Volunteers’ Work Is Good for the Heart : Public service: From painting to puppeteering, scores turn out in O.C. to help with community projects.

Scott Lotterer spent much of Saturday morning wielding a can of black spray paint.

Unlike some of his contemporaries elsewhere, however, the boy wasn’t scrawling his mark on a freeway overhang or a wall.

“It was fun,” the 8-year-old said later. “When you press the button, the paint flies out real fast--it looks like bug spray, only better.”

Working with fellow members of local Cub Scout Pack 13, Scott was sprucing up the barbecues at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park as part of Southern California Edison Co.’s first Follow Your Heart Day.

“It’s the one and only time the kids are allowed to use spray paint legally,” quipped Martha Trujillo, one of the adults working with the pack.

All told, about 1,100 Edison employees and their friends--including more than 180 in Orange County--were expected to spend part of the day volunteering their services to 50 projects throughout Southern California.

“It’s sort of easy to just write a check and say, ‘OK, I’m done,’ ” said Gina Edwards, a resident of San Clemente and a longtime Edison employee who organized the event. But working for a good cause gives people a chance to “really make a difference.”

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Edwards says the inspiration for Follow Your Heart Day came from her own experiences as a volunteer for two organizations serving battered women in Orange County. “Being an Orange County resident,” she said, “I really sensed that we can’t rely on grants and we can’t rely on government.”

With the funds for so many nonprofit agencies being cut, Edwards said, unless people get out there and “do it ourselves,” important tasks will remain undone.

The inspiration for Follow Your Heart Day, she said, came to her two years ago in a dream in which she saw herself in front of a thousand people telling them to follow their hearts. “I sold it to my bosses,” Edwards recalled. “I told them I really thought that I could get 500 people out in one day and they said, ‘Go for it.’ ”

Services provided by the army of Edison volunteers that fanned out across Orange County on Saturday included reading to children and putting on puppet shows at the Orange Public Library; sorting clothing at two facilities for battered women, Laura’s House in San Clemente and Working Wardrobes in Irvine; doing carpentry and electrical work at the Placentia Boys and Girls Club; refinishing a patio deck at Casa Youth Shelter in Los Alamitos; and participating in a Corona del Mar walk to help find a cure for diabetes.

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Paul Selzer--an Edison employee and assistant Cub master to Pack 13--decided to invite his Cubs to Caspers park to help spruce up the barbecues. “I’m an outdoors person,” he said, “and doing a good turn is an important part of Scouting. I want them to appreciate the natural beauty and maybe come back with their parents.”

Park ranger Larry Norton said the service the Cubs provided was much appreciated.

“The barbecues get all rusty and dirty,” Norton said, “and cleaning them is the sort of job we can’t get to all the time. People like to cook on nice, clean barbecues and it takes a lot of time to do this kind of work.”

On Saturday, the work included sweeping out old ashes, scraping the metal barbecues with wire brushes and, finally, applying new coats of black paint using spray cans.

“It’s faster than just taking a brush and painting,” 8-year-old Jimmy Weaver said after spending 15 minutes with one of the cans. “Sometimes you’re not strong enough to push your fingers down, so you have to switch to your thumb.”

Paul Trujillo, 7, agreed.

“It’s fun when the paint comes out,” he said.

For Patrick Selzer, assistant Cub master’s brother and the father of four, there was more to the day than fun.

“I think it’s important for the kids to learn that they need to give back to the community,” he said. “I want them to learn that, whenever they can, they need to help out.”