A group of 26 college students from California Baptist University volunteered March 7 to help paint a children’s home in Perris.
The event was part of Spiritual Life’s Serve Day, an event that occurs every semester. Serve day is a day of volunteering and approximately 30 students volunteer time to help the community.
This year, the project was the Olive Crest children’s home. Students painted the walls to brighten the the center and make it a more colorful and cheerful location.
Students were divided into groups of two to eight students. They would then work on specific rooms with a specific color. The rooms were either painted a pale blue, green or brown.
Tatyanna Voorhies, Olive Crest’s volunteer coordinator, said she was excited that CBU could help bring color back to their center.
“We had been looking for a group big enough to help us with a project of this size for a long time, so when we got a call from CBU that there were nearly 30 students wanting to help, I told them we could make it happen,” Voorhies said. “What I love about CBU is that everyone is so eager to help, when we faced a small problem they did not focus on the problem but said ‘we will do this however you want’ and that shows a lot of compassion and love.”
Voorhies said while the center works with children who have suffered extreme trauma in their lives, they also offer housing to 18-24-year-old men who were in the foster care system.
“We give them a temporary home because we know that a lot of the men who age out of foster care, either end up homeless or in jail. We do not want that to happen, so we offer services such as helping them build a resume. and we give them a place to stay,” Voorhies said.
Spiritual Life intern Sami Emeish, senior biomedical engineering major, said he felt God was using CBU as a blessing to the surrounding community.
“I was told by one of our staff members about Olive Crest, they had been trying to get someone to paint the walls in the center for a long time,” Emeish said. “It’s important for God’s people to go out and be a blessing to others, so when we were looking at Olive Crest, it’s a child abuse center and so helping them help the children and bringing a smile to their faces is a great thing.”
Elizabeth Black, senior communication sciences and disorders major, said she loves to volunteer with various projects.
“I honestly love to volunteer with projects, this time I was looking for something short to do that would still be beneficial,” Black said. “I can definitely see the benefit of what we did today, because the walls were white and so adding the colors will really make the place more welcoming.”
Students looking for information on other volunteering opportunities can find CBU on the volunteer app Volunteer Movement, or follow this link. https://app.vomo.org/org/calbaptist
