Reported by Jessica Lu
On August 08, 2026, Murrieta AYLUS members volunteered with Habitat for Humanity to help with house maintenance for senior homeowners.
ABWK is a project focuses on helping senior homeowners by painting and refreshing their homes. The main goal of the project is to support seniors who may not be physically or financially able to maintain their homes on their own. Volunteers help paint exterior or interior areas of senior homes, improving safety, cleanliness, and overall living conditions. This also helps protect homes from weather damage and creates a more comfortable and welcoming environment for the residents. Through this project, volunteers gain hands-on service experience while making a meaningful impact in the community. It emphasizes teamwork, compassion, and giving back by assisting seniors in maintaining safe and dignified homes.
Today, AYLUS Murrieta members volunteered alongside SRCAR, Bank of America (BOA), San Joaquin Valley College, and Murrieta Councilwoman Cindy to transform two senior homes through the power of volunteerism.
Preparation work had been completed beforehand. The event began with a Welcome & Kick-Off, followed by safety instructions and a demonstration of proper painting techniques. Having participated in this project for several years, our members were already experienced painters and were able to begin working immediately after the safety briefing. Members had been grouped in advance and assigned to specific houses, so after the demonstration, they went directly to their designated homes to begin painting.
Members carefully outlined the edges of the houses with brushes before using rollers to cover the larger surfaces. They divided the work among themselves, with each volunteer taking responsibility for a section of approximately 4 x 4 feet. Parent volunteers worked on ladders to reach higher sections and applied a second coat of paint to cover the homes’ previous faded colors. Other volunteers carefully painted around windows, doors, porches, and stairs. For areas requiring the use of ladders, the work was handled by the experienced adult volunteers.
After completing the painting, members worked together to remove tape and protective paper, fold the tarps, clean the brushes and rollers, organize the supplies, and load the equipment back into the trailer. Before leaving, they carefully inspected the work areas to make sure everything was clean and orderly, with no trash, paint spills, or materials left behind.
The most exciting part of the day was the lunch provided for the volunteers. After all the cleanup was completed, everyone headed to the community clubhouse for lunch and some much-needed air conditioning. It was especially refreshing after working outside in the summer heat, with temperatures reaching three digits.
We were proud to be part of this effort and look forward to the next one soon.
Volunteers: Jane Lu / Jessica Lu / Yuan(Ann) Yin : 5 hrs ea
