They enhance our surroundings through educational support, outreach programs, donations, and by keeping up their plant’s appearance – including a full time employee on the Community Planning Group. They actively sponsor a school partnership with Wangenheim Middle School and provide assistance, expertise, and materials to help our young people in their education.  This support includes participation in career days, donating school supplies (digital cameras, etc…), and sponsoring field trips, as well as sponsoring students and teachers in the Race for Literacy, and even sent a teacher to a mining conference.
Additionally they routinely provide donations to several other schools, local youth sports teams and non-profit organizations.  Their donation to the Chollas Lake Little League allowed them to improve the fields and provide a safe environment for the kids of the community.  Every year they sponsor the Mira Mesa Street Fair and participate in the clean up afterwards by providing the services of their street sweeper.  Another less visible community relations activity they provide is donating areas of their property as a training ground for rescue dogs.    Three of these dogs were later used in the rescue efforts at the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 in New York.  This year they donated superb Padres tickets to the Taste of Mira Mesa… and MORE….
So sometimes the real heroes are those supporters behind the scenes, being a good neighbor with little fanfare, and facilitating the outreach activities of others.  Vulcan Materials is just such a community hero.  We agree with their motto:  “Vulcan Rocks!”

Through the generous donations from Vulcan Materials, our HEROES volunteers were able to finish several projects at Mark Twain High School. They did some area cleaning, landscaping, repairs and painting to the facilities. To get involved within your community, contact Mike Davis from Mira Mesa HEROES for any one of their upcomming projects. You can also use that link to suggest a project for consideration.

As the event was just getting started, there was a call to action and our hosts had to leave to put out a car fire. They quickly returned and the party resumed. It was an unexpected treat for my son and I to see the Firefighters in action. A fun time was had by all, and many thank-yous were exchanged on both sides – we were greatful for their hard work keeping our community safe, and they were thankful that HEROES sponsored the painting of their fire station. It is a great feeling of giving back to our community. I would recommend volunteering as much as you can.

To volunteer for future events, go to the Mira Mesa HEROES website or look for details here at Mira Mesa.Com.

We are always improving the process, iterating from one event to the next, but we will have an event one Saturday of each month, from 0800 to 1130. Several folks/organizations, including Brian Maienschein, our councilman, already endorse “HEROES” and we are still soliciting and solidifying additional support and endorsement from our community leaders and businesses, yet it’s the people, YOU, that will make this work. That is, be of immediate benefit to someone in need every month, truly touch their lives and make a difference – neighbors helping neighbors and getting to know each other at the same time. If you want to be part of a group that gives the most precious gift of all, TIME, to help those in need in your community, send an e-mail to Mike Davis at (davismh@san.rr.com) and let him know the types of skills you can bring (and any organization you belong to that could also help). This is your chance to be part of an active group that “walks the walk” in community self-help… If you have been thinking about similar ways to help others, or made that your new year’s resolution, this is the opportunity to “DO” something and make it happen – take a chance and “just do it” as you will enjoy it too!

We welcome ALL volunteers, whatever skill/talent you can bring, as it’s the labor that makes a difference. We also need support from folks and businesses willing to help defray the costs somewhat. Though not expected to cost much each month, we do need access to at least a discount on materials and a way to haul away the garbage… sometimes the hardest part! The group’s intent is to leverage and integrate similar efforts in our community (like the “alpha” project, senior citizen support, etc) – as there are many deserving and needy folks that we all need to help, so if your organization wants to do similar things and would like to tag-team this effort with us – please engage. Bottom line – we will have an event each month to help someone in need that we live next to. We can only succeed, doing a good deed and typically much more that that, as the recipient will be a whole lot better off and happier. What more could we ask for a few hours each month?

Don’t keep thinking about helping and giving back – DO IT NOW – and where better than in your community backyard. Together we can better our community – one person at a time – and have fun at the same time. Please feel free to recommend a needy candidate as well. Thanks in advance for your support – we all hope to see you there!