Countdown to the 8th Annual Workday: Gardena HS

There are only two days left before Sharefest’s 8th Annual Workday when thousands of volunteers will join together to complete hundreds of community-based service projects all around the South Bay and Harbor areas. The largest of these projects will take place at Gardena High School where King's Harbor Church has taken the lead in coordinating a campus-wide beautification project.  Saturday’s activities will include landscaping, irrigation, planting, maintenance, painting, murals, and general campus-wide cleanup.

Sharefest was honored to take on this project, which comes on the heels of the tragic shooting and wounding of two students at Gardena High School in January.  The efforts to restore a positive atmosphere of hope through a service project which produces tangible change embodies the heart of Sharefest’s mission. The goal here is to work alongside a community hit by tragedy to create meaningful change that benefits everyone.

This Workday project has a ton of support behind it, and Sharefest is proud to have so many partners including

• Councilwoman Janice Hahn's Office
• LAPD
• City of Gardena
• LAUSD Board Member Dr. Richard Vladovic
• Bank of America
• LA Mayor's office
• TY Nursery
• Champions
• Gardena One Stop
• Hansen's Soda
• Toyota

Additionally, King's Harbor Church and the many volunteers from the school and the nearby community will be playing a huge role in making it possible to complete the work at Gardena High School this Saturday.  We are thankful for the generous support and commitment of our outstanding partners to this project and the community!

 We are thrilled for this opportunity to receive so much support from the community and mobilize our students to improve the campus and take pride in their school.

-- Rudy Mendoza, Gardena High School Principal

There are many opportunities for you to get involved with the Annual Workday project at Gardena High School this Saturday. There is a need for donations and support of various sorts, including skilled laborers, landscaping tools and equipment as well as monetary donations.  Register today!

a food revolution.

There is much buzz around the country with Jamie Oliver's new season of Food Revolution (on ABC). This season the TV show is targeting LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) and its nutrition program for students. Given our interest in the youth of Los Angeles and our partnerships with LAUSD, I thought I would chime in on this interesting issue relating to youth development in our communities.

I enjoy watching Jamie Oliver's show and commend his vision for the youth of our world. Nutrition is a critical component of Sharefest's work with youth, so we share his commitment. For instance, with our upcoming Summer Youth Development Academy (YDA) at Cal State University Dominguez Hills, we are once again intentional about the food we will provide them. And in our curriculum at Summer YDA and our Year-Round YDA (at Avalon High School), we firmly instill in our students the importance of proper nutrition and diet.

Sharefest has worked tirelessly to develop and maintain a positive relation with LAUSD. We understand the difficulties of initially establishing a partnership with such a huge entity – the largest public school system in California and the 2nd largest in the United States. But from our experience with LAUSD,  we know that the people there are indeed interested in students' development and their educational environment. This year, in fact, they have once again stepped up and are one of our major sponsors for our upcoming 8th Annual Workday (May 14th), which will be serving several LAUSD schools (e.g. Gardena High School).

This morning I heard Jamie Oliver on an interview with Ryan Seacrest (KIIS-FM) and it seems that he is making progress with the LAUSD (with its new Superintendent, John Deasy). I am glad to hear that both Jamie Oliver and LAUSD are moving in the right direction for our youth. At Sharefest, we look forward to this food revolution in Los Angeles and embrace the nationwide attention to bring about positive change in the lives of our youth and schools.