Love Our Schools Day sees close to 400 volunteers in Newport-Mesa

On a day when campuses are typically quiet, hundreds of volunteers — students, families and community members — descended on sites throughout the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Saturday to offer a hand on over 40 projects at 17 different schools as part of Love Our Schools Day.

Terrilee Stevenson, education initiative director for Love Costa Mesa, said the first Love Our Schools Day drew nearly 400 volunteers, dozens of more people than had signed up online beforehand to appear.

“Never before have we ever had families come out in the numbers they did [this weekend] to work on their schools with their communities,” Stevenson said. “I feel like [in] our heart is that schools are the intersection of everything in our community. These students are the future for our city. We want to bring the support of the community around our schools so that students, staff and families know that they are not in this alone and that their community cares for them.

Community members volunteered on Saturday to help repaint a map of the United States on the blacktop of California Elementary.

(Courtesy of Trellis International)

“Honestly, we are looking at this Love our Schools day as a catalytic event. Not a [single] day where we serve our schools, but a launching pad to be able to give the community opportunities to serve the school throughout the year — not just facility projects, but to strategically help the goals that schools have.”

Projects were chosen by principals at various campuses and Stevenson, who was with the district for 13 years prior to her current role, said she often walked campuses with principals to help envision what those projects could be.

Work included the repainting of benches at Adams Elementary and the painting of a U.S. map on the playground of California Elementary. School gardens were weeded or cleared out for students at a number of campuses, and cleanups were organized across schools in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. As part of the event, volunteers were treated to a lunch at Vanguard University in the afternoon.

“Love Our Schools Day is about building relationships between our school sites and our community,” said Christy Flores, NMUSD’s director of engagement, partnerships and expanded learning in a statement about the event.

Families, students and volunteers at California Elementary School pose for a photo after volunteering on Saturday as part of Love Our Schools Day.

(Courtesy of Trellis International)