By IRENE MANAHAN Special to the Daily Press
VENICE St. Joseph Center in Venice became the site of a major clean-up recently. On behalf of Boost Mobile RockCorps, volunteers converged on the site to beautify the center’s pre-school classroom known as the Early Learning Center and earned a little something in return for their hard work in the process.
Boost Mobile’s venture into volunteerism is ground breaking in the sense that it works to recruit youth volunteers with a twist. Instead of just a pat on the back the program utilizes live music as an incentive to locate volunteers interested in serving the community. Volunteers earn tickets to concerts in return for four hours of their time.
“It’s almost like a boomerang effect,” said Chrystal Parker, PR Coordinator for Boost Mobile RockCorps. “It’s a win-win situation for the community, our partners and our volunteers. People feel good about giving back. It benefits everyone. A lot of people are first attracted by the concert tickets, but many people have gone back to work with our non-profit partners, and even new centers.”
The St. Joseph Center targets low-income and homeless families in need of supportive care and could always use the extra sets of hands regardless of volunteers’ motivations.
“Volunteers were definitely excited, and they looked forward to being there, ” said Siri Okamoto, PR Coordinator for St. Joseph Center. She added that the volunteers were doing touch-up painting inside of the facility, disinfecting toys, and steam cleaning carpet. Outside the classroom, they were busy gardening and scrubbing down playground equipment.
“The volunteers were amazing. They were very thorough,” Okamoto said. “It was a nice big overhaul. They really jumped in and did a lot of great work trying to make the center so much cleaner, safer and just brighter for our kids.”
This kind of positive reinforcement allows young men and women to do something they may not have otherwise done.
“It’s especially helpful for us to recruit volunteers who are both local and from outside the community,” said Okamoto.
While Boost Mobile has worked with other organizations in the area, including Heal the Bay and L.A. Works, the St. Joseph Center was the first project of this scale. Parker said Boost Mobile is continuing with other projects in and around Santa Monica. To learn more about Boost Mobile’s volunteer program visit its web-site at http://www.boostmobilerockcorps.com.
St. Joseph Center accepts volunteers year-round. Call the center for additional information at (310) 396-6468 ext. 326.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 16, 2007. Read the original PDF.