CECO Hits Home Run with Fundraiser

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San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization and the Padres celebrated a win at Petco Park on Saturday. County employees stepped up to the plate and supported CECO through a fundraiser that sold over 100 tickets and raised a total of $1,083!

CECO, funded through County employee and retiree donations, was also recognized at the Padres vs. Diamondbacks game for 60 years of giving—it has distributed more than $6.7 million to local non-profit organizations and employees in crisis since its founding in 1956.  

CECO extends a heartfelt thank you to all the County employees who supported the fundraiser and encourages them to send their pictures to sdceco@sdcounty.ca.gov for its 60th anniversary archive. 

These Donations Were Made for Walking

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HCA staff shown sorting shoes at HCAD, are From left: Alejandra Gutierrez, Esther Aranda and Roma Estrada from HHSA’s Health Care Coverage Access are shown sorting footwear donated for clients of the Third Avenue Charitable Organization.

HCA staff shown sorting shoes at HCAD, are From left: Alejandra Gutierrez, Esther Aranda and Roma Estrada from HHSA’s Health Care Coverage Access are shown sorting footwear donated for clients of the Third Avenue Charitable Organization.

HHSA’s Health Coverage Access (HCA) staff oftentimes serve Medi-Cal and CalFresh customers in nontraditional venues, such as hospitals, jails, food banks and community based organizations.  HCA works with these entities to coordinate various outreach events.

One of these groups is the Third Avenue Charitable Organization (TACO) in downtown San Diego. TACO offers breakfast for homeless/low-income folks every Friday. HCA staff is on hand at TACO to offer and process CalFresh applications onsite.

The event offers other services, including having a selection of donated clothes and shoes available to clients. This gave the HCA employees the idea to create the “100 Shoe March” effort to gather donated footwear for TACO clients.

HCA staff began cleaning out their closets and soliciting donations from other HHSA Family Resource Centers and programs.

Soon the donations began rolling in. They had set a goal of gathering 100 pairs to donate by April 30. But the response was so overwhelming that they exceeded their goal and delivered over 100 pairs by April 13.

County Vehicle Maintenance Due? Take it to Shop on Your Schedule

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What with meetings, projects and deadlines, it’s tough to take time out to get the County vehicle serviced too. With customer service in mind, Fleet Services now has a new one-hour preventive maintenance program that lets you schedule that appointment online at a time convenient for you.

So if you have a meeting coming up at the County Operations Center, you can go online and schedule the routine maintenance for the car during the same time slot. When you arrive, drop the car off at the fleet garage and then head to your meeting. One hour later, your car is done and you didn’t lose any time out of your work schedule.

The new program is convenient for you and for Fleet Services too. Prior to the program, employees would call the garage for an appointment the next day, the same day or even just drop it off when there wasn’t sufficient staff available.  

The new program saves time and money because putting off maintenance can cost more in the long run and take longer to fix.

"Performing routine preventive maintenance on County vehicles helps to ensure they run at optimum performance and decreases the potential for equipment failure and costly repairs," said General Services Fleet Manager Sharyl Blackington.

The new program is available for heavy and light vehicles at the County Operations Center. The one-hour service can also be scheduled for light and some medium duty vehicles only at the County garages at Santee and San Marcos. The service includes an extensive safety check list, oil changes and more. If technicians find a problem that will require more time, a fleet team leader will call you.  

If you have questions about the one-hour service, call (619) 578-6262.    

Give the Gift of Life

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Supervisor Greg Cox does it every time he can. You should, too.

Donate blood that is.

“Over the years, I have donated more than 16 gallons of blood to help people in need in our community,” Supervisor Cox said. “I would like to encourage you, my fellow County employees, to participate with me in this year’s drive.”

The month-long County Blood Drive kicks off April 6 and supports the Live Well San Diego vision of healthy, safe and thriving residents and communities. All employees are encouraged to donate blood and, if they qualify, to register to be a bone marrow donor at Be The Match.

Donating blood and bone marrow is safe, costs nothing and could save a life. Bloodmobiles will be at 20 sites across the county throughout April. You can make an appointment, or just walk in.

Last year, 455 County employees donated more than 411 pints of blood; 73 were first-time donors. Together, they helped countless people in need of a transfusion.

The San Diego Blood Bank must collect 400 pints of blood every day. Although 80 percent of us will receive a blood transfusion during our lives, only 5 percent of the U.S. population donates blood.

If you can donate blood, do it. If you can’t, try to get a family member or friend to take your place. All blood types are needed.

Be the perfect match

In August of 2013, Supervisors Bill Horn and Cox launched the County’s campaign to also get employees to register to be bone marrow donors.

Since the campaign began, dozens of County employees have registered at Be The Match, including 18 who joined last year. Many more are expected to join during this year’s month-long push.

Registering for Be the Match is easy and pain free. All you have to do is swab the inside of your cheek and you can do it at one of the 20 blood donation sites.

Be The Match is especially looking for donors in the 18-44 age group because doctors request them over 90 percent of the time. This is because medical research has shown that cells from younger donors lead to better long-term survival for patients after a transplant. Registration is completely free.

People between the ages of 45 and 60 can also join the Be The Match Registry®, but will be required to make a $100 payment at the end of the online process.

Be The Match is also looking for members of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds because patients are most likely to match someone who shares their ancestry.