Light-ing To Strike LeRoy Haynes Center with Your Help, Volunteers Needed for ‘Community Day,’ Oct. 9

The LeRoy Haynes Conference Center will soon be aglow with Christmas lights.

The LeRoy Haynes Center in La Verne, hard at work on holiday season plans to light up the campus for the boys in residence for the first time in its 64-year history, is calling on the public to help by contributing strings of outdoor Christmas lights for the first-ever “Celebrate being a kid by lighting up LeRoy Haynes Center.”

“This is something we’ve never done before and something our volunteers believe will go a long way toward putting smiles on the kids’ faces during the holidays,” said LeRoy Haynes Center President and CEO Dan Maydeck. “We want to really light up the campus in what will truly be a spectacular winter wonderland – from the bushes to the buildings – so we need to get the entire community involved.”

“We all hope to see all of our regular volunteers and many new faces as we all work together to help make the holiday season bright and beautiful for the children in our care,” he added.

Maydeck said a committee hammering out all the details is going to work this week, chaired by LeRoy Haynes Center Board member Dena Garvin-Smart, Senior Vice President and Administrative Officer of Stellar Business Bank in Covina.

The lights will be installed during a community-wide volunteer “community action day” on Oct. 9 and will be turned on for the first time on Dec. 3.  They will remain on each night throughout the holiday season.

Local residents and business owners who would like to show their support by donating lights – either new or used in good condition – can drop them off at their local chamber of commerce, can contact LeRoy Haynes Center to request a pick-up by a volunteer or can drop them off at the administrative offices of LeRoy Haynes Center in La Verne.

A limited number of “spectacular sponsorships” also are being considered, depending on donations received, for displays such as a nativity scene or a North Pole scene.

To volunteer, donate lights, request a pick-up of holiday lights, donate food and/or drinks for the volunteers, to sponsor a portion of this festive event, or to help promote the event, contact the LeRoy Haynes Center at (909) 593-2581.

To drop off holiday lights, the LeRoy Haynes Center is located at 233 W. Baseline Road in La Verne.

The event is being coordinated and sponsored by The Christmas Light Pros of La Verne, a professional holiday lighting company that sponsors one lighting project at no cost each year (www.thechristmaslightpros.com).

“We have known about the LeRoy Haynes Center for some time and this year simply decided to kind of adopt the kids,” said Diane Traw, co-owner of the company with her husband, Randall Traw.

She added that Sept. 25 is the deadline for donated lights.