2022 Completed Projects

Love Tuolumne County had a very successful 2022, with 450 volunteers working on approximately 30 projects all over our County. The value of the volunteer labor for 2022 was almost $75,000! (independentsector.org) Most of our projects and activities were funded through the very generous support of our Event Sponsors - Sonora Area Foundation, Adventist Health Sonora and Front Porch, and our Gold Sponsors – ARCH Medical Solutions, Glenn S. Caldwell Insurance, Word of Life Church, and Sierra Bible Church as well as additional sponsors – Carlson & Associates, Downtown Shoes, Greg’s Barber Shop, Jay Pink Law and Angels Pest Control. All of our projects were managed entirely by volunteer Project Leaders and the five-member volunteer LTC Core Team.


BIG DREAMS TUOLUMNE PLAYGROUND REFRESH

Big Dreams is a universally accessible playground in Tuolumne City. It needed substantial landscaping work to refresh plants and mulch. The playground equipment also needed cleaning.


CARDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR SENIORS & SHUT-INS

The Missions Committee members of the Church of the 49ers wrote cards and notes of hope and encouragement to senior citizens, which were then distributed by the Senior Center in Sonora.


CAREGIVING VISITS

Many residents in our County are confined to their homes and can’t enjoy our beautiful area. Loving Tuolumne County doesn’t just mean caring for our lands, schools, parks, and structures. It means loving our residents too. Led by folks from Sierra Bible Church, the volunteer team on this project delivered food, flowers, and personal interaction to shut-ins and others suffering in the community


CHRISTMAS TOWN SONORA CHRISTMAS TREE

Sonora Chamber of Commerce sponsored this event which invited TuoCo non-profits to decorate a tree to represent their organization as part of a Christmas Tree village in Sonora's Courthouse Square. The Love Tuolumne County tree featured handmade decorations representing our Sponsors, Projects, and Volunteers. (Note: The LTC Tree won first place in 2021 with a prize of $300, which offset all expenses for both the 2021 and 2022 trees.)



DAVID LAMBERT COMMUNITY DROP-IN CENTER PAINT PARTY

The volunteer team prepped, masked, and painted the exterior of the David Lambert Center. The Center has been supporting community members since 1999. Their focus is on individuals who are homeless, unemployed, or otherwise unable to meet their basic needs. The Center is a safe place for guests to access computers, charge phones, get some food, or other basic necessities. The facility is completely staffed by volunteers, who provide guests with referrals to Behavioral Health and other community resources.

DE-CLUTTER COLUMBIA

We all have clutter in our lives that can rob us of peace. Two churches partnered to assist a lower-income Columbia sub-division to remove debris and unwanted items. Flyers were distributed 10 days prior to the event to let residents know this free service would be available to them as part of our Volunteer Weekend. The team assisted residents in moving their trash to dumpsters and trailers which were provided to take the unwanted goods to the dump. Accommodations were made for residents who were unable to move items themselves. The volunteer group also interacted with the residents they were serving to provide comfort and understand additional needs.

DISC GOLF COURSE INSTALLATION

Disc golf is a fairly new sport, increasing in popularity across the Nation. The sport involves players throwing a flying disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. This project installed a community disc golf course (open to the public) on land owned by Sierra Bible Church off Tuolumne Road. SBC donated the bulk of the materials for this project


DRAGOON GULCH TRAIL WORK DAY

Dragoon Gulch is a beautiful 2.5-mile hiking trail system off Stockton Road that loops through 35 acres of scenic oak woodland in Sonora. In this project, trail maintenance was performed to prepare for heavy summer use.

FERRETTI TRAILS

This project, sponsored by Groveland Trail Heads, a non-profit mountain bike club, worked on an existing mountain bike trail system in the Stanislaus National Forest. They cleared a trail corridor and worked on building the new Gumball trail loop. Tasks included raking, shoveling, moving soil and rocks, removing small vegetation, and trimming branches.


FOOTHILL PREGNANCY CENTER SPRING CLEANING

Foothill Pregnancy Center needed a Spring cleaning. In this project, windows, blinds, and carpets were cleaned, as well as detailed dusting, and general surface cleaning. All supplies/materials were donated.


GOLD RUSH CHARTER SCHOOL BEAUTIFICATION

Gold Rush Charter School was established to create a non-traditional program that would allow educators to focus on the individual needs of each student. As part of this project, multiple improvement and beautification projects were performed on their Hidden Valley Road campus in Sonora.


GOLD RUSH CHARTER SCHOOL FIELD UP-KEEP

This component of the Gold Rush Charter School project focused on cleaning up the sports field by filling potholes, refinishing backstops, and smoothing the backstop areas with dirt.

HEAVEN FOR KIDS PARK IMPROVEMENTS – SATURDAY

Heaven for Kids Park, located off Greenley Road, was built in 2000 and is owned by Tuolumne County. The giant wooden play structure includes tunnels, slides, a climbing wall, monkey bars, and tire swings. It is heavily utilized by both locals and visitors to the County. In the last few years, many parts of the structure had fallen into disrepair. Love Tuolumne County has been working on upgrading and maintaining the park for 3 years. This project primarily involved re-staining the main structures.


HEAVEN FOR KIDS PARK IMPROVEMENTS – SUNDAY

This was part 2 of the weekend project at Heaven for Kids. It was staffed by volunteers from the Adventist community who could not participate in the Saturday project.

HIGHWAY 49 CLEAN UP #1 - SATURDAY

In this project, a team focused on picking up trash along Highway 49 from Sonora to Columbia. This area is a gateway for southbound travelers coming into Sonora.


HIGHWAY 49 CLEANUP #2 - SUNDAY

In 2021, Love Tuolumne County cleaned trash, removed weeds, and applied tan bark to the area along Highway 49 just North of Sonora High School, below the Car Wash and Arco Station. In this 2022 project, hand-weeding and weed whacking was performed in the same area.

INTERFAITH GARDEN PREP

Interfaith is a community service organization founded in 1988. It is owned and operated by 9 member churches and is staffed by over 150 volunteers. They provide food, clothing, and personal services to over 700 of our Tuolumne County families every month. In this project, a team of volunteers prepared the existing Interfaith garden by weeding, working the soil, and planting produce to be given to Interfaith clients.


LINOBERG SPRUCE UP

The Sonora Chamber of Commerce sponsored this project to spruce up Linoberg Street in downtown Sonora by power washing the ground and refreshing the stenciled decorations that were applied several years before.

NANCY'S HOPE AISLEWAY PAINT & STAFF BREAKROOM SHEETROCK

Nancy's Hope provides services to many underserved families in Tuolumne County, including food, clothing, and other necessities. In 2022 they moved to a new location and asked for assistance sprucing up the facility. This included 1) painting the main aisles with chalkboard paint so guests and staff could write encouraging messages to each other and 2) installing sheetrock to the existing wall studs in the staff break room to reduce heating/cooling costs and make it more attractive for the volunteer staff.


PEACEFUL VALLEY CERTIFIED FARMERS MARKET GARDEN BED PREPARATION

Peaceful Valley Certified Farmer's Market provides a free community garden, in front of their location off Mono Way, which is open to the public for fresh produce needs. This project prepared four 4x20 raised garden beds for planting. Work included pulling weeds, venting soil, and adding nutrients to the soil to prepare the garden beds for planting.

RESILIENCY VILLAGE PLAYGROUND

Resiliency Village's mission is to improve the quality of life for our unsheltered and otherwise traumatized citizens through on-site services, creative activities, skill-building, and the model of a healthy lifestyle, supporting the opportunity for a self-sustaining future through housing, healing, and hope. In 2022, they opened a managed shelter on Big Hill Road. This project installed a terrific playground for the kids that stay in that new facility with their families. In addition to assembling the playground structure, they installed a perimeter for the area and filled it with wood chips.


RESOURCE FAMILY ENGAGEMENT DAY

Volunteers for this project helped SBC host a family fun day for Tuolumne County Resource families (primarily foster families). They hosted games and activities, provided treats and a BBQ lunch. Volunteers helped with all aspects of the morning including running games and activities, cooking and serving food, greeting and cleaning up, painting faces, and playing with kids.

SONORA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLEAN UP

A well-maintained school provides a safe and attractive learning environment for students. School beautification projects, however, can offer much more than physical improvements to the school buildings and grounds. Through cleaning and painting the outside of the school and by mowing and weed-eating, the students can take advantage of educational, personal development, and community-building opportunities. The most visible results of school beautification are the changes to the physical surroundings. Removing graffiti from walls, picking up litter and garbage, and even planting new flowers help to create a clean and attractive learning environment. Sonora Elementary School campus is used by our community on a regular basis. Whether it be for local sports practices, meeting locations, or simply a place to exercise. Help was provided to perform a school spruce up; field grooming, campus litter pick up, and pressure washing the hallways and sidewalks for the kids.

SOULSBYVILLE SCHOOL BASEBALL FIELD

The Soulsbyville School Baseball field is heavily used for sporting events in our County. Volunteers filled potholes in the field with dirt, refinished backstops, and filled in the backstop areas with dirt as well as weeding along the field area.

SUMMERVILLE PARENT NURSERY SCHOOL BEAUTIFICATION

Summerville Parent Nursery School is a nonprofit, parent co-operative school for children ages 18 months to 5 years. As part of this project Volunteers performed property improvements including sandbox cover replacement, painting and cleaning sheds, weeding and gardening, cleaning toys, and raking new gravel in the main parking lot.

TUOCO ROCKS! - (2 sessions)

The Rock Painting craze has hit towns across our country. Participants painted rocks which were then hidden around the County (along with identifying information). Rock finders are encouraged to post pictures of their rocks on the LTC Facebook page and then re-hide them in TuoCo, or back in their hometowns, for others to find! This project provided an opportunity for both families and mobility-restricted folks to participate. Two sessions were held at Interfaith and several hundred rocks were painted!

VISION SONORA – DOWNTOWN SONORA COFFILL PARK AREA IMPROVEMENTS

Vision Sonora is a planning document that the City of Sonora has been using to make improvements in the downtown. This project was sponsored by Blue Zones and included rehab of the restroom located on Green Street just on the west end of Coffill Park. The bathroom was painted inside and out and a new restroom placard was put on the front door. The team also refreshed the planters in front of the restrooms and several other downtown areas with new plants. Many visitors to our County use these bathrooms and they need to have a good impression of our beautiful area.