Webcor's 2023 summer interns reunited in San Francisco and Los Angeles for Intern Service Day, a beloved Webcor tradition focused on engaging interns with their surrounding communities in a way that supports and empowers local residents. Originally pitched by a former Webcor intern who avidly supported our Community core value, Intern Service Day has been a core component of Webcor’s intern program curriculum for the last several years.

This year, Webcor’s intern team took the service day as an opportunity to reinvigorate our partnerships with two community-driven organizations committed to serving vulnerable residents: America SCORES Bay Area and LA Regional Food Bank.

NorCal Intern Service Day – America SCORES Bay Area

After a successful first year partnering with the America SCORES Bay Area chapter for Intern Service Day last summer, former Assistant Project Manager Hamza Shallwani suggested reaching back out to their SCORES contacts about organizing another volunteer day together. SCORES aims to inspire youth to lead healthy lives, engage in their education, and build the confidence and character to effect community-wide change through the power of soccer, poetry, and service-learning projects.

“We wanted to give the interns an opportunity to guide and support our local youth and learn about the important work America SCORES is doing,” says Project Engineer Sandra Padilla, who organized NorCal's Intern Service Day just one year after experiencing the day as an intern herself with support from Superintendent Zach Pollard and Sr. Project Engineer, Concrete Robert Lim. “Our NorCal interns all came together to create a unique field day experience for the SCORES students at ER Taylor, an elementary school in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood that was hosting a SCORES youth summer camp that week.”

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NorCal interns and SCORES students spent the day immersing themselves in the creative and challenging worlds of sports and art, spending half the day playing soccer and basketball and the other half crafting a structure related to Mario World, the summer camp’s theme, as a team. Although it took some time for the interns and students to grow comfortable with one another, genuine connections quickly emerged from the day’s team-oriented, creativity-fueled activities as they embraced both challenges together.

“As someone who thoroughly enjoys playing sports, it was a delight to play games like soccer, four square, and basketball with such wonderful kids,” says PE Intern Ninad Doke. “Witnessing their enthusiasm and joy as we played together brought an unparalleled sense of fulfillment.

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“I also had the privilege of joining the students in craft-related activities, during which we embarked on an imaginative journey to design and build our very own Bowser's Castle using cardboard. Collaborating with these young minds and seeing their boundless creativity were truly remarkable experiences. Together, we brought the castle to life, and their excitement throughout the process was contagious.”

As someone who spent her childhood summers learning from mentors at youth camps just like SCORES, PE Intern Giselle Martinez says the entire day felt like a full-circle experience. She knew firsthand just how valuable these mission-driven community programs were for participating students and understood their role in fueling their confidence while challenging their developing minds.

“I really appreciated the opportunity to help give the kids the same amazing summer camp experience I had when I was their age,” Giselle says. “My favorite part was playing basketball with them—it’s been my favorite sport since high school, so sharing that experience and teaching the kids how to play was really fulfilling. Basketball is such a great way to learn and practice teamwork.”

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Ninad was just as excited to join his fellow interns in giving back to the community and positively impacting the lives of local students, an opportunity that he felt reflected Webcor’s exceptional company culture.

“It was heartening to see how much joy and happiness our involvement brought the students,” he says. “Webcor’s commitment to organizing events like this demonstrates a deep sense of social responsibility and genuine dedication to making a positive difference in our communities. Actively engaging in service-oriented activities fosters a culture of compassion, teamwork, and altruism among employees. It really proves that the company values not only its business endeavors, but its contributions to the greater good.”

SoCal Intern Service Day – Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

A few hundred miles south in Los Angeles, SoCal interns dedicated their service day to packaging meals at LA Regional Food Bank, a nonprofit with which Webcor’s partnered for the last five years. Since 1973, the food bank has served nearly 2 billion pounds of food to LA-area children, seniors, families, and other residents battling food insecurity.

Putting Webcor’s community core value into action, SoCal interns worked tirelessly and efficiently to package nearly 1,160 food boxes for LA families in need after just a few hours.

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“We really felt like we were contributing to the reduction of food insecurity in LA County,” says Project Director Aaron Case, one of SoCal’s intern team leaders. “It was also great to see the size of the new facility—we were told it was about four times larger than their last one. It’s reassuring to know that food bank donations are funding the infrastructure improvements needed to support larger community outreach efforts.”

The jam-packed service day successfully connected interns not only with the community in which their assigned projects were being built, but with one another, says PE Intern Natalie Rodriguez.

“Meeting and connecting with other LA interns while volunteering for such an important cause was the best part of the experience,” she says. “The service day spoke volumes about Webcor’s culture and proved that their mission truly spans beyond just building.”

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