Fifteen years ago, Disneyland Resort cast member Clara Alvarez signed up for a new group at work called HOLA, dedicated to Hispanic leadership advancement. At the same time, she was starting a new program in her son’s third grade classroom to help improve students’ reading skills.
HOLA is celebrating its 15th anniversary as a Business Employee Resource Group, or BERG, at the resort, and the weekly readers program Clara started to help her son is marking its 15th year of collaboration between HOLA and Orange Grove Elementary School in Anaheim.
It’s estimated that HOLA members have read books to 1,500 third graders over the years. “We have had cast members from all over the resort, from firemen and nurses to executives,” said Clara, who works in Merchandise and is now an HOLA leader. “But no matter what level in the company you’re in, we always bring the magic.”
The reading program went from in-person to virtual during the pandemic, with 15 HOLA members volunteering weekly this year to expand the minds and imaginations of young students.
“We now notice that students are more interested in reading and more motivated; some students can’t even wait to get to third grade,” Clara said.
Clara recalled that the early years of the program reminded her of her own childhood, when she was a student attempting to learn English as a second language.
“I just remembered how hard it was for me to learn how to read in English and not having my parents around because they were busy working and starting a life here in the United States,” Clara said. “I thought, these kids need us, and they need role models. Someone who has gone through what they are going through.”
Every year, the 12-week program, which is supported by Disney VoluntEARS, starts off with a career day. This year’s event included cast from Human Resources, Marketing and Operations, encouraging students to dream about all the possibilities and paths available to them if they strive for it.
“Showing these students that there are so many opportunities — these types of programs open up the eyes of these kids and maybe even their parents,” said Career and Education Program Manager Claudia Duron Burke, HOLA co-chair.
Disney VoluntEARS finally met students in person during the last session in early May. HOLA leader Juan Aldava read one last book to the students on the Cinco de Mayo holiday. Students wrote thank you cards and read them to HOLA volunteers and they looked forward to reading more in the summer after receiving new books from Disney’s Magic of Storytelling program, which donated 240 books to the school’s third grade students this year.
“What Clara has created from the start to what it has now evolved to, there is hope for so many opportunities in the future,” Claudia said.