BREA : Students Aid City, Learn as They Earn

By the end of the summer, Chad Feiler will have earned more than $3,000, thanks to a decision he made eight years ago when he joined a volunteer program at the age of 14.

In the summer of 1985, Feiler became a participant in “Volunteens,” a volunteer program launched that year in which Brea junior high and high school students assist in the city’s summer sports, recreational and cultural activities.

The program is funded by the Brea Foundation and has grown over the years. So has Feiler. From a volunteer earning $1 an hour, he has become a swimming instructor and a lifeguard. Now 22, he is assistant manager at the Brea Plunge, the city’s public swimming pool.

It’s still a part-time job, but Feiler, who will be a senior at UC San Diego this fall, majoring in biology, said it’s the perfect summer job.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I love teaching kids to swim. It’s the main reason I’m doing it.”

Feiler is not alone. A number of other former volunteers have gone on to full-time jobs, either with the city or in neighboring cities, said Volunteens coordinator Grace Rouse. At least four former teen-age volunteers are now part-time city employees, three of them working at the swimming pool, she said.

Rouse said there are 30 junior high and high school students in the Volunteens program. They are assigned to the Senior Center, the Curtis Theater, the Brea Gallery and such programs as youth baseball, day camp and the swimming pool.

“We have come to rely on them,” Rouse said. “They are our right hand.”

Through the program, the teen-age volunteers learn job skills such as office work and customer service, and generally how to deal with people, Rouse said. It’s a stepping stone to a regular job, she added.

Rouse said volunteers sign up to work 90, 120 or 160 hours for the summer. New volunteers receive $1 per hour, while returning volunteers get $1.15. They receive their stipend only after completion of their contracted hours, she said.

From 70 to 80 students apply for the program each year, but only 30 are selected, after extensive interviews. This year, the Brea Foundation provided $8,000 for volunteer stipends and for such expenses as T-shirts and a volunteer party at the end of the summer.

“It’s a lot better than watching television or playing video games,” said Allison Wittwer, manager of the swimming pool, who currently has six teen-age volunteers on her staff. One of her volunteers, Adam Aronsen, 13, said he wants to become a lifeguard and a swimming instructor. He volunteers 6 1/2 hours each day, answering the phones, cleaning the facility, greeting people and running errands.

“This is the first time I’ll be paid for something I’m doing,” said Aronsen, an eighth-grader at Brea Junior High School.

Rouse’s daughter Stephanie and Brett Murdock, both swimming instructors and lifeguards, were former volunteers. Stephanie Rouse joined Volunteens when she was 14; Murdock was 13 when he became a volunteer.

Stephanie Rouse, who attends Cal State Fullerton, said that this summer she will earn about $2,300, which will help pay for her car and other expenses. Murdock, who will be a sophomore at UC San Diego in the fall, said he expects to earn at least $3,000 after 10 weeks at his job.

“My friends say that all I do is sit there, get a tan and get paid for it,” Stephanie Rouse said. “That’s not true. But I love this job.”