On Saturday April 22, the 10th annual city-wide volunteer day took place in the community of Fullerton.

With over 2,000 volunteers and over 80 projects around the city, Love Fullerton gathered the community together to unleash a movement of love through volunteerism.

The Fullerton College Children’s Lab School received some much needed beautification. The child’s lab has been serving as a model for best practices in early childhood education for children since 1959.

“Our environment needs a lot of care and love and we are going to have some amazing volunteers coming in and helping us revamp our environment and make it look exciting and inviting for children,” said lab tech Veronica Hernandez, who has been a part of the school for 22 years.

The event kicked off at 8 a.m. with people gathering around the Fullerton College quad willing to dedicate their day to spiffing up the community with numerous different projects.

After grabbing their free shirts and breakfast, volunteers divided into their groups to take on the day’s activities.

Executive Director of OC United Jay Williams, and FC President Cynthia Olivo took the time to acknowledge volunteers on this momentous day.

Over 30 volunteers came to show their support for the FC Children’s Lab School.

The preschoolers had wishes of planting fresh new herbs and restoring an area for their water-play to take place. There were multiple different areas within the Lab that needed help.

“The children are very excited. They have requested certain things be planted in our environment such as lavender and mint, because we love to harvest and use them in our classrooms, and especially the turtle habitats,” said Hernandez. “The children really want their homes to be looking fresh and clean, and they love their turtles. So, they’re excited for them to come back after hibernation.”

The sandbox station had an uneven playing ground that was unsafe for the children, so volunteers began their day with some maintenance and upkeep.

With the help of volunteers, they were able to even out the ground and wheelbarrow in some play sand that was donated to the school for this event. After raking the sand evenly across the play area it was all finished and ready for the children.

The rock pond received a much needed refurbishment as well as it was scattered and dirty. Volunteers cleaned the rocks by extracting the wood chips and dirt that were tracked in there from the children’s shoes.

Pruning the garden for the students was a task so important for the growth of the school. The school provides education on different plants and their uses.

The children are currently growing edible plants such as cilantro, kale, and spinach and at the event the weeds were taken out of the planters and the vines were cut back so they can continue to flourish.

While also having a learning area for various school-grown foods called the “Nature Cafe,” the students can take these plants and experiment with them under supervision.

Being outdoors is a large portion of their learning process at the Fullerton College Children’s Lab School, “the outdoors for children is a place where they can relax, discover, investigate, and we facilitate that process,” said Hernandez.

After the event, all volunteers and participants convened again on the campus quad for an after-party. Free lunch was provided by Chick-Fil-A and Flame Broiler.

“I think it’s so important to show the children that being an active member of the community is so crucial to your city and to your community,” Hernandez says. “Having an organization like Love Fullerton is wonderful and amazing because we can’t do it by ourselves.”