About a dozen workers from the Hayward Day Labor Center (HDLC) have built a public playground in Eden Greenway Linear Park in Hayward. Armed with safety goggles, tools, and the desire to make Hayward a better place for children, the workers are donating their time and skills to give back to the community.
The HDLC workers established a volunteer program and regularly perform volunteer work like picking up trash, covering up graffiti, planting trees, and
performing maintenance to the labor center and some schools.Hayward resident and HDLC worker Gregorio Blas, 42, says, “I like to donate some of my time to participate in this kind of programs - our kids are the future of our country and we need to give positive messages and outside spaces for them to play.”
According to HDLC director Gabriel Hernandez, during the current fiscal year, HDLC workers performed more than 833 hours of volunteer work valued at more than $10,000.00 (based on the current living wage of $13.00 per hour in the city of Hayward).
The main focus of the project was to help the community in an effort to give something back to the residents of Hayward (City taxes help fund the HDLC).
The playground site was made possible with the help of KaBOOM! (a non-profit organization specializing in building playgrounds with volunteer work), the Hayward Area Recreation District (HARD), the City of Hayward, the South Hayward Parish, and the Hayward Day Labor Center.