TESTIMONIALS
Irvine MS Youth Action Team (YAT) - Sara Deville
Thank you for taking the time to provide a great volunteer experience for our Middle School Youth Action Team students. In total, our 620 YAT volunteers have earned a combined 20,000 volunteer service hours and you were a huge part of this success!
Please see the attached PDF for our thank you letter with some pictures of our experience at Santiago Park and please forward our thanks to other staff who have helped out during our volunteer projects.
DYANAMARIA LEIFSSON
MPA HIKE - FEBRUARY 2023
Dear OCH,
I just wanted to write a quick note telling you how wonderful our experience was today at the Intertidal MPA Hike. We attended with our two little kids and we all had a blast and learned so much. The entire team of guides were kind and patient (especially since I'm not much of a hiker and I had to go slow in some areas, I appreciated that guides were at the end of the group to help me find my footing when I was slowing down.) I have lived in Orange County my entire life and it was the first time I have seen the beaches and tidepools in this way. Thank you for offering an awesome, family friendly opportunity to see those incredible habitats with informed guides. My sons loved collecting sea glass and seeing sea life, but I think they loved exploring and having a guide around to ask a million questions to the most. We hope to join in on other OC Habitats adventures in the future.
Thank you!
Dyanamaria Leifsson
STACY MUSHAKIAN - CABRILLO POINT ACADEMY - January 2023
We heard fantastic things about the tide pool exploration field trip. Thank you so much for providing an exceptional experience for our families. I heard that they learned a lot about the tide pools, the ocean, and taking care of the environment. Laura, the lead teacher from Cabrillo, let us know that this was an amazing field trip and shared that your team was organized and the guides were so personable and knowledgeable. She let us know that the students and families loved this field trip!! Again, thank you so much.
Brett Fuller
OCH Volunteer and Habitat Monitor
August 2022
OCH will always hold a special place in my heart, and I really can't thank the OCH Team enough for welcoming me into the OCH Family over the last few years. You are providing incredible leadership in habitat conservation, and the opportunity and education that this organization has given me over these past two years has been, frankly, life-changing. While I always loved going to our beaches before joining OCH, my work on the beaches has made them my genuine happy place; somewhere I can experience the present moment and de-stress from life. Monitoring and observing the nature around me became a type of meditation for me, and I truly enjoyed being a part of this positive impact on a place I love so much. I can't wait to hear about the new monitoring app that will be adopted soon!
Vanessa Jorgensen
OCH Intern and Habitat Monitor
2022
Working as an intern for OC Habitats provided me with a wonderful opportunity to gain hands on experience in environmental conservation. I was able to meet many people with varying backgrounds and strengths who are all passionate about working together to help further environmental conservation. I have gained valuable skills and was given plenty of opportunities to try my hand at a multitude of tasks within the organization. One of the many events I participated in as an intern were educational interpretive hikes. I loved getting to teach other people about the flora and fauna we are surrounded by in Orange County. These hikes offer attendees the chance to learn about the natural history of the region by providing background on a variety of topics from details on the species we encounter themselves all while ensuring everyone knows how to explore the outdoors while staying safe. These hikes are just one of the ways OC Habitats continues to further their goal of educating the public and protecting the environment.
BIANCA BORJA
Volunteer and Past Student Liaison (2018 - 2022)
I've been with OC Habitats for over three years now and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I am passionate about the environment and conservation, and OC Habitats was a perfect way for me to get involved in something that can make a difference. For me, education has been one of my favorite areas to get involved with. I was part of the first team that created and presented our educational field trip and was involved in many after, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to teach Orange County children about the environment and inspire them to want to make a difference as well. Our team found new and innovative ways to make teaching fun, and seeing so many students enjoying their educational field trips was very rewarding. Each and every person can make a difference in our world, and OC Habitats makes that possible!
OC Habitats is in the NEWS!
Daily Pilot - June 9, 2022 - Read On!
GINNY GREGUREK
Protect & Preserve Giving Day 2021
It’s important for us to understand our relationship to the environment. Being in nature also improves our health. OCHabitats offers a variety of ways to engage in these activities through local hikes, educational programs, and restoration projects. OCHabitats outings are open to everyone and all are welcome. You can support OC Habitats' community-based work by donating on Giving Day on September 1st. Do it for the sea stars!
MATT YURKO
Protect & Preserve Giving Day 2021
I'm proud to support OC Habitats on this 2021 Protect and Preserve Giving Day because OC Habitats has given so much to Project Grow! During the pandemic shutdown, we lost our program's most valuable resource: our volunteers! The initial quarantine and shutdown deeply impacted our long-running community-based habitat restoration programs. Just because we couldn't host our usual programming didn't mean that the ecological restoration projects would pause for us. There were still invasive plants to pull and native species to plant. OC Habitats came to the rescue! Stacey and her crew found ways to organize groups of volunteers and help keep our projects on track throughout the last year and a half. I'm very grateful to Stacey, her staff, and all the OC Habitats volunteers who joined us during the pandemic (and who continue to help!) to make sure that covid-19 didn't stop the great restoration work being done at the Upper Newport Bay. Please join me in helping OC Habitats continue their great work by donating this Giving Day!
Sophie G.
GSOC - Senior Girl Scout
OCH Shadow Program
July 2022
Sophie joined OCH along with other girl scout troop members in our first Environmental Shadow Program. The girls went to meetings, restorations, education programs, and monitoring projects to see how a local habitat conservation nonprofit runs. At the end of the program, the girls were asked to prepare a poster or presentation of what they learned and how it has impacted them. Sophie did a wonderful job in attending many of our events and preparing an excellent presentation about her experience.
Check it out here! Sophie's Environmental Career Shadowing Presentation.
PETER'S ELEMENTARY 3RD GRADE - 2023
MRS. BORJA
Greentree Elementary 3rd Grade - 2023
