Bottom Line Is Lending a Hand

More than 60 companies are pooling their human and material resources to give the Boys & Girls Club of Placentia a $300,000 face-lift.

The renovation, which began in earnest on Saturday and is expected to be completed by mid-June, is the annual large-scale charity effort of the Orange County Corporate Combined Volunteer Project.

Since the program was launched in 1984, work valued at more than $2.5 million has been performed for nonprofit agencies throughout the county.

“This is one of the projects we’re the most proud of being involved with,” said Charlotte Calvin, director of corporate services for the Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County. “It really impacts the community in a grand and meaningful way.”

Calvin said that she believes the annual effort is the largest project of its type in the county, and one that is too ambitious for a single company to take on.

“That’s why it got started in the first place,” Calvin pointed out. “Some companies said, ‘Look what we can accomplish if we work together.’ ”

This year’s project drew about 330 volunteers on Saturday to the Boys & Girls Club, where they tackled construction jobs such as upgrading electrical and security systems, landscaping the grounds, installing a covered patio, creating an arts and crafts room, and refurbishing the kitchen and bathroom.

Al Rizzo, the club’s executive director, said there is “no way” the youth organization could afford to pay for all the work being done on the 34-year-old building.

“It will be a total renovation,” said Rizzo, who added the club plans to reopen its doors June 24 after being closed for four weeks. “All the improvements will allow us to serve the kids better.”

The agency provides recreational, educational, vocational and character development opportunities for about 700 youth ages 7 to 20 years.

Leading the project this year is Jane Doseff, the manager of volunteer programs for PacifiCare Health Systems in Cypress.

Doseff said many companies are providing equipment, materials or funding. But she gives the biggest credit to the individual volunteers “who come out and donate their talents to helping these kids out.

“For the most part, we try to choose tasks that the average volunteer can participate in,” Doseff said. “But many of the companies are in engineering or aerospace, so a lot of the people who come out are skilled in certain areas. They become team leaders to provide guidance to other volunteers.”

Even corporate types, Doseff said, are putting aside their pin-striped suits and donning work clothes for the effort.

“Can you imagine lawyers picking up hammers and saws and painting and so forth?” Doseff asked. “You don’t have to know electrical work; you don’t have to know construction. There’s something for everyone here.”