On Sunday, volunteers and organizers will descend on an orchard in Chatsworth to pick fruit for local food pantries.

Children enjoyed a community serivce day in June where the Jewish Federation’s volunteers helped prepare them for summer camp. (photo courtesy of the Jewish Federation)

They will visit Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Cultural Center to help facilitate a fun morning for children with special needs.

At ORT College, they will assist in refurbishing rooms.

At the SOVA food bank in Van Nuys, volunteers will sort food donations.

In Topanga Creek, non-native plants will be weeded out and trees will be planted.

All of these activities are part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Community Service Day, in which a team of volunteers will be in full force as they beautify, repair and aid several organizations in the Los Angeles area.

The service day will mark the third such event in 2011 for the Federation, which is celebrating its centennial year. Another service day will be held Dec. 4, though details are still being worked out.

“They’ve been powerful and moving,” said Catherine Schneider, the Federation’s senior vice president of community engagement.

Schneider said all the events Sunday fit within the Jewish Federation’s core initiatives: working with those in poverty, ending hunger, furthering education and improving the quality of life for the Jewish community and non-Jewish alike.

“We try to balance initiatives geographically,” she said. “We want to make it convenient.”

At the Skirball Cultural Center, volunteers will prepare snacks for children with special needs while also playing with the children and setting up arts and crafts. About 40 volunteers will be on hand.

“The idea is just to give them a fun day, a wonderful atmosphere,” Schneider said.

More than 80 people will be at ORT, which serves the unemployed and underemployed, on Sunday. Rachel Stich, ORT outreach director, said the volunteers will be painting four English as a Second Language classrooms as well as a student lounge.

“We are really excited about it,” Stich said. “We were just thrilled when they said they wanted to do the project with us.”

She said the Federation and an ORT board member, Chuck Eberly, will donate the needed supplies, and an interior designer, Dorothy Alon, will ensure that the colors used are conducive to learning. While the college does necessary maintenance through the year, the majority of the non-profit’s funding is used for programs and curriculum, Stich said.

“So, it’s getting old, and some things are outdated,” she said. “Right now, [the classrooms are] very bland and things are not in good condition. So, we think it’s going to be very important to the students.”

For the most part, all of the volunteer slots are full, though there are a few spaces left for the work at ORT. Volunteers can get information or sign up to participate in the community service day in December, by visiting the Federation’s website.

“We’re very excited,” Schneider said. “We’re thrilled to be able to partner with all the volunteers who will be coming. We are pleasantly overwhelmed by the people of Los Angeles who are coming out.”

Jewish Federation President Jay Sanderson said that, as the center of the Jewish community in Los Angeles, the organization tries to make financial and “human investments” in the community. He said the Federation has increased its community service offerings this year.

“We will continue it going forward,” Sanderson said. “This is a much more concerted effort. …We are about building the community up and making sure individuals get a good education, have food on the table, and making sure the qualify of life of not only Jews but non-Jews is as high as possible.”

He said the Dec. 4 community service day will be focused on education. The event will be held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel and will provide an opportunity for participants to “learn and study together,” Sanderson said. To sign up, visit www.jewishla.org.