Life Technologies Global Volunteer Day

Life Technologies employees volunteer at the Gardens at North River Road

Life Technologies sent a great crowd of volunteers to the Gardens at North River Road for their Global Volunteer Day on Friday, May 24 2013. In that quick day, 43 volunteers put in a total of 170 hours of work- that's like having a full time employee in the garden for a whole month!

Made-over scarecrows got
new faces, clothes, and stuffing

Life Technologies was able to donate materials and time to complete a number of important projects. Most notably, they added to our trellises that North Coast Church installed. Not only did Life Technologies add lattice and more cross-beams to increase shade, but they were able to build cedar planter boxes underneath the trellises, and plant the new beds with vines. They planted kiwi and passionfruit, which are both edible vines, as well as jasmine, honeysuckle, purple wings, and orange clock- all flowering vines that will provide shade and help attract pollinators to our garden.

Volunteers hard at work
clearing ground for sunflowers

In addition to the trellis work, they were able to plant many seeds, including beans, watermelon, and sunflowers. They also gave many of our scarecrows much-needed makeovers, painted labels for new plants, repaired compost bins, and helped with weekly tasks like weeding and watering. Thank you Life Technologies for another successful day in the garden!

If you would like to do a volunteer project with your company, organization, school, or club, contact Abby Weglarz, Garden Program and Volunteer Coordinator for North County Community Services, at 760-471-5483 or volunteer@sdnccs.org.

Sponsor a Garden bed at the Gardens at North River Road!

Spring is here! It's time for summer planting at the Gardens at North River Road and North County Community Services needs your help!

Now is the time to sponsor a garden bed! We truly appreciate the tremendous support we receive from individuals, families, churches, schools, companies, corporate, military and other groups in North County. Over the past year we have logged over 2,300 volunteer hours of service in our production vegetable garden. Growing fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs enhances our programs by providing delicious, healthy food of unmatched freshness to those we serve; additionally, it reduces our fresh food costs. Without your support we simply could not maintain the level of success we have enjoyed this past year. In addition to volunteering, you can help us purchase soil amendments, plants, seeds, tools, and pay the water bills and the garden program team! We have several garden sponsorship opportunities you can choose from that will help us succeed this growing season. Sponsoring a bed at the Gardens at North River Road is a great way to show your support of the work we do at North County Community Services. -Sponsorship opportunities- Sponsorship may be made by a company, school, church, family, individual, or in honor of someone. A total of 34 vegetable beds and 6 flower beds are available for sponsorship. Your gift of $1,000 will sponsor one vegetable bed for the summer season.  (April - September). Your $1,000 sponsorship includes... The right to one exclusive group tour/volunteer session during the season. A sign bearing your name or sponsorship message at the head of each bed you sponsor. A garden newsletter subscription with notes on activities, harvests and the impact the fresh produce has in our programs. Invitation to our summer garden tour and educational workshop. Exclusive right to renew sponsorship for fall season (October-February). There are 34 beds available at this sponsorship level.  Your gift of $500 will sponsor one fruit tree or flower beds for the summer season. (April-September)  Your $500 sponsorship includes... A sign bearing your name or sponsorship message at the head of each bed you sponsor. A garden newsletter subscription with notes on activities, harvests and the impact the fresh produce has in our programs. Invitation to our summer garden tour and educational workshop. There are 6 beds available at this sponsorship level. To sponsor a bed at $1,000 or $500, just click here: Donate Now Any questions or comments about the NCCS spring/summer fundraising campaign, volunteering, or our garden program can be directed to Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org or 760-471-5483.

Thank you North Coast Church!

North Coast Church Volunteer Team at Thunder

At North County Community Services, we are very grateful for the volunteer projects North Coast Church has done for us over the years. Their intimate growth groups have helped paint murals, classrooms, cleaned, and gardened at various preschool sites with our organization. But this spring, they took their service to a new level with their Weekend of Service project.

Working on the Mural at Thunder Preschool

On April 27 and April 28, 2013, North Coast Church completed about 200 community service projects in North County San Diego, including two projects with North County Community Services. If you live in North County, you may have noticed their "North Coast Church Weekend of Service" signs popping up in front of schools, community centers, and nonprofits in the area. On Saturday and Sunday, they worked on projects at both our Thunder Preschool, as well as the Gardens and Preschool at North River Road. 

The Cleaning Team at North River Road

At our Thunder Preschool, they gave the site a complete face-lift! This included power-washing and painting the entire exterior of the building, as well as the inside entrance hall. They mulched the garden area, built new vegetable beds, and added dirt to existing garden beds. They repainted and improved the mural on site. They cleaned classrooms. They replaced our front sign. They were incredible! A complete photo album of the Thunder Preschool projects can be found here.

Young helpers carrying lumber for a trellis

At the Gardens and Preschool at North River Road, there was more gardening, and less painting. They did do some painting, including a wonderful welcome sign, and the alphabet, numbers, and tricycle tracks in the playground. Most volunteers helped in the garden, including building two shade trellises, 6 brand new garden beds, and tons (literally tons) of mulching. They also helped us dispose of all sorts of unusable garden waste. Thanks to North Coast Church (and all the volunteers who have helped in the past) the Gardens at North River Road now look the best they have ever! There was also plenty of weeding, replanting, and compost turning over the weekend.  They even helped revamp the small preschool garden on site. A complete photo album of the North River Road projects can be found here.

 

New sign at Thunder

New garden sign

From the staff, board, volunteers, and families served by North County Community Services, thank you North Coast Church for your Weekend of Service!