Here is the class of 2025 volunteering at White Pony.
A recent press release by Boys Team Charity announced 14 team members were recognized for earning “25+ philanthropic hours during the league year,” with an additional six members earning accolades for a total of over 50 hours.
Boys Team Charity is a volunteer service organization dedicated to developing an altruistic spirit in young men through active participation of parents and sons in philanthropic projects in their communities. Started by Walnut Creek parents and autonomous from school-sanctioned activities, Boys Team Charity has an Orinda chapter with its own executive board that changes annually. The entire parent/son run group is volunteer, with each class having leadership positions within the organization.
According to Michelle Bea, an Orinda Boys Team Charity Communications Committee member, the awards recognize members that went “above and beyond” the required 10 or 15 hours of service required, depending on the age group.
Orindan Kyle Odmark was commended for “the most philanthropic hours” among all of the Boys Team Charity TeamMates. According to the press release Odmark totalled 103.5 hours within the league year, including volunteering for a total of 34 shifts at the Food Bank of Contra Costa County.
Rigby Blair, also of Orinda, was also recognized for completing the “highest cumulative philanthropic hours earned across his six years” at the charity. According to the press release, he worked “extensively” with Rock Steady Gym as an assistant to the head boxing coach training adults with Parkinson’s disease.
“In addition to witnessing how the physical and mental engagement helped symptoms, I developed good relationships with some of the regular participants. I am very grateful to have found an organization to which I could make a contribution that was also a place I felt connected to,” Blair said in the press release.
Luke Lamison, a rising senior at Miramonte High School – along with Joseph Boccabella, Charlie Burke, Ian Hughes, Logan Letulle, and Duncan Oliver – was recognized for a total of over 50 volunteer hours. In an interview Lamison said that he has had a “very positive” experience with the charity since he joined in eighth grade. He said he started his volunteering with Aspire Education, an Oakland based group dedicated to “supplemental educational programming” according to the organization’s website.
Lamison said that he spent most of his time with Aspire Education in a program called Community Reading Buddies that pairs high school students from the Bay Area with younger students, focusing on literacy.
“I had the same ‘buddy’ throughout the summer and got to see his progress first-hand,” Lamison said. “To me, it’s not about the number of hours but instead watching a kid sound out a word for the first time. This could come in hour one, or hour 50.”
Team members Kellen Baker, Nicholas Bea, Brock Bliss, Gio Bottene, Jack Brun, Nico Grinold, Caleb Kreutzer, Ryan Loughran, Kieran McBride, Mitch Reichenbach, Jason Ritchey, Ryan Sinnreich, Bulky Smith, and Nate Zapala were also recognized for accumulating over 25 volunteer hours.
According to the press release, the Charity also recognized the class of 2026 – the youngest group of students in the Charity – as the class with the most volunteer hours, totaling 560 hours.
The Orinda Boys Team Charity website is https://btcorinda.chapterweb.net.
