Free Trees Offered to Cleanup Participants

From Pacoima Elementary School to San Fernando Gardens, dozens of school children and volunteers kicked off a two-day neighborhood cleanup and tree-planting Friday.

The project is being organized by Pacoima Beautiful, a small nonprofit agency dedicated to the improvement of the northeast Valley. Several other groups, including the TreePeople and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, are also taking part.

Marlene Grossman, project director for Pacoima Beautiful, said that residents living in the area can receive free fruit trees to plant in their yards if they participate in today’s cleanup, which will be held at several locations between 8:30 a.m. and noon.

“We’ve been working with the TreePeople for years,” Grossman said. “In the past we’ve done about 430 trees and this year we are going to plant 600 trees at the different sites.”

The TreePeople have donated seven varieties of trees, including apple, peach, plum and avocado.

Each tree comes with a bag of compost and information about how they should be planted and cared for.

“The fruit tree program has helped to mobilize the community to participate in cleanup days and to become involved in other activities,” Grossman said. “Each of the past distribution days was very important to the growth of a positive spirit in the Pacoima community.”

Schools participating in today’s cleanup and tree planting will include: Montague Charter Academy, Telfair Elementary School, Broadous Elementary School, Pacoima Elementary School, Maclay Middle School and Maclay Primary Center. Three neighborhood groups will also participate: Judd Street (at Lehigh Avenue) and Weidner Street (at Glenoaks Boulevard) and Brownell Street (at Glenoaks).

“Everyone is welcome to come lend a hand,” Grossman said.