Serve the City Day: A Mosaic of Support
A Day of Serving the Community
OceanHills’ “Serve the City” day is the culmination of the idea: “What would it look like to supercharge a project for a day?”
Event organizers relate this initiative to “love flowing like rain through the city's creeks and rivers, reaching the places and people who need it most.”
OceanHills, a local Santa Barbara church, describes themselves as an “intergenerational community where ordinary people come together with an extraordinary vision.” The church believes that everyday individuals can live lives of profound purpose and meaning when united by a common mission.
This mission of dedicating one day to volunteering is a 20-year-old tradition dubbed “Serve the City” day. This year saw over 200 volunteers mobilize across 12 different projects throughout Santa Barbara on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Volunteers assist with hands-on projects that range from farm work and construction to creative activities, such as decorating gift boxes and creating cards for survivors of human trafficking. Service options include: cooking breakfast for residents experiencing homelessness, maintaining gardens at a women's recovery center, hosting a festive movie morning at a drop-in shelter, and helping prepare the church's new building.
All of their efforts focus on bringing tangible care and support to vulnerable populations throughout the Santa Barbara community, including survivors of sex trafficking, individuals without a home, and families in need.
What We Get Done Together
For the past 5 years, OceanHills Church has partnered with The Turner Foundation for their Serve the City initiative by 'adopting' our community, The Village. This year, on the Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, 35 volunteers poured into The Village's Community Learning Center ready to “serve their city.”
The volunteers split into three groups. One sorted potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and other nonperishable goods into baskets in preparation for our Thanksgiving Basket Delivery that upcoming Tuesday.
Another wrote 112 cards for residents in English and Spanish. Each card was filled with words of encouragement from volunteers as a gesture of holiday blessing for our residents. Some cards even had handprint turkey drawings!
The third group took on Christmas lights. They split into teams for the playground, palm tree, and pool. Once each area was lit, they regrouped to weave lights through the rafters together.
"It was a transitional moment," one volunteer said. "We were capping off Thanksgiving and moving into Christmas. Hanging those lights together started warming me up for the holidays, that giving-spirit of Christmas."
The volunteers embodied a sense of initiative that made coordination effortless throughout the process. The crew gathered at 9am and between their numbers, and fervor, we were able to pack 112 Thanksgiving baskets by 11am.
The Impact
The baskets packed on Saturday were in residents' hands by the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
"Oh my God, thank you. I forgot you guys do this! All the kids are going to be home, and I didn't know what I was going to do next week." This moment was a sigh of relief that came from one of our residents.
Another resident, Graciela, brought her turkey to Lompoc to share with her family, grateful to get a bird big enough for everyone. Sienna, on the other hand, picked up her basket at the Lighthouse and said, "First, I have to read the note someone wrote for me in the bag. I need to respond to that sweet message."
Five Years and Counting…
We're grateful for OceanHills Church and their Serve the City tradition. With their volunteers' help, we were able to make our residents’ Thanksgiving season a special one. We here at the Turner Foundation are grateful for the opportunity to work alongside their volunteers and embody the impact of “coming together with extraordinary vision.”