Harvest Mural Completed!

Winter features oranges, chard, beets,
cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.

Spring features lettuce, radishes, carrots,
salad greens, peas, and colorful flowers.

North County Community Services would like to send out a huge thanks to the many volunteers who contributed time, talent, and materials to the mural at Balderrama Preschool in Oceanside. After nearly 8 months of work, we have finished the harvest mural! 

The Harvest Mural at the Balderrama Preschool was painted to improve the courtyard where preschoolers and their families enter our facility through. The addition of both the mural, as well as a succulent garden, has made the space come alive with life and art! The mural was designed to represent different cultures and genders. Each of the four mural sections represents one of the four seasons. In each season, a smiling child holds and is surrounded by fresh fruits and vegetables that are usually harvested in that season. Representing a diversity of fresh food available all year round is easy in San Diego County!

Much hard work was put in by volunteers from Oak Hills Covenant Church (two sessions!) Coca-Cola, and North Coast Church to make this mural possible. Each of these groups not only helped make the mural dream a reality with volunteers, but also with donations of paint and paint brushes! 

Summer features sunflower, watermelon,
eggplant, tomato, cucumber, squash, poppy,
and lavender flowers.

A very special thanks to volunteers Leah and Jesus for helping with many sessions of finishing touches! Without the design, artistic talent, donation, and time put in from all our volunteers, this project would not have been possible. We are very happy with the final product, and the kids at the preschool love it! Thank you also to Teen Volunteers in Action, Cal Coast Academy, and Marriott International for helping with other improvement projects in the courtyard to make the mural area look great!

The full photo album of the mural project can be found here on our Facebook page. If you think your group would be a good fit for a mural project, contact Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org or 760-471-5483. We are currently looking for groups to help with preschool bathroom murals in Escondido and Oceanside.

Fall features pumpkins, grapes, avocados,
apples,  pears, and falling leaves.

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!