sharefest participates in the mayor's "we serve la" campaign | 3.31.12

This year, we are excited to once again partner with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa's Office on the upcoming Good Food Day of Service.  On March 31^st, volunteers throughout Los Angeles will serve together toward a more healthy and sustainable food system, while learning about, celebrating and volunteering side-by-side.  Nearly forty event sites will be engaged in activities around the city.  

The Sharefest site for this event will take place on the campus of San Pedro High School. We will be completing Phase 2 of our “Victory Garden” project which was started on our 2011 Annual Workday, and is slated to be completed on our upcoming Annual Workday on April 28^th.  Phase 2 will include the installation of pavers throughout the garden area. 

The overall vision for the garden is to involve students and the local community in the continued creation of this edible garden on campus.  The Victory Garden design is a living quilt of plants and people, a garden of communities. Featuring a wide variety of heritage organic vegetables suited to the Harbor Area microclimate, the garden will demonstrate the diversity of urban food production practices. Food grown in the garden will be used by the participants and also donated to those with limited access to healthy organic produce through a partnership with local food banks and meals programs.

We look forward to these opportunities to leave an imprint on our local community and change the lives of our future leaders.  If you are interested in being involved, we would love to have you!  Please contact info@sharefestinc.org if you would like to be involved in either of these upcoming Workdays.

Good Food Day-LA is part of the Mayor’s "We Serve LA" volunteer and service campaign. The event is produced and presented by The Office of Mayor Villaraigosa and The Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

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!

Cornerstone Construction Group and the Workday

Through the many partnerships Sharefest has forged, a significant amount of measurable and positive change has been put in place within the Los Angeles area. This change is not only skin-deep, beautifying the exterior appearance of structures and spaces, but it goes to the heart of the matter, and is deeply rooted in a commitment to increasing volunteerism and building relationships within the community.

Cornerstone Owner's Vic and Linda Braden with LA Mayor Villaraigosa in front of the Cheryl Green Community Center

Companies like Cornerstone Construction Group have played a huge role in turning Sharefest’s vision into well-executed projects. Providing a full range of general construction and design/build services, Cornerstone is built on a philosophy of integrity, quality, and a view of those who receive their services as “valued partners”. Over the years, Cornerstone has made it a part of their mission to invest in the continued development of Redondo Beach and surrounding areas by spending their spare time and resources to help the local community.

Restored Morrell House in Redondo Beach, CACornerstone has generously supported the South Bay and Harbor areas of Los Angeles with their consistent involvement in the Workdays. Initiated at Sharefest’s Annual Workday in 2004, Cornerstone, along with King's Harbor Church, dedicated each and every Saturday for two years to the restoration of the Morrell House, a local landmark of historical significance in Redondo Beach, CA. Their construction expertise contributed to an effort which positively highlights the cultural heritage of the area. In addition, Cornerstone collaborated with Sharefest and took the lead in the building of a custom home for the Ripatti-Pearce family on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2006.  Cornerstone also worked with Sharefest to complete the Cheryl Green Community Center – a project designed to bring about healing and hope to the people of Harbor Gateway after the violent death of 14 year old Cheryl Green by gang violence (read more about the project here, here, and here).

This year, Cornerstone has so graciously continued their support of Sharefest and the Annual Workday by getting involved with King’s Harbor Church, City on a Hill Church, Living Color Landscapes, and the LA Mayor's Office on projects at San Pedro High School. These include the installation of scoreboards purchased seven years ago for the baseball and softball fields (view project details), as well as creating a garden space that produces high quality organic vegetables for the students, their families and the community (view project details, and read more here and here).

In response to the scoreboard project, San Pedro's High School's Principal, Jeanette Stevens, voices her gratitude to Sharefest in how Sharefest and Cornerstone are effective in transforming her school:

Thank you so much for all you are doing for our school! We are greatly appreciative and I am personally SHOCKED at how much you are able to accomplish in such a short amount of time! Last week, I learned about the scoreboard project and we are ecstatic! It is hard to imagine that $21,000 worth of scoreboards have been sitting on the floor in a dark, back room on our campus for seven years, collecting dust! You somehow heard about this project, secured people, and with plans in place and people ready to move, we are ready to install!

Thank you, Cornerstone for your support and leadership!

These two highlighted projects and several others are looking for more volunteers to get involved with the activities taking place on Saturday, May 14th. Register now!