Healthcare provider promotes volunteerism for the holidays

For 25 years, DaVita has been a health care provider dedicated to transforming care delivery for patients around the world. This month, however, DaVita teammates shifted their focus to giving back through the Caring Across Communities week-of-service initiative, held from November 13–19.

Through this initiative, DaVita hosted more than 15 service projects in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas all focused on addressing food insecurity, supporting local neighborhoods and more.

Jackie Garcia, a lifelong East Los Angeles resident and an 11-year DaVita teammate, recently served as the team lead for the Union Station Homeless Services project. She told CALÓ News that the goal of the California-wide initiative is to have at least 1,000 DaVita employees volunteer with different nonprofit organizations.

“I's always important for me to get back to the community. I also feel very strongly for our patient population. Sometimes our patients are affected, so it is important for us to always give back and be willing to show up when there's a crisis and support in any way that is needed in our communities,” Garcia said.

She also noted that her work may inspire other of her DaVita teammates. “We never know when we're gonna be in a crisis situation and would love for someone to help us. This is an opportunity to be supportive of our communities and of course some of our patients,” she said.

Other projects that have taken place have been in the following:

-Southern California

Union Station Homeless Services

Second Harvest of Orange County

Project Angel Food

I Love a Clean San Diego

-South-Central California

Central California Food Bank

Second Harvest Cypress Center

The Salvation Army Merced Corps

-Northern California

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Sacramento

Alameda County Food Bank

Faith Food Fridays

Second Harvest Cypress Center

During Jackie’s service project time she was taken back by the turnout. “I was so excited to see how many of my teammates participated. Even the Union Station coordinator was very surprised at how many of us showed up to volunteer,” she said.

One of the many things Jackie and her teammates did during their volunteer work was building canopies and getting ready for the Thanksgiving food drive. About 17 of the DaVita employees were preparing the actual boxes for the drive. “We were putting canned foods and trying to have everything ready so that people could have food for the holiday,” she said.

She also shared that while they were onsite, other volunteers prepared meals for the residents who lived there. “They were able to prepare a nice warm soup meal and then drinks, and they were able to serve it to the residents who were there,” Garcia said.

The Union Station Homeless Services project is also planning to have three different celebrations for Thanksgiving, such as the Turkey Drive, Dinner in the Park and Dine Out for USHS. DaVita teammates are hoping to be able to go back and help.

“I think the most important part is that no small job is rewarded. Sometimes we feel that we don't have the capacity to be able to give a lot. But even if you volunteer for an hour or even collect goods or something that is able to change someone's life, [that] is very important and I don't think we should get discouraged thinking that,” Garcia said. “Even if it's just one family that you are impacting, it's always very important because it's like a little chain reaction. We impact a little bit and it just gets bigger and bigger, because especially during the holidays, there's a lot of people who are in need of help and support.”