{"id":424733,"date":"2026-08-05T19:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424733\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:26:14","slug":"bravo-to-these-community-members-for-building-something-better-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/424733\/","title":{"rendered":"Bravo to these community members for building something better \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woodshop is making a difference<\/p>\n

At Santiago Charter Middle School in Orange, woodshop and the life skills it can teach are offered. And evidence of the students\u2019 skills stands out in the community.<\/p>\n

A project that began the year before was recently finished by student: building 20 beautifully crafted \u201cLittle Free Libraries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, woodshop means personal freedom,\u201d Emilia Medvitz, an 8th-grade student said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a class where you get to express your creativity while having fun with friends, plus, many of the projects we make, we give back to our community.\u00a0 I love to see others using things that I helped to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woodshop students and their teacher, Jason Askenaze, are excited for these little libraries to promote literacy throughout the city.<\/p>\n

While technology seems to be moving at a rapid pace these days, Santiago\u2019s Woodshop program teaches fundamental skills that stand the test of time, said Askenaze who has been the school\u2019s woodshop teacher for 23 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe life skills I instill in my students include, \u2018always finish what you start\u2019 and \u2018keep going until you feel it\u2019s perfect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another 8th grade woodshop student at Santiago, Isaac Bignami, said, \u201cThe most valuable thing I\u2019ve learned in Woodshop is patience and the ability to overcome obstacles.\u00a0 In life, things don\u2019t always go according to plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building compassion projects is not new to Santiago\u2019s woodshop class. Every year the students build two custom toy cars.\u00a0 One car they get to keep, and one car they give away.\u00a0 Over the years, Santiago has sent thousands of hand-crafted toy cars to different orphanages around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Submitted by Jason Askenaze<\/p>\n

\"Laurie<\/p>\n

Laurie Zagon, left, founder\/director of Art & Creativity for Healing, appears with Joanna Kim, the nonprofit\u2019s 2026 Volunteer of the Year honoree.
\n(Courtesy of Tony Lattimore)\n<\/p>\n

\"Laurie<\/p>\n

Laurie Zagon, right, founder\/director of Art & Creativity for Healing, appears with Rainey Porras, the nonprofit\u2019s 2026 Teacher of the Year.
\n(Courtesy of Tony Lattimore)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gianna<\/p>\n

Gianna Carlile, a senior at JSerra Catholic High School, has raised more than $60,000 to help fund clean water wells in rural Uganda through her work with Wells of Life.
\n(Courtesy of Carlile family)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association delegation are pictured with regional leaders and hosts in Fuji Five Lakes, Japan, during their Friendship City visit.
\n(Courtesy of Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association)\n<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

Connor Aakre continues assembly of a Little Free Library for the community in woodshop class at Santiago Charter Middle School. (Courtesy of Isaak Askenaze)\n<\/p>\n

\"Twenty<\/p>\n

Twenty Little Free Libraries for the community are built by a woodshop class at Santiago Charter Middle School. (Courtesy of Isaak Askenaze)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 6<\/p>\n

Laurie Zagon, left, founder\/director of Art & Creativity for Healing, appears with Joanna Kim, the nonprofit\u2019s 2026 Volunteer of the Year honoree.
\n(Courtesy of Tony Lattimore)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\n2 O.C. women help others heal through art<\/p>\n

Two Orange County women have earned recognition for their work with a local charity.\u00a0Laguna Hills resident Rainey Porras and Irvine resident Joanna Kim found themselves in the spotlight at Art & Creativity for Healing\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

During Art of Hope and Healing Gala and Casino Night, Porras received the Teacher of the Year award for her\u00a0dedication as an Art4Healing facilitator for two years, primarily working with at-risk teens in juvenile hall and alternative education programs.<\/p>\n

Kim was recognized as the organization\u2019s Volunteer of the Year at the same gala. Kim has been instrumental in the success of the nonprofit\u2019s newer Down to Paint program, which serves Down syndrome teens and adults and their caregivers. Kim assists families with all aspects of the program and even captures photos of participants while they paint.<\/p>\n

Art & Creativity for Healing\u2019s mission is to support emotional healing through art and creative expression for those living with pain, grief, fear or stress.\u00a0Founded by Laguna Niguel resident Laurie Zagon in 2000, the Art4Healing curriculum contains strictly guided exercises, rather than loosely formatted art sessions.<\/p>\n

More than 100,000 individuals served by more than 40 partner agencies have participated in the exercises, which are specially designed to encourage emotional responses, leaving participants encouraged with enhanced clarity and insight.<\/p>\n

For more information about Art & Creativity for Healing, call 949-367-1902 or visit art4healing.org.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Submitted by Barbara Kimler<\/p>\n

O.C. student helps fund clean water wells in Uganda<\/p>\n

Gianna Carlile, a recent senior at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, has helped fund 17 clean water wells in rural Uganda through her work with Wells of Life, raising more than $60,000 for the cause.<\/p>\n

Carlile is working toward funding her 18th well. Her efforts address the global water crisis affecting more than 2.2 billion people, and she has expanded her impact by engaging fellow students through campus clubs and events like Walk for Water.<\/p>\n

Carlile\u2019s journey with Wells of Life began in 2016 when she was 8 years old and part of a small faith-sharing group called Precious Flowers. They chose Wells of Life as their mission outreach project.<\/p>\n

After the group disbanded, Carlile continued being an advocate for Wells of Life, especially for the girls in Uganda, who fetch water from dirty ponds and carry it for miles, every day, often missing out on going to school. Every 21 seconds, a child dies from waterborne diseases due to dirty water.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, Carlile has participated in and organized multiple fundraisers to raise awareness and collect money for the cause. Her website, GiannaCarlile.com, links to her fundraising campaign, and all the donations go directly to building and restoring water wells.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make a difference and raise awareness about this fundamental human right,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone should have access to clean water. It\u2019s hard to believe so many people can\u2019t just turn on a faucet and get water or take a shower \u2026 something so many of us take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups. Send news of achievements for consideration to ocrbravo@gmail.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Woodshop is making a difference At Santiago Charter Middle School in Orange, woodshop and the life skills it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,10316,7,2462,171,611,6736,77],"class_list":["post-424733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-bravo","tag-california","tag-irvine","tag-orange","tag-orange-county","tag-san-juan-capistrano","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}