Reading to make a difference: OneOC's Spirit of Giving Project

Last month, groups of volunteers, including Union Bank employees, joined the OneOC AmeriCorps VIP team in reading to kindergarten and first grade classes in Title I schools throughout Orange County for the annual Spirit of Giving Project, one of OneOC’s Days of Service. Our volunteers read to the students about sharing, giving, and helping others in times of need. In demonstration of these qualities, Spirit of Giving was able to donate “Lend a Helping Hand”, a Berenstain Bears story, to each child in every classroom that participated in the reading project.

Pictured to the left are twenty-four students in Ms. Meyer’s blended kinder and First Grade

classroom at Davis Elementary proudly showing their teacher the new books they received. Also pictured are Michael Nussbaum, a volunteer reader from Union Bank, and Jessi Kraai, the AmeriCorps VIP Fellow, serving at KidWorks in Central Santa Ana.