This Just In: 1.42 Tons of Trash Removed at Sunnynook!

An e-mail from Alicia Katano at Friends of the LA River:

"You guys did an amazing job thank you so much for coming out and supporting our cleanup! We just got the weights back and sunnynook pulled 1.42 tons of trash…Way to go! We usually don’t advocate going into the islands because that is where birds nest but Netty told me you were all aware and careful and I am sure the egrets, herons, mallards, muscovies, etc. are thanking you for clearing out all of that plastic from their back yards!!! Melissa takes the cake with her waders and tenacity and I love your dolly/trash can idea! We are so going to copy you next year! "

Way to go HVCers and all the other amazing volunteers who came out for the event!

Want to get involved with the Hyperion Volunteer Corps and participate in monthly service projects around our community? 

Come to our next planning meeting on Saturday, May 30th 8am at the Homegirl Cafe 130 W. Bruno St., near Chinatown.

HVC Helps Clean up the LA River

Melissa in her waders, hauled out some huge trash. 

See the entire photo album by clicking here.

from Project Leader Judy:

It was filthy, hard work -- wet, dusty, disgusting at times -- but it was also an incredibly satisfying experience to get out into the river and make a small but worthwhile dent digging out and hauling out trash. Our crew worked underneath and just south of the Sunnynook footbridge, one of the only places on the river that still has a natural bottom. This section of the urban waterway is home to many ducks, geese and heron --and the lush green islands provide a contrast to the starkness of the graffiti tagged concrete banks and the roar of the 5 freeway that run along side them. 

The Friends of Atwater Village were the site captains where we cleaned up.  Netty, one of the founders of FAV and a longtime participant in the cleanup, said that this was the best turnout she has ever seen, and that more people got deeper into the river islands than ever before. She was really impressed by how well prepared we HVC'ers were, and how much dedication and passion we brought to the project. But we were just a handful of the thousands of people who showed up along the length of the river to make a difference. 

It was sobering to see the amount of plastic we hauled out of there. Let's all make a pledge to use as little plastic as possible in our lives. And if you want to do a little more than that, take action here.

I walk the river several mornings a week from Dover down to Fletcher, and I have to say that this morning the river not only looked a little cleaner, but also had that sparkle that comes from being well-loved. Thanks, everyone, for your hard work and dedication. It was a great day!

May 9th Service Project: LA River Clean Up

                                 The LA River Needs Your Help!!

From Project Leader, Judy:

The LA River Clean Up is just a week and a half away. This is a kid-friendly event. Invite your friends and neighbors too for a fun morning among the ducks, heron and other ‘wildlife’ along the river!

I need to get a final head count for those able to participate — we’ve promised at least 20 and only have 11 so far... I’d love to get way more than 20 out there! Please e-mail back letting me know if you can or cannot make it (judy [at] seesawstudios [dot] com. 

Saturday May 9th, 9a-12n
LA River Cleanup with FOLAR (Friends of the LA River) and FAV (Friends of Atwater Village)

Meet at the Sunnynook Footbridge in Atwater Village
(A few blocks north of Glendale Blvd and the Hyperion Bridge, on the Atwater side of the river. Enter the river walk at west end of Sunnynook, off of Valleybrink.)

Bring:

• heavy garden or work gloves 
  
• sunscreen 
  
• hat 
  
• clothes to get dirty in 
  
• trash pickers, fruit pickers, rakes, brooms, dustpans... Anything that might help you grab trash from the trees, brush, etc 
  
• waders or rubber boots if you feel brave enough to venture into the water to do some cleanup in the islands of trees in the middle of the river 
  
• a signed release of liability form (I'll have them at the event for you to sign)
  

We hope to see you there!!

Please Join us for Upcoming Events 

(and bring a friend or two)

Earth Day Potluck & Letter Writing Action
Wednesday, April 22nd (Earth Day)
6:30pm – 9pm
Judy's home
please e-mail judy [at] seesawstudios [dot] com for address information and to RSVP

Bring a dish to share and a laptop computer if you’ve got one.
Judy will provide the printer, envelopes, stamps, etc.

We will be following the lead of a couple of great environmental action groups that have plenty of issues we can write about. Check them out ahead of time if you’d like:

Environment California

Natural Resources Defense Council

The Nature Conservancy


Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendar

May 9th, 9a-12n
LA River Cleanup with FOLAR 

(details on where to meet in the Atwater/Los Feliz area to follow)

This is a family-friendly event!

Also in the Works

- following up with LA Family Housing on how we can stay involved with the Library and other projects there on a regular basis
- creating a parking-lot organic garden for/with Homegirl Café

Keep Shining a Light!

Judy

Thank You for making the LA Family Housing Library Renovation a Big Success!

Please enjoy the photo album by clicking here.

The report from our amazing project leader, Tara:

The LA Family Housing Library renovation project has been amazing. It started early on, when everyone reached out to friends and local businesses and we were overwhelmed with generous donations of new and nearly new books, games, art supplies, videos and dvds – more than we ever hoped for. THANK YOU to everyone who donated these items! (a special thank you to the folks at Storyopolis, a wonderful children’s book store in Sherman Oaks, who donated a bunch of new books – check them out, they are great)!

It was so easy to organize the event: I just sent out an email with everything we’d need for the day, from people-power to moving boxes to multi-colored tape, and everyone stepped up and pitched in, and we had everything we needed.

As you look at the before and after pictures, it is a little difficult to see how much we really changed the space. It is much more apparent when you are there in person. You cannot see, for example, how much fresher and cleaner it is and that over 60% of the old books have been removed and replenished by newer more relevant ones. It’s also difficult to see how the flow of the room works so nicely now, especially how the play area and the arts and crafts area work in a more organized and inviting fashion. And that the video area is well stocked with great kid-friendly videos, and the couch looks much more inviting and homey now.

On the volunteer day most people did not arrive on time -- because they were already there 15 minutes early! It was a great feeling to be working together with such a skillful, fun, energetic group of people. We started out by moving the newly donated and the old books, videos and toys outside. We then divided into groups – inside to clean, reorganize and fix broken things and outside to sort and label books.

I was outside and a little overwhelmed at first by the mountain of books to review! Margaret, Mary Ellen and I kept holding them up – should we keep it? Cecilia, LA Family Housing’s volunteer coordinator, kept us ruthless – out with the old, in with the new! Vivian and Kathleen were especially helpful since they both have kids and were a little bit more in-touch with what is the latest/greatest. Daniel, who took a day out of his weeklong LA vacation to help (he lives in Germany – thank you Daniel!) organized our sorting area and went through piles of books. Once we got over the fact that we had to ditch so many of our childhood favorites, we made short work of it.

Meanwhile, inside, Karla and Chad fixed everything that was broken from the foosball table to the flooring while Cyrena, Judy, and Melissa cleaned everything top to bottom. Margaret and Michelle figured out how to make the donated slip cover work on the couch (the sizes were off, but it all worked out). Michelle and Cyrena created an inviting, organized an arts and crafts area out of a rather chaotic mess. Melissa sorted and reshelved the videos and DVD while Chad sorted and reorganized the toys. Judy got all of us lunch, thanks Judy! All was ready for the books to return...

Meanwhile, outside, we were trying to figure out which catagories we really needed, since the temp ones I set up turned out to need refining. We had most trouble trying to distinguish between Picture Books and Early Readers – thank you Judy and Cyrena for figuring that out! We color-coded the sorted books with stickers and brought them back inside...

Once the books were re-shelved, we had labeled the shelves with multicolored camera tape thanks to Melissa’s tape roll with a million colors of tape. As a finishing touch, we hung Karla’s 3 handmade picture frames (thanks Karla!) which we used to feature artwork done by the children. See the pictures, they look beautiful.

Last but not least we hauled away all of the bags and boxes of discarded books, thanks to Chad and Judy doing for doing most of the heavy lifting, and donated them to the North Hollywood Public library where the librarian was thrilled to receive them.

Great project, great people, great day. I was really tired in a happy way. : ) Tara

Kids Book Drive and Library Renovation for LA Family Housing: March 28th

LA Family Housing is an amazing organization that helps homeless families get back on their feet. The next HVC project is a renovation, organization and re-stock of their kids library room, located in a facility that provides transitional housing for homeless families for up to 2 years, while the parents get work, the kids get to school, healthcare and legal needs are addressed, and families save money for the move into their own apartments.

DONATE KIDS BOOKS/DVDs/VHS MOVIES

We are asking for books & movies appropriate for kids aged TEN AND UNDER. They must be:

• in very good condition (something you'd give a friend)
• age appropriate
• non-religious
• in English
• contemporary (of interest to kids now)

If you have items you'd like to donate, please e-mail us: hyperionvolunteers@gmail.com and we'll give you further instructions. All donations must be received by March 27th.

VOLUNTEER TO RENOVATE THE LIBRARY

On Saturday March 28th from 9a-4p we'll be renovating, organizing and re-stocking the library at the LA Family Housing facility, near the Burbank Airport. We need volunteers!! Even if you can only make it for an hour or two, all help is appreciated. Please e-mail us for more information: hyperionvolunteers@gmail.com.

Thanks for your efforts for a great cause!

HVC Cooks for the Downtown Women's Center

We had a great evening cooking together for the incredible folks at the Downtown Women's Center. Enjoy some photos by clicking here.

Cooking the Meal, from Project Leader Karla:

Thanks so much for everyone's participation in the Friends of Downtown Women's Center cooking night. What a wonderful community-impacting organization! The DWC provides the homeless women in Downtown Los Angeles a place to call home. They provide breakfast, lunch and a late afternoon snack to about 100 women daily. The drop-in center also provides a safe place to take a nap, take a shower, watch a show, read a book, take art classes, change into clean clothes, use a computer, celebrate the holidays and one another's birthdays, interact with a supportive community, and many more services. In addition, there is a permanent housing facility that is home for 45 women. One thing that really impressed me was the on-site health clinic, which provides free medical care for the women once a month, and also free mammograms. According to our tour guide Michelle, last year they were able to catch 15 cases of breast cancer at the early stages, before it spread. 

I was very struck by the entire organization. It was exciting to learn that a new larger facility will be opening in a year's time. I'm very glad the HVC found this community and I think we all walked away wanting to cook another meal and stay involved.

A great big shout out to the chefs: Jennifer, Lisa, Tara, Judy, Melissa, Vivian F, Krista, Margaret and Karla. Thanks to our shoppers: Karla and Vince. Thanks to our meal servers who came back the next day and interacted with the women (see post below): Vivian J, Melissa and Alison. Thanks to all who contributed toward the cost of the meal. The total came to $143.30, and we received a total of $270, so because of everyone's generosity we have enough left over to prepare another meal!! Lots of clothes and cosmetics were also donated by our HVCers and friends -- thanks so much for all that too.

The upbeat energy of our HVC Group, and everyone's willingness to just jump in and get it done with eager cooperation was apparent from the start. We're on our way, creating the change we desire! I'm truly humbled and incredibly inspired! Sincerely, Karla

Serving the Meal the Next Day, from Alison:

We really had a great experience at the DWC. Vivian and I were there at 10:30 (they didn't expect us 'til noon) so Vanessa, the volunteer coordinator, arranged for us to have a tour of the residential facility with one of the residents, named Maria, who was really amazing with all the facts about the place. Truly inspiring, and they are moving to new 'digs' within the next couple of years - a couple of blocks away, in a beautiful old building which is being renovated for them. Maria was full of stories about volunteers bringing programs to the residents, and told a bit about her own background.

The meal we served was FABULOUS - congrats to the cooks! This is a really powerful place. The staff are so sharp, and very caring. There is great dignity here. Every woman that went through the line, I wondered what her story was; all ages, all colors, of women. To everyone who put this volunteer opportunity together -- THANK YOU.