Volunteers fanned out across the city Saturday for Serve Santa Maria, spreading bark, painting and doing other chores at schools, parks and homes.
At Miller Elementary School, a faded map of the United States on the ground received fresh paint while other workers distributed bark on the playground.
“It’s a great example of schools partnering with community groups for a project that benefits not just our kids but our entire school community, which extends beyond the borders of our school and goes into our neighborhood,” Miller School Principal James Bissin said.
The big project involved putting bark where sand once was strewn alongside the area housing play structures.
Sand gets tracked all over, including into classrooms where it damages carpet. It also gets into students’ eyes and can end up on nearby asphalt, making it slippery.
Miller School staff wanted to eliminate the remaining sand on the playground, and the upcoming Serve Santa Maria work day provided the impetus.
In anticipation of the volunteer force’s arrival, district grounds crews removed the sand in recent days and piled the replacement bark nearby.
Serve Santa Maria founder, Pastor Carl Nielsen of Bethel Lutheran Church, had asked Bissin what projects needed to be done at the campus.
The church is adjacent to the campus and Nielsen and Bissin are neighbors, too.
“It all came together in record time,” Bissin told Noozhawk. “I can’t believe how fast they have done this because we had two huge piles of bark.”
Saturday school students on recess also joined in, moving handfuls of bark and using tools to spread it out.
“Everybody got to help out,” Bissin added.
Saturday morning, hundreds of volunteers first gathered at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center for their assignments and prayer before spreading out across the city.
The volunteer cleanup day involving multiple churches, groups and individuals marked its 11th edition. No. 12 is planned for summer.
A large group at Miller School came from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Orcutt.
“It’s just a wonderful thing to be involved in when we can beautify the city and give a few hours of service,” Pastor Greg Kintzi said. “That’s a wonderful feeling.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
