Ten years after a group of pastors formed Milpitas Cares, hundreds of volunteers from churches and other community organizations are set to complete service projects at 15 sites throughout the city from March 18 to April 3.
Milpitas Cares volunteers will turn out at schools, parks and recreation centers to perform maintenance and other tasks. This year marks a return to form for the effort, which had to be cancelled after three days in March 2020 after Santa Clara County’s first shelter-in-place order took effect.
Those three days were productive, however, as volunteers completed major projects at three Milpitas schools, replacing lighting and retaining walls, relandscaping and cleaning one school’s interior. In that time, Milpitas Cares also cleaned up two city parks and did landscaping maintenance at an elder care facility.
During the pandemic, Milpitas Cares refocused its efforts on helping to relieve food insecurity in the local community. The organization took up collections, primarily through area churches, and raised more than $100,000 for the Milpitas Food Bank, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley and other groups. Volunteers mobilized to help process, prepare and distribute food at three sites in Milpitas.
Collecting food for the Milpitas Food Pantry is an annual effort which in 2017 resulted in 1,066 pounds of peanut butter and jelly being donated.
“Peanut butter and jelly is always a needed item,” food pantry director Karen Kolander said in a statement.
Milpitas Cares estimates that community members have logged more than 15,000 volunteer hours on hundreds of projects in the past 10 years.
“Milpitas Cares helps us with various projects that otherwise would not get done,” said Randall School principal Carlos Salcido. “Cleanup, setting up our garden, painting (directional signs) so that our students know which doors to go in and out of are just a few of the things they’ve done.”
Organizers are expecting more than 500 volunteers of all ages to participate in this year’s effort. As with every year, they compiled a list of projects after asking school officials, the City of Milpitas and various community service groups what most needs to be done.
To volunteer, visit www.MilpitasCares.org and click on the “Ways to Care” page, which lists all the project sites available.
Source: www.mercurynews.com