Orange County Branch Newsletter

June 2015

Community Service

HomeAid Sorting Day Event - Helping Homeless Families in Orange County

By Penny Lew, P.E.



This was the first time I participated in an event of this type for HomeAid. It was an eye opener for me as I learned about the many homeless families in Orange County that have babies and small children. On Saturday May 16th, volunteers came out to the former LA Times Building in Costa Mesa to help sort thousands of boxes of diapers, wipes and other essentials for babies and their families.

Other volunteers were from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Bank of America and Pacific Life who helped load and push dollies and carts stacked with donated supplies across the parking lot all morning.  The donations, from various sources including “big box” stores, Orange County businesses and individuals, were then placed with their appropriate groupings. 

By the time the morning shift volunteers completed the sorting of supplies, we broke for lunch while the afternoon shift was arriving.  The next shift took an inventory, counting all the donations collected over the previous 2 weeks and divided them up into groups ready for delivery or pick up from 17 different Orange County shelters.

ASCE OC is very happy to have participated in the Sorting Day event and we plan to invite our members, their families and friends to help at future HomeAid volunteer events. If you have children who need community service credit, these events will be the perfect opportunities for all to lend a helping hand.

I want to give a special thanks to Jessica Zhu, daughter of member Wei Zhu who helped with both shifts at the Sorting Day event. Jessica, who attends high school in Irvine, also volunteered at the HomeAid Landscaping event at the new Anaheim shelter several weeks ago.

The ASCE OC Branch continues to seek opportunities to partner with HomeAid Orange County (HomeAid OC).  The organization was founded 25 years ago by leaders in the building industry and there are now 15 HomeAid chapters nationally. The movement continues to grow and increase in impact as HomeAid’s goal is to end homelessness. Since its inception, HomeAid OC has created 50 shelters serving men, women and children experiencing homelessness. For more information about HomeAid OC please visit [url=http://www.homeaidoc.org]http://www.homeaidoc.org[/url]

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