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VideoIn Altadena, Recovery Takes Shape One Project at a Time
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When OCS South moved into a new long-term campus in Altadena, California, following the 2025 Eaton Fire, the school had the essentials it needed to welcome students back. There was also plenty of work ahead to make the campus feel established, from outdoor areas that needed attention to blank walls and spaces waiting to be put to use.
For a school serving approximately 185 students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, those details matter. Students spend much of their day on campus, and the shared spaces outside their classrooms are part of that experience.
This became the focus of Project Weaver, a two-day effort that brought 33 Weaver employees to Altadena to work alongside OCS South, All Hands & Hearts, local artists, businesses and members of the community.
A Long List and Two Days to Get to Work
The group arrived with projects spread throughout the campus and quickly divided into teams. Over the next two days, Weaver volunteers contributed approximately 700 hours of work to outdoor play and gathering areas, gardens and greenery, lending libraries, murals and other campus improvements.
Some of the projects addressed practical needs. Others were intended simply to make the school a more inviting place for the students and teachers who use it every day. Volunteers stocked lending libraries with 300 books, worked outside to improve areas for play and gathering and helped bring color and personality to previously unfinished spaces.
Local artists contributed to the campus artwork, while businesses and community members supported other pieces of the effort. Working with All Hands & Hearts and OCS South meant the project could respond to priorities identified by people who knew the school and community firsthand. By the end of the second day, the difference across the campus was easy to see.
The Weaver Private Foundation provided $105,000 in support, allowing the effort to extend well beyond what 33 volunteers could accomplish with their time alone.
Supporting a School During a Much Larger Recovery
OCS South’s move took place against the backdrop of a recovery that continues throughout Altadena. The Eaton Fire destroyed homes, businesses and community spaces and displaced thousands of residents. Students and educators returned to school while many families were still managing the consequences of that disruption.
Project Weaver addressed one very specific part of that recovery: helping OCS South continue settling into its new campus.
That meant paying attention to the ordinary ways students use a school. A lending library allows children to easily browse selections and take a book home. Outdoor spaces give students somewhere to play, talk and spend time between classes. Gardens and artwork make a campus feel cared for and give students something they can continue to interact with long after a volunteer project ends.
Showing Up for the Work in Front of Us
Project Weaver began as an opportunity to bring Weaver employees together around a concentrated service project. In Altadena, that meant listening to what OCS South needed and finding practical ways to help.
Thirty-three employees devoted two days to the effort. The Weaver Private Foundation provided financial resources. Local artists and businesses contributed their time and talents. All Hands & Hearts brought experience working in communities affected by disasters. And most importantly, OCS South provided the clearest understanding of what would be useful to its students.
At the end of the project, the OCS South community gathered with volunteers to see the completed campus spaces. Students would soon be reading the books, using the outdoor areas and passing the artwork on their way through another school day.
For Weaver, this week was an opportunity to contribute where there was a clear need and to do so in a way that was useful to the people already doing the longer work of rebuilding.
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