matching up grateful recipients to excited volunteers | annual workday 4.28.12

Although many schools across the greater Los Angeles areas continue to experience budget cuts, Sharefest volunteers and donors are determined to provide much-needed resources through our upcoming Annual Workday. Workday efforts will be spread across nearly 60 sites this year, and include first-time recipient Catskill Elementary School.

Mural in need of some updating.Located in Carson, Catskill Elementary serves over 730 students in Grades K-5 and achieved an improved Academic Performance Index (API) score last year. The majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. This year's Sharefest project, dubbed "Catskill Cougar Pride Day" will be managed by Mike Gooch, from long-time partner King’s Harbor Church. Our volunteers will be hard at work cleaning classrooms, bathrooms, offices, and outside areas, as well as provide manpower for some fresh coats of paint, gardening, and weeding. The Catskill Elementary handball courts will also receive some special attention with two new, colorful murals, which will really add some pizazz to the campus.

Principal Suzanne Zopatti is eagerly awaiting the completion of these projects, and is no stranger to Annual Workdays. Her previous school, Caroldale Learning Community, has partnered up with Sharefest and King’s Harbor Church twice in the past. “This year, I am truly excited because I already have an outstanding staff and community. We already appreciate and want to thank King’s Harbor Church for selecting our special school!”

Sharefest, Project Manager Mike Gooch, and Yard area prior to Workday in need of Sharefest TLC.his team are also eager to dive in to the projects at Catskill Elementary, and are excited to be helping a school that is so appreciative of the work to be done: “When we contacted Catskill Elementary they were not aware that they had been chosen as a Sharefest project and you would have thought that they had won the lottery… They were very grateful to say the least and have been wonderful to work with.  It is so gratifying to work with an institution that really appreciates the job you do. What could be a better model for what a church should represent than reaching out to meet the needs of the community?”

We couldn’t agree more, and are always so thankful for the hundreds of volunteers that help Sharefest make our Workdays such a success. To read more about projects like this one or to get involved, please click here to visit our Annual Workday page.