Volunteers Sought for Community Cleanup

Free fruit trees will be given away to the first 150 families who arrive this morning to help volunteers from the Pacoima Urban Village during a three-hour neighborhood cleanup.

The work will begin at 9 a.m. at the Vaughn Family Center, 13330 Vaughn St., in San Fernando.

“All they have to do is show up and we will assign tools to them. We are going to do it block by block,” said Elba Alvarez, a Village volunteer and coordinator of the Pacoima Beautiful project.

“We have several different types of fruit trees we will be giving out, including nectarine, fig, plum, apricot, apple and some others,” Alvarez said, adding that the trees were donated by the environmental group TreePeople.

The Pacoima Urban Village, which is sponsoring today’s event, is an extension of the Vaughn Family Center. The Village offers parent education, child care, job training and counseling to Pacoima residents. Those who receive help are encouraged to give something back.

In an effort to beautify Pacoima, village volunteers have held several similar events since the organization was established 18 months ago and have also posted fliers encouraging neighbors to keep the community clean. “It gives Pacoima such a bad image when you see rubbish and bulky items out in front of people’s homes,” Alvarez said. “We want people to know that there is a number they can call to have big items, like mattresses and couches, picked up by the city.”

Alvarez was referring to the city’s Sanitation Department, which can be reached at (818) 756-8521. For information about the Village, or the Pacoima Beautiful project, call (818) 834-1485.