Service Clubs Work Together

Last Saturday morning, at La Ballona Elementary School, a group of local volunteers from the various local service clubs, including, the Exchange Club, the Lions Club, the Culver City Rotary, the Kiwanis Club, the Women's Club, Friends of the Library, the Club Rotario de Latino Unidos, the Interact Club and the La Ballona PTA descended upon the school site to help revitalize the school's gardens with fresh new plantings and to install a new wooden, picnic style table in the school's garden area.

Jerry Chabola, who donated the many bags wood chip mulch, announced a new program that will honor some of the young people in Culver City who are giving back to their community in an exceptional way. Honorees can be nominated by any service club member, school teacher or school administrator. Recipients will be announced at a dinner in the Elks Club on Saturday, April 18th at 6:00 pm. Everyone in the community is invited to celebrate our young people efforts.

Jim Clarke commented about volunteering, saying, "I'm glad to be a part of this. We are celebrating the upcoming Martin Luther King holiday with a day of community service. It was nice to see so many service clubs members here, as well as Boys and Girls Clubs coming together; something we should be doing, as a community, on a regular basis."

John Cohn from the Exchange Club, who donated the plants and stone pavers said, "Our objective in putting this on was to change the DNA of the service in this community. We're trying to encourage, not just the service clubs to come out, but the young people. To have them begin to think about their role growing up here; how they could provide greater service to make this a better place to live."

Craig Ferre, who donated the snacks and refreshments, coordinated the logistics in putting together this work party. He thought this was a great turnout by the community and local service clubs. He said, "I hope the kids are surprised when they come back to school on Monday to see what we have done."

Back in December, local service club members were invited to a holiday fundraiser. During the potluck meal, their leaders called for all their local clubs to come together to take on larger service projects that would better enhance our schools and local community.

This was the first of a series of periodic work projects planned by the organizers. Much was accomplished and a fun time and fellowship was had by all. It was a good team effort.