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The Community Presbyterian Church (CPC) in Danville is once again calling on residents to volunteer and help better their community during its fifth annual Serve Day Weekend, which this year will offer a variety of both socially distance conscious in-person and remote volunteer opportunities.
Set to begin on Saturday, CPC’s Serve Day has become one of the largest single volunteer gatherings in the Bay Area, and while in-person on campus projects have been reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, a variety of community volunteer opportunities remain available.
“We were worried at first if we’d be able to pull this off given the season we’re in,” said Deana Dickerson, director of serve at CPC Danville. “But after talking with our team, local organizations and volunteers, we realized it could be done, we just needed to change our mindset.“
In light of the pandemic, there will still be opportunities to volunteer on CPC’s campus as per tradition; however, there are also plenty of off campus, virtual ad at home opportunities for volunteers to partake in. Volunteers are also welcome to support their community financially through donations to help fire relief and other special projects.
Church staff say one of the biggest changes to this year’s event is the introduction of a new “Serve Day in Box” offering that allows people to serve from home doing projects like bracelet making for Teen Esteem, eyeglass cleaning for the Lions Club and crayon sorting for the Crayon Initiative.
“When Deana came to me with the Serve Day in a Box idea as a creative way to supplement our efforts, I immediately said yes,” said Tyler Scott, lead pastor of CPC. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this is something we keep for future Serve Day weekends because it enables an entire population to participate that might ordinarily have the chance, be it due to health concerns, having really little kids or the elderly. What’s really cool is that the at-home projects can scale to any size so we have the potential to unleash compassion on the people of the San Ramon Valley and beyond perhaps more than ever before.”
On campus projects are generally geared toward supporting local San Ramon Valley organizations and causes, such as Blue Star Moms, Together We Rise, Meals on Wheels, SRVCA’s preschool and more. Residents should also be advised that all projects will be COVID-19 compliant through social distancing and mask wearing.
“Off campus projects will have volunteers packing meals at Kids Against Hunger, cleaning our creeks Friends of the SRV Creek Cleanup, gardening and clean-up at Shepherd’s Gate, beautifying the campuses of City Team Oakland, sorting donations at Hospice East Bay, and delivering food to homeless Restore Ministries to name a few,” CPC staff said.
Serve Day is part of the church’s “FOR the Valley” mission, which is a campaign to give back and bring the community together through service to one another.
Serve Day Weekend events will be held all day on Saturday and Sunday. Residents can sign up for online on CPC’s website, there residents can choose individual events and times to volunteer.
To watch a video recapping last year’s event — which saw more than 2,000 individuals volunteer for local organizations — go here.
Volunteers can get their free Serve Day shirt at CPC Danville in the church office, at 222 West El Pintado. For more information, residents can email serve@cpcdanville.org.