Oceanside CA— On March 13, 2013, people in the Libby Lake area of Oceanside were rocked by the shooting deaths of two teens, Melanie Virgen, 13, and Edgar Sanchez, 15 and the wounding of two others.
On Friday March 13, 2015, members of the community along with Project REACH, Vista Community Clinic and many community organizations including the Oceanside Police Department’s Neighborhood Policing Team and Canine Unit, got together for the second annual ‘Celebration of Life’ turning the tragedy into something positive for the community.
Organizers allocated three-hundred tickets for the event that people could redeem for free hot dogs and hamburgers. It also was a way for organizers to keep track of how many people were attending the event. The tickets were gone within the first hour and they gave up trying to keep count of the steady stream of people arriving for the event.
“The volunteers did exceptionally well getting the word out this year” said Diana Garcia with Project REACH “We handed out over 250 flyers but it was mostly kids getting the information out by word of mouth and social media.”

Debal Acquaro, a public health nurse with the County of San Diego HHSA, said they had a steady line of people getting their blood pressure checked and getting information on health services available to the community. “Events like this are great for getting the word out on eating healthy and curbing obesity.” said Ms. Acquaro speaking of the county’s 5210 Everyday! Healthy Habits for Healthy Communities campaign. 5210 is; Eat five or more serving of fruits and vegetables a day. Limit recreation screen time to two hours or less. Get one hour of physical activity every day and drink zero sugary drinks.
“The turnout is wonderful this year” said Veronica Molina who, along with Cristin Gonzales, were at the event passing out information for North County Health Services. “Last year, it is was kind of slow but this year, this is really wonderful.”

 
Some of the vendors at the event were; The Job Corps, Interfaith Community Services, the Trauma Intervention Program, the Vista Community Clinic, Mira Costa College, the City of Oceanside Environmental Program, The Oceanside Fire Department-Fire Prevention, S.O.S (Save Our Streets), AmeriCorps NCCC, and more including The San Diego Futures Foundation.
“We have had lot of people come by here and get information about low-cost computers available to people receiving government assistance.” said Tania Valdivia, a customer service specialist with SDFF. “We offer computers for as low as $120.00 to anyone receiving government assistance. That includes people in Section 8, seniors and anyone with a EBT card.” explained Tania. The computers are also available to seniors, veterans and people who have a documented disability. You can learn more about their program on the San Diego Futures Foundation (SDFF) website [Link]
“We have a good response from people at the event this year.” said Ana Serrano with Las Valientes. “We help people navigate the legal system. We walk them through a system that can be very intimidating.” Ana explained as she was handing out toys to children attending the event. “Events like this are a good way to let people know about the resources available to them.”
“My hat is off to Jaime.” said Oceanside City Council-member Jack Feller speaking of Jaime Figueroa, Program Supervisor of Project REACH, Libby Lake, “Reaching out to the children of this neighborhood, some growing up in less than ideal circumstances, in an effort to bring civility to the neighborhood.” continued the Councilman “If we can change the course of one child, who knows? We may get more as that child reaches out to others.”

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