abuse Prevention Month by painting a Costa Mesa youth house for free.

Clad in jeans, T-shirts and sweat shirts and equipped with brushes, about 20 college students teamed up Saturday morning to paint a Costa Mesa group home for battered, abused and emotionally disturbed teen-age girls.

The crew of students--all managers, trainers and painters for the Anaheim-based Triple ‘A’ Student Painters--worked from 7 a.m. to mid-afternoon providing the home with a free face lift.

Student Painters chose the Cibola home, one of 29 group homes owned and operated by Olive Crest Treatment Centers for Abused Children, as its charity recipient this year because this month marks the National Child Abuse Prevention Month and the beginning of the company’s painting season, said Mark Moses, state company president.

The Southern California regional office of Student Painters, which has eight branches in Orange County, is based in Anaheim.

Invited to take part in the charity event was Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who, dressed in jeans and a company sweat shirt, applied the first stroke of paint on the garage door.

As he worked, he told the all-male crew that his first job was as a painter.

“I did it for three years,” he said as he accidently painted a strip of board the wrong color.

Cox said he started painting during high school and continued while he attended USC.

“I did it on my own. I used to paint the inside of apartments,” he said. “Everybody has to make a living.”

He said he was pleased to be a part of the project and thanked the painting crew for its community service.

“It’s a lot easier for one guy like me to come out here rather than to get a bunch of guys like you together to do this,” he said. “It’s a wonderful project and deserves community support. This is what makes our system work.”

As the painters sanded and patched chipped surfaces of the house, its teen-age residents went about their business, completing their weekly chores of cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen and their rooms.

“I think it’s neat that they want to spend their time and help us,” said one 16-year-old girl who has lived at the Cibola home for a year and a half.

“I believe that people care and want to help us. I can’t do anything about the outside of the house,” she said. “I want my house to look nice. I’m grateful and appreciate it.”

Diane Navarro, a counselor at the home, said: “One of the nice things about this is that this is a nice neighborhood and this helps keep a nice appearance on the home. The girls feel better about it and take good care of the home.”

She said the Student Painters’ project was also good because it allowed the girls to witness kindness from outsiders.

“They feel like people outside really do care about them and their home,” Navarro said.

Student Painters donated their time and labor, while Dunn-Edwards Paints & Wallcoverings Corp. donated the 20 gallons of paint.

“Painting a house like this would have cost between $1,400 to $1,500 if we were getting paid,” said Jason Reid, 22, who is the general manager of Southern California regional office of Student Painters.

According to state company president Moses, who organized the event, the company does charity work every year to kick off its painting season, which is primarily in the summer.

“This teaches them to be unselfish,” he added.

Moses, 25, who came from Toronto to head the California division of Student Painters two years ago, said that statewide the company has 70 branches and that at least 1,500 students are involved.

The company began in 1980 in Canada as a means of income for college students paying their way through school. Since then, it has expanded to six Canadian provinces and 26 states in the United States.