In 1991, Janice Pober organized Sony Pictures’ first “Done in a Day” project at Farragut Elementary School.
The effort began the same year Sony Pictures moved to Culver City. Since then, it has become a yearly service day called “Sony Global Volunteer Day,” where employees leave their desks to go into the Culver City community for a volunteer project. Sony Global Volunteer Day projects have touched all corners of Culver City over the past 28 years, and they have worked with many Culver City nonprofits to support this work. This effort has been adopted by Sony companies around the world who organize their own Sony Global Volunteer Day projects in communities and neighborhoods around where they work.
On March 22, the Friday before Spring Break, Janice participated in her final Sony Global Volunteer day, fittingly, also at Farragut. Janice recently retired from her role as Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Social Responsibility for Sony Pictures Entertainment, and from being one of CCUSD’s most impactful arts education advocates and patrons.
“I have been the most fortunate person to be given this opportunity to roll out an effort that has continued to this day and has given us unbelievable standing in the community where we live and work,” she said.
Janice was not alone on March 22. She was joined by 120 other Sony employees as part of the Sony Pictures ACT employee volunteer program, and also by City Year’s Civic Engagement Team. The volunteers donned bright yellow shirts, picked up delicate paintbrushes, and spent the day painting multiple colorful murals to beautify the Farragut campus. The murals celebrate Farragut’s fox-y mascot, with primary colors and stylized foxes.
The project at Farragut is Sony Pictures fifth collaboration with the City Year Civic Engagement Team. In addition to providing corps members in schools, City Year has a team specifically dedicated to campus beautification projects. Sony Pictures’ first partnership with the City Year Civic Engagement team was in 2013 at El Rincon Elementary School. Since then, Sony Pictures and City Year have together completed projects at La Ballona, Lin Howe, CCMS and now Farragut.
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