Volunteers Help Make a Beautiful Day at Crittenton

Crittenton's Day of Beauty 2014

Volunteers Help Make a Beautiful Day at Crittenton

Volunteers, community partners and staff come together at the Crittenton Services for Children and Families (CSCF) Residential Treatment Center for the Annual Day of Beauty on September, 5, 2014.

“It’s a yearly event that requires months of coordination between all parties involved to essentially create an opportunity for the local community and Crittenton youth to get to know each other and most importantly to learn from one another,” said Martha Jasso, Director of Communications, CSCF, “The young ladies placed in our care are juvenile justice or youth involved in the child welfare system. But at Crittenton they are first and foremost, an individual, they are young people that have experienced some really traumatic experiences in their life. It is important to help establish these connections with positive people in the community as it helps our girls with their healing process while staying with us.”

CSCF volunteers and the rest of the support base help make the Crittenton Day of Beauty a memorable event mostly due to the high level of synchronization that rivals a NASCAR pit crew, and the empathy the community shows our girls.

The Crittenton Day of Beauty volunteer team begins to arrive at 7:30 AM on a Saturday to set-up the volunteer registration table, to lead event briefings, and to assign volunteer groups to different duties throughout the day. From managing various beautification areas including hair, manicure, pedicure and make-up stations to turning the cafeteria into an upscale bistro the volunteers aim to create a spa-like atmosphere for the girls to experience.

“To see the community involved with Crittenton for the sake of our youth is a positive and overwhelming experience,” said Alex Genah, Lead Recreation Coordinator, CSCF Residential Treatment Center, “This is my first Crittenton Day of Beauty where I’m overseeing the event and I was able to get a glimpse of the power of compassion at its finest. To know what the volunteers, community partners, and donors are able to accomplish in just one day is inspirational and hopefully our girls can start to believe that there are some really nice people out in the world.”

CSCF is grateful for this year’s volunteer turnout for this particular event. Crittenton board members, auxiliaries, individual volunteers, and community partners such as Cottonwood Church of Los Alamitos, The Junior League of Orange County, The National Charity League of Yorba Linda, Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants, Colleen O’Hara’s Beauty Academy to name a few made the day such a memorable moment for teenage girls that need strong role models in their life.

The event culminated in a fashion show to help boost the self-esteem of our youth and a goodie bag loaded with full-size bath products, make-up, hair accessories, and snacks that were generously donated by volunteers groups that assisted with this year’s event.

“It’s just very nice of them [volunteers] to come out on a Saturday to meet with us [Crittenton youth], taking time away from their families or their work just to help make a special day for us. I realize the amount of effort it took for this to happen. Just have to thank them for everything they are doing,” said a Crittenton client by the name of Rosa.

###

Crittenton Services for Children and Families of Southern California (CSCF) is a non-profit social services agency whose mission is to heal the wounds of abuse and neglect; strengthen families; and help troubled adolescents reach their full potential. Established and incorporated in 1966 Crittenton has a highly trained workforce operating 24 hours a day / 7 days a week providing comprehensive counseling, medical, and other support services to the clients in our care. We provide a full array of residential, in-home, community based, wraparound, mental health, foster care, and adoption services with a service planning area throughout Southern California that covers Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego Counties.

Visit www.crittentonsocal.org to learn more about our programs and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, and Flickr.