All aboard the Do Good Bus, a SoCal based nonprofit organization that seeks to plan out a day of service for groups of people to bond with each other as well as give back to various causes. The Do Good Bus aims to help groups to strengthen team-building by intentionally keeping these service trips a mystery. “Basically the Do Good Bus is [where] you jump on the bus and you don’t know where you’re going,” said Do Good Bus host Darby Kennerly. “But you know you’re gonna do something good!”
The company was formed after founder Rebecca Reeder took her friends to garden in 2011, seeing the value in bonding through community service. The various trips can take up to 27 people, and help out either an earth, people or animal related organization. These rides are about five hours in total and also provide lunch, snacks, drinks, sunblock and a photographer to document the trip. “We’re hoping that folks can have a good experience volunteering in helping the community and also in turn helping themselves,” Kennerly said. “[It’s] improving mental health and well-being by giving to others.”
Photo via Do Good Bus
After starting a family, founder Reeder left in 2018. Subsequently, Merlin Clarke took over Do Good Bus as director. “They know that they need to show their employees that they have their heart in the right place,” Clarke said. “That they care, and they wanna do their part in the community that they live, work, and play in, and are willing to make an investment to them.”
On Nov. 30, the company took a group from Inspire Clean Energy to Tree People, a habit restoration company. “It was a great day of being out in nature,” said Clarke. “It was a great experience for everyone.” Clarke mentioned that Tree People was able to get about 100 hours of labor for free and a donation for paint to cover-up future graffiti, leaving the Inspire Clean Energy team feeling closer from the hard work they had done that day.
“Honestly, the fact that we’re on a bus and they can’t go anywhere, [means] they can’t really disengage because it’s pretty intimate, that really helps,” tour host Danice Cabela said. Kennerly explained, “We play games on the bus and I ask them to share things with each other and we share them as a larger group. It’s pretty fun, we create a fun environment through games and humor and personable interactions that are really specific to that group,” she stated, “Each group is different and you kind of just have to read the room, and it can be really fun because every ride will be different and you go to lots of different nonprofits which will bring different experiences and different challenges. You just have to go with the flow and yeah, make the most of the moment.”
As well as the service trips, Do Good Bus also offers healing hours, another experience for groups to attend. “The Healing Bus is, well- it’s an actual, beautiful 1970s Volkswagen bus- and we offer days of healing where we bring different healing modalities with certified practitioners to the community or we offer events at our studio in Santa Monica,” Banks said. “These healing modalities can be anything from sound therapy to regular therapy to Reiki, we’re constantly expanding – it’s just giving people the opportunity to take their mental well-being as seriously as their physical well-being.” Banks mentioned a trip with volunteers from the Veterans Affairs (VA) in Westwood where both Do Good Bus experiences were included. The group started with meditation led by a spiritual advisor and followed with building a fence at a Japanese botanical garden. Clarke added, “I feel just creating community and being together is a very healing process and the VA is what they’re there for,” he stated, “It felt really good to make that connection.”
The Do Good Bus team all agree that the best part of working for the nonprofit is inspiring others to give back to their communities. “It’s been really cool to see repeat companies come back [and] be like, ‘Oh, I’ve actually come back and started volunteering at the place where we went to,’” Cabanela stated. “I think that’s so beautiful… I think that is a really incredible and impactful thing to do together and I think it’s not something people will forget.”
Although the volunteers for Do Good Bus are typically corporate groups, everyone can participate in service. “I encourage any groups, even groups of students, friends, to reach out,” Kennerly said. “It’s an incredibly rewarding and unique experience and the more you learn about what’s going on in LA and how nonprofits are helping the community, the more you might be inspired to do good in your community as well.”
“It might just be helping your neighbor and getting involved with something small in your community or you know, a friend is not feeling great and you make them dinner,” said Banks. “It’s just inspiring people to get involved and to connect with those around you that might be outside your immediate bubble.”
