![\"Starlight](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Starlight-Theatre.jpg\" "\\"Starlight")
<\/a>When Mendoza became Starlight\u2019s artistic director last year, he knew the old venue needed a lot of help. So when the Rock Church approached him with an idea about a volunteer renovation, Mendoza was thrilled. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rock gave us a tremendous amount of help, and we really needed it a lot,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Since April 10, more than a thousand volunteers from the Point Loma megachurch have helped restore and beautify the historic theatre in Balboa Park. They took out nearly 4,000 chairs, painted them and reinstalled them; painted all the walls; cleaned out over 45,000 pounds of debris; rearranged the wardrobe room and spruced up the concessions kitchen. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey just want to make the world a better place,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cIt\u2019s really just a message of love.\u201d <\/p>\n
That message got legs during the church\u2019s Do Something World Clean-Up Day. In addition to the Starlight Bowl, volunteers also spruced up the Jackie Robinson YMCA in Chollas Creek and revamped the Euclid Avenue Trolley Station in Encanto. In Balboa Park, volunteers planted, weeded and spread mulch near the Japanese Friendship Garden; planted trees at Morley Field; and picked up trash and planted ground cover at Inspiration Point near the Naval hospital. <\/p>\n
The Rock Church\u2019s pastor, Miles McPherson, said he founded the Do Something campaign as a way to encourage everyone \u2013 not just church members \u2013 to give back to the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to mobilize our people to serve the community in any way they can,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cEverything we\u2019re doing is all underneath the umbrella of beautifying and improving the quality of life in the city. It\u2019s all in the spirit of helping San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, Rock Church members donated 615,956 hours of community service that would have cost the city $9.6 million dollars if it had hired paid workers to do the various projects. This year, their goal is 200,000 hours. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re challenging everyone to do something,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cThe more hours we fulfill, the more people we help.\u201d<\/p>\n
McPherson was at the Starlight Bowl for its renovation, and he said seeing the community come together to help each other is very satisfying. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the best feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to have people to come to church and listen to you talk. But to see people take the message seriously and be out there helping others brings me great joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship between the Rock Church and the Starlight Bowl didn\u2019t end on April 10. The more work the volunteers did, the more work they found that needed to be done, and the more they wanted to help. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want to leave us. They want to make sure we survive,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
Volunteers returned to the Starlight every night from May 3 through May 7 to make sure the theatre had on her best dress for opening day, June 17. <\/p>\n
The Starlight\u2019s new look couldn\u2019t come at a better time, Mendoza said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo see the outpouring of support from the community has been tremendous because Starlight needs help. If the community doesn\u2019t reach out we won\u2019t stay afloat,\u201d Mendoza said. <\/p>\n
A city-owned theater, the Starlight has been hit hard by the struggling economy and recent budget cuts, he explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-five percent (of cash flow) that goes into the theatre comes from grants and sponsorships. Every theatre is struggling with that,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cLast year we just had to get through it. This year is the season of hope to keep the theatre alive so we can make it to our 65th year.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what does the Rock Church get for putting in 6,399 community service hours toward the Starlight\u2019s makeover? <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not asking for anything in return,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t ask the Starlight for anything, and we won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Starlight staffers were so grateful for the help that they couldn\u2019t let the volunteers\u2019 good deeds go unrewarded. Everyone who helped beautify the Starlight received two tickets to any of the three plays this summer. <\/p>\n
The Starlight\u2019s summer lineup includes \u201cSuds: The Rocking 60’s Musical\u201d (June 17-July 4), \u201cThe Pajama Game\u201d (July 15-August 1), and \u201cHello, Dolly!\u201d (August 19- September 5). Ticket prices range from $10-$75. The family-friendly shows are even more accessible with the Starlight\u2019s Kids Free Program, which allows children 12 years old and younger free admission on Thursdays and Sundays with a full paid adult. For more information, go to starlighttheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jessica Hudgins SDUN Publications Assistant \u201cShe was the star of the show in the 1950\u2019s, and 64 years later, we\u2019re putting her in a nursing home,\u201d said Carlos Mendoza, talking about the Starlight Theatre in Balboa Park and its rundown condition. When Mendoza became Starlight\u2019s artistic director last year, he knew the old venue […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1317,"featured_media":243570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Starlight Bowl gets extreme makeover from Rock Church","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}