At The Walt Disney Studios, we’re very excited to celebrate 30 years of Disney VoluntEARS with several opportunities for Studio employees to give back to the community. Among the projects planned are a neighborhood beautification at a Southeast L.A. school with TreePeople, a Habitat for Humanity house restoration through the nonprofit’s Habitat for Heroes Program, and an animal enrichment program benefiting the predatory residents of the Los Angeles Zoo.
I recently had the pleasure of participating in an incredible volunteer experience here at Disney Elementary in Burbank through Disney’s collaboration with Young Storytellers Foundation, a nonprofit that develops literacy through the art of storytelling. Alongside nine of my Studio colleagues, I spent several weeks working with a fifth-grade student as he wrote a short script that was then performed live on stage with professional actors.
We just had our Big Show, and it was phenomenal. The Young Storytellers made a red carpet entrance, cheered on by their parents and fellow students. Among our cast were several actors from Disney XD’s Crash & Bernstein, including Crash himself, who narrated each performance. It was really inspiring to not only see the students’ words come to life but to watch them experience the results of their hard work.
Ask any Disney team member – each VoluntEAR event I’ve had the honor of working on has been such a rewarding experience. I’m so proud to be a part of a company that takes its responsibility to give back the community seriously and does it in so many creative ways.