500 Community and Company Volunteers Join Forces to Improve Oak View Neighborhood

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Freshly painted public spaces including a concrete skateboard platform, playgrounds, school buildings along with improvements to soccer fields and school gardens made in the low-income Oak View neighborhood of Huntington Beach were the outward results of the first combined volunteer project planned and executed by the Corporate Volunteer Council of Orange County (CVCOC) with project coordination by OneOC.

“It was an honor for Oak View to be chosen for the first combined volunteer project”

The expansive project brought together 500 volunteers, including grateful local residents and energized employees from 16 Orange County companies on the morning of Saturday, February 23, and did as much for the spirits of the participants as it did for the physical places they touched in this densely populated neighborhood of 10,000 residents, 32% of whom live below the poverty line.

CVCOC was launched in January 2012 in collaboration with OneOC, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization committed to accelerating nonprofit success through volunteer, training, consulting and business services.

Nonprofits that benefitted from the project included Oak View Renewal Partnership, Oak View Elementary School, Oak View Preschool, Oak View Child Development Center, Oak View Branch Library, Jeanne Hardy Head Start, El Viento Foundation, Oak View Family Resource Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley and the City of Huntington Beach. Community leaders present included Iosefa Alofaituli, executive director, Oak View Renewal Partnership, Zayda Garcia, executive director, El Viento, State Senator Lou Correa, and Superintendant Gustavo Balderas of the Ocean View School District.

“It was an honor for Oak View to be chosen for the first combined volunteer project,” said Iosefa Alofaituli, executive director, Oak View Renewal Partnership. “The impact created by the CVCOC, City of Huntington Beach, community based organizations and residents goes beyond the monetary value of the wonderful work completed today. Residents saw that volunteers outside the community really care, and I have no doubt that this will inspire residents to work even harder for an improved community for years to come.”

Participating companies included Allergan, Bank of America, BJ’s Restaurants, Corinthian Colleges, Cox Communications, Disneyland Resort, Edwards Lifesciences, Experian, Fluor, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser, Pacific Life, PIMCO, Ricoh Electronics, HUB International and Western Digital.