Thousands of disadvantaged children, homeless individuals and others in need of physical assistance or an emotional lift will benefit from The Church at Rancho Bernardo’s Good Neighbor Day event Saturday morning, organizers said.

“This was birthed by the pandemic, as a way for the congregation to gather and do good in the community,” said Kyle Moss, the church’s impact director.

Moss said Good Neighbor Day originated with the church’s Service Day held annually for seven years. That day focused on community service activities like landscaping cleanups in Escondido’s Kit Carson Park, the Brookview senior neighborhood in Poway and Abraxas High School will return in November.

But Good Neighbor Day started last year as a way for those of all ages to help others several times a year by filling toiletry and hygiene kits, back-to-school packs and making hundreds of sack lunches within an hour or so under tents set up in the church’s parking lot.

Moss said doing a service project once a year was not enough, especially during the pandemic. By doing an outdoor event it could be set up in accordance with the latest health regulations.

“Everyone was lonely and we said we can do more,” Moss said.

On Saturday morning, around 200 volunteers — from small children to senior citizens — were assigned to stations where they quickly filled bags with items and wrote notes of good wishes to the recipients. Around 3,000 kits were assembled, including 300 sack lunches.

It was the third Good Neighbor Day this year.

“I wanted to help the community by sharing God’s love,” said Kim Crawford, who with her son, Robbie, was assembling snack kits for the children at the Boys & Girls Club.

“I get the chance to give back to the community,” Robbie Crawford said about his reason for participating.

Abi Damiano, 11, and her mother, Jenny, were among those assembling the movie packages for PUSD’s Youth in Transition program.

“I came because I knew this is for people not as privileged as me and I wanted to help them,” Abi said.

First-time participant Laura Martin assembled teacher appreciation kits with her daughter, Amber Tripoli, and grandchildren, Parker, Ciena and Easton Tripoli.

“We wanted to help and expose the kids to helping,” Martin said. “This (event) was very well organized.”

Darlene Vaughn was among the seniors writing notes to the kit recipients. Vaughn said her messages included “You are special” and “God loves you.”

Gloria Solstad, another senior, said she wrote notes of encouragement and assembled the Boys & Girls Club snack packs.

Moss said the recipients from Saturday’s event and the items they will receive were:

• Child hygiene kits for Children of the Nation, an international organization.

• Street medicine kits (contained items such as sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm) for Healthcare in Action, which will distribute the kits to homeless individuals.

• Female and male hygiene kits for the Respect Project and Youth Assistance Coalition (both help the homeless), Alabaster Jar Project (helps those who escaped trafficking situations), Ronald McDonald House (serves families at Rady Children’s Hospital) and Voices for Children (helps foster children).

• Hygiene kits, elementary lunch kits (items included a reusable water bottle, sandwich bag and ice pack) and a family movie package (contained items like popcorn, candy and bubbles) for Poway Unified School District’s Youth in Transition Program (helps students without housing).

• Household cleaning supplies for Brookview Village senior neighborhood in Poway.

• Appreciation kits (included notebooks, pens, trail mix, hand sanitizer, a water shaker bottle and flavored electrolyte mix) for Meadowbrook Middle School teachers and staff.

• Snack packs for youth members at the Boys & Girls Club and at-risk students in the Escondido Education Compact Achieve Center.

• Move-in kits (included items like household cleaning supplies) for San Diego Youth Services (for teens aging out of the foster system).

• Sack lunches (included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips) for 300 individuals helped by Interfaith Community Services in Escondido.

The three Good Neighbor Day events and the Service Day are possible due to a fundraising campaign last November and December, where a record $520,000 was donated by the church’s congregation. This was half of the amount raised because throughout this year church members have continued to donate either money or items going into the kits, Moss said.

Doing community outreach projects has been something the church has undertaken since it formed in early 1990s, Moss said.

“Over the last few years we’ve been increasing the money ... every year it has been gaining traction, validating this is what church members want to happen,” Moss said.

Mita Aquino, the church’s impact coordinator since February, said church members and non-members have been joining in the service projects.

“More are coming out, which is sweet,” Aquino said. “They are finding the time to volunteer and participate, which is cool to see.”

Get the Pomerado News in your inbox weekly

Top headlines from Poway, Rancho Bernardo and 4S Ranch, every Thursday for free.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Pomerado News.

At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the Pomerado News today.

Choose any amount, cancel any time

Privacy Policy Terms of Service Sign Up For Our Newsletter