Oceanside CA— Over the weekend, close to 10,000 volunteers, from the North Coast Church, fanned out across North County performing maintenance work for parks, schools, municipal buildings and non-profit groups.
There were 200 projects in North County at locations in Camp Pendleton, Carlsbad, Escondido, Fallbrook, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista with an estimated value, if the work was billed out, of $2.5 million dollars. The Church had a budget of $200,000 to purchase materials for the projects. This is the 5th event the Church has held titled ‘Weekend of Service’ and it occurs every two years.
The North Coast Church shuts down for the weekend of the event “It gives us a chance to go out and do Gods work. Not just hanging out in a building on Sunday and talking about it.” said Kevin Rentz, project manager for the work at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oceanside (BGCO). This is the second time the Club has been included Weekend of Giving.
“They were here two years ago and they work so well together.” said Esther Valles, Area Director at BGCO, “They are so giving and willing to help the community.”

Jodi Diamond, BGCO, CEO said,” Community efforts such as these are essential to our youth’s success. Club members take ownership and are proud of our clubhouse because of community volunteer’s passion to make a difference in our community. We are so grateful for these types of community collaborations.”
Volunteers worked on 17 different interior and exterior projects. Tasks included installing a new water heater, tearing out and replacing carpet with laminate flooring and painting the Club teen center to modernize and match the Clubhouse. To improve Club safety, they will install wallpack lights in the back parking lot as well as replace fencing, repair a sidewalk and fix the gymnasium roof leaks. A new basketball backboard will be installed, the front benches will be refurbished and the parking lot lines will be repainted.
All supplies, equipment and labor were 100% donated by the North Coast Church to complete these projects.
Some of the volunteers had just joined the church like Sarah Lopez, of Oceanside who was prepping the rafters in the Junior Seau “Club 55” Fitness Center for paint. Others have been with the Church since the beginning. Kathy Sampson, of Carlsbad, has been with the Church for 31 years. She was cleaning leaves from under a tree at Project OZ, in Oceanside, with Victoria Fillpot, of Vista, who has been with the Church for 20 years. “It’s been something to watch the Church grow from its early years, renting space from another church in Oceanside to the what it has become today.” said Kathy.
Others volunteers are not members of the Church at all. Corey King, an electrician from San Diego drove up to Oceanside to help wire the lights on the roof at BGCO said he’s just “giving back, it keeps me out of trouble.”
The volunteers had four shifts on the work schedule to choose from, two each day. Dante and Deanna Farone were part of a four person crew working the AM shift painting a Brother Bennos home in Oceanside. “We are just grateful to be a part of it.” said Deanna.

Emerson Grimbsy was the “City Leader” and spent the weekend with his daughter/ secretary, Amy managing the 28 projects in Oceanside.”All the volunteers do the work in a weekend but the planning began months ago.”
There will be a ribbon cutting at Tri-City Hospital, 11:30am, Monday April 27, for a dedication of the work done there by North Coast Church volunteers.
You can learn more about the weekend of service and the locations by visiting their website.

click on any thumbnail image to enlarge photos

Photos: Steve Marcotte / OsideNews