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Mayor’s Day of Service Reaches Northeast Los Angeles

By Paul Aranda Jr., EGP Staff Writer

After several postponements due to bad weather, residents throughout the local communities of Northeast Los Angeles will finally get their chance to come together for a day of Spring cleaning.

Volunteers will participate in a variety of community service projects such as graffiti removal at local high schools, community garden projects and resource fairs. In total, nearly 50 such projects will be available for volunteers.

The Mayor’s Day of Service is a citywide effort from recently re-elected Los Angles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. According to the Day of Service Web site, www.dayofservicela.org, the various projects underline the City’s commitment to fostering community involvement through service throughout its numerous collection of neighborhoods. All the projects are coordinated by a broad coalition of community-based organizations, local nonprofits, schools and church groups.

One organization that will be participating in the Day of Service is the Anahuak Youth Soccer Association. The nonprofit youth sports organization will participate in five different events at the Rio de Los Angeles Park including a half-mile river clean up, a non-competitive 5-k race, an art project, a wildlife viewing station and a soccer tournament. Anahuak’s Club Deportivo El Sereno will send a team of 13-year-olds to participate in the soccer tournament.

Felix Hernandez, team president, said the purpose of the tournament is to help promote a healthy lifestyle for local families. In addition to soccer, Hernandez said team members also develop a strong connection to the environment through their participation with Anahuak.

Specifically, the organization teaches its members to view the Los Angeles Rive, which runs near the park where its games are held, as a “lifeline of the city”. “These kids learn to appreciate what we fight for,” he said. “The [Los Angeles] river runs through our community.”

In Highland Park, members of the local Kiwanis Club will meet at Veterans Memorial Square located near the intersection of York Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Club president Heinrich Keifer said members plan to conduct landscaping on the public meeting space and they hope to plant trees and flowers. He said the club chose the memorial location because in addition to a need of attention, the spot will allow an expected group of 30 volunteers to branch off onto other nearby projects if possible.

“It’s a great opportunity to meet your neighbor,” Keifer said on the benefit of the Day of Service. “People have a hard a time cutting their own grass, let alone their neighbors grass. This event makes that possible.”

Along with the memorial square, Keifer plans to spend some time cleaning up debris in several nearby alleyways. The Day of Service fits the general mission of Kiwanis, which coordinates similar community clean up events throughout the year. Keifer said club members are always looking for areas in the neighborhood that could use its attention.

“By going out and looking for spots to remove blight, we can make this community more presentable,” he said. The long list of projects on Kiwanis upcoming schedule extend beyond the events of Saturday and the club is always looking for more volunteers as well as new potential clean up sites. “We just need the people,” he said. “With more hands we can get more done.”

The day’s events will conclude with a festive closing ceremony from noon to 2 p.m. The volunteer celebration, scheduled to include over 3,000 volunteers, will take place at the Rio de Los Angeles Park located at 1900 San Fernando Road. Former USC quarterback and current NFL prospect Mark Sanchez and radio host Big Boy from Power 106 have confirmed to participate, with several more VIP’s scheduled to appear.

For a complete list of projects scheduled for the Mayor’s Day of Service, visit www.dayofservicela.org. To serve as a volunteer, contact Abigail Ramirez at 213-922-9777 or Sarah Bell at 213-922-9737.

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Posted by admin · Filed Under General News, Northeast Los Angeles 

March 12, 2009  Copyright © 2009 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.

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