Kaiser employees spruce up farmworker center on MLK Day

By NATALIE HOFFMAN, Register Staff Writer

While some people took it easy on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Kaiser Permanente employees and others used it as an opportunity to work up a sweat.

The volunteers spent Monday at St. Helena's River Ranch Farmworker Center -- repairing electrical and irrigation systems, mixing cement, installing fencing, pruning trees, weeding and planting gardens.

Nestled on Silverado Trail, the River Ranch Farmworker Center holds 30 rooms and is home to up to 60 seasonal farmworkers starting each spring, said Angel Calderon, manager of the facility. While the four-year-old structures are now vacant, they will re-open in March, he said.

Mel Orpilla, Kaiser Permanente community and government relations manager, said 10 employees from Kaiser's Napa, Vallejo and Vacaville facilities turned up to volunteer -- including a doctor, physical therapist, nurses, administrators and others. Orpilla said he wanted to volunteer at a location "in Napa County that benefits the Latino community here."

Volunteers arrived as early as 8:15 a.m., he said. "Everybody is working equally hard, in spite of what some of the nurses think," Orpilla quipped.

In the chill of the early afternoon, volunteers' children gleefully broke down wine barrels that would later be used as fuel for a barbecue pit.

"It's cool to whack them apart," said 10-year-old Amelia Arnold, who worked alongside her mother, Michele Arnold, a Kaiser physical therapist, and her father, Ken Arnold.

Amelia, who also said she spent the day mixing cement, working in facility gardens and taking pictures to document all the hard work, jumped on the opportunity to roll up her sleeves.

"I made a (New Year's) resolution to help people. ... In the community, there are so many things to be done and so I wanted to help," she said.

Michele Arnold said she brought her daughter to the event to "show her she's very fortunate ... and that it's important to be a member of the community."

Kaiser volunteers worked alongside members of Rebuilding Together Petaluma Inc., a branch of a national nonprofit volunteer organization.

Along with other Kaiser volunteers, Kim Neely, a registered nurse who works in Vallejo, lunched on steak and chicken fajitas and rice at noon.

Mike McClure, a Kaiser human resources business partner, sat alongside his children, Justin, 11, and Erin, 8, taking a break from composting yard waste at the center.

How does he feel about being put to work on a day off from school?

"It actually feels kind of nice to know I'm helping the people who live here," Justin said. "We wanted to come straighten it up since it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

Mike McClure said volunteerism teaches his children about being a part of something larger than themselves.

"I think it's good for them to get some experience in volunteerism and helping the community," he said.

The McClures were not the only ones who made Monday's volunteerism a family event. Pat Woodbridge, a Kaiser therapist and registered nurse, pruned bushes and tended to a facility garden alongside her granddaughter, Genessa Nabors, a 15-year-old Justin-Siena High School student.

Kaiser spokesman Jim Caroompas said while the holiday represented a "day off" for some, Kaiser employees used it as a "day on" for volunteerism.

"This is a very underserved population and we're interested in seeing these people get the help that they need," he said.

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