They prepped food at the Bay Area Rescue Mission in the Iron Triangle. They sorted kits of essentials for the homeless at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program on 22nd Street. They built canvases for the artists at the NIAD Art Center on 23rd Street. They spruced up the dog park at the Milo Foundation in Point Richmond.
If you noticed all of the blue shirts around town, then you know it is the Chevron Fall Volunteer Campaign.
Every year, hundreds of Chevron Richmond employees head out in the community to assist local nonprofit organizations on projects, aiming to help save them time and money.
This year, however, Chevron extended the campaign from one week to three weeks so that employees can have an even greater impact, said Stacy Moffitt, community engagement specialist with Chevron Richmond.
“We’ve found that some projects take longer than a week, and as much as possible we want to to help see them through,” Moffitt said.
Their help is greatly appreciated, said Ingrid Rodriguez, office manager at the NIAD Art Center.
“They’re building canvas frames, placing the canvas on, stretching it out, stapling it on, and then prepping them” for use by NIAD Art Center students, Rodriguez said.
The NIAD Art Center is a nonprofit that fosters the talents of disabled artists.
“It is very helpful,” she said. “They save us a lot of money.”
One afternoon, 13 volunteers helped paint rooms at the GRIP homeless shelter, said Nicole Jones, executive assistant at GRIP. Volunteers also helped clean up and organize the food pantry and helped sort essentials such as shampoo and soaps for gift bags meant to be passed out to clients.
“We just appreciate all the effort they put in,” Jones said.
Bay Area Rescue Mission Executive Chef Chris Dikes jokes that he especially welcomes the volunteers’ behavior in the kitchen.
“It’s beautiful, they’re very helpful, and they always say yes, so I love that,” Chef Dikes said.
The volunteers helped prep 1,500 hot dogs for the annual Back to School Carnival at Nevin Park on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a free party provided by the Rescue Mission in partnership with Chevron.
Also among the activities scheduled during this volunteer campaign, which runs through Friday, were cleaning up Wildcat Creek at Verde Elementary alongside The Watershed Project, aiding in distribution at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, assisting in California Coastal Cleanup efforts, sprucing up the garden at the Richmond Museum of History, and helping revitalize the Boys & Girls Club, among the activities.
Here are photos from the various efforts.
