EARTH DAY EVENT VIDEO BY MARK HOVATER

What a fun, great event!   

This day started early because the VCC volunteers had to get to their stations along the boulevard by 7:30am - participants started arriving at 8am and we needed to be prepared for getting them registered and equipped.   

The stations were spread out along the boulevard - Station 1 at Shepherd's Church Campus - Station 2 at Tampa with Tarzana Neighborhood Council tent - Station 3 at California Pizza Kitchen with Bob Blumenfield - Station 4 at Hayvenhurst with Jesse Gabriel and Nithya Raman - Station 5 at Kester with Notre Dame - and Station 6 at Whitsett with VCC.   

Our amazing volunteers were there to work with the various groups to organize getting people assigned to their streets, issuing equipment - brooms, gloves, dustpans, grabbers and bags - instructions for leaving the bags on the street and how we want the area cleaned - and making sure that they know this should be a fun event.   

The participants were divided into teams of 3-4 people per each side of the street (north and south of the boulevard) and covering all the streets.  We had so many volunteers that we also had them cover the major side streets like Kester, Winnetka, Tampa, etc. so that everyone who showed up would be able to participate whether or not whether they were preregistered.   

The clean up was for a 2 hour period - 8:30-10:30am - and then the participants returned to the station to return their equipment and also tell us how many bags were left on the boulevard.  Everyone reported that they had a blast!  And that was the goal - have some fun and make a difference!  

 It was so cool to see the safety green T-shirts that said "We Volunteers Pick Up Trash" along the boulevard.  Channel 4 NBC News covered the event along with the Daily News and Spectrum News - and of course our friend, Mark Hovater and his drone friend!   

Sunday starting at 3am, Don Larson collected the bags along the boulevard and deposited them in the 3 bins that Waste Management donated for us - placed along the boulevard in two Ralph's parking lots and a Von's parking lot (thank you for letting us use this space for the bins over the weekend).  This took him a total of 6 hours!   

He collected just under 1000 bags of trash!   

This will be an annual event now - with a different street that crosses the San Fernando Valley from east to west - maybe Devonshire - maybe Sherman Way - or any other suggestions that some may have?  VCC is game for anything and anywhere!   

Thank you all that helped - the Neighborhood Councils along the boulevard -  all the Chambers of Commerce as well - Henry Stern, Jesse Gabriel, Nithya Raman, Notre Dame, Shepherd's Church, Waste Management, Ralphs and Vons... we could not have pulled this off without your support and enthusiasm concerning the project!

220+ VOLUNTEERS HELP TO CLEAN UP DEVONSHIRE STREET!

What an amazing turn out of volunteers.... we actually only planned on 144 volunteers needed to clean the street - but the volunteers kept coming and coming... and so we had to cut off the sign up registration a week before the event - only so much equipment available through VCC and souvenir T-shirts as well.  What a great outpouring of community volunteerism!  Thank you.

The VCC volunteers set up four stations along the street - Shepherd Church (our partners) were at station 1 - Von's at Mason; David, Nancy and Danny led station 2 - in front of the Northridge Baseball Field; Steve, Rachael and Sharon led station 3 - at Balboa; and Emile and Dwight led station 4 - at Mission Hills Church in Arleta.  

The volunteers starting arriving at 7:30am to get their equipment, T-shirts, bags, gloves and street assignments - then proceeded to that street to start by 8am and finish no later than 10am.  They were told to leave the bags on the street in piles, if possible, so that Don Larson could collect them and dispose of them early Sunday morning... approximately 600 bags of debris and leaves collected on the street!

Then the volunteers brought their equipment back to the stations and reported their bag collections... took some pictures and got ready for the FREE ice cream social event ta the Oakridge Estates.

EVERYTHING FREE CELEBRATION EVENT - AT OAKRIDGE ESTATES ON DEVONSHIRE...

The volunteers and community started arriving at the park at 10am even though the event did not really start until 10:30am....they were anxious for the ice cream (which was delicious).

We had a team of volunteers working setting up things from 6:30am with tents, stage, tables and chairs, vendors, entertainment, games, etc.  The Ice Cream truck was ready when the community arrived and we never got the line down to less then 10 people - it was a huge hit.

VCC and Northwest Neighborhood Council partnered with this event and the Oakridge Estates to bring this to the community.  There were games at each of the booths - but limitee booths - Kiwanas did rock painting; Suzette Valladares booth did Corn hole; CHEER did Connect 4; VCC had Giant Jenga; the Library had a spinning wheel; etc.  

There was FREE face painting, cartoonist, balloon sculpting, and Classic games like Sack races, Egg on a spoon races, Trash toss and Water bottle litter pick up led by David Weisberg, Nancy Tanner and Robert Brown... so well received and lots of medals awarded.  

The band was amazing  with great music and a good vibe - a six piece version of Brass Cadillac.  The VCC volunteers had so much fun dancing to that music toward the end of the event.  "Ride Cowboy Ride!"

Dedication speeches from Councilman John Lee, Assemblywoman Suzette Valladares, Northridge West Neighborhood Council Presdient Abbie Bailes, Miranda McCord, Facility Director, Campo de Cahuenga & Oakridge Estate and  Ken Bernstein, Principal City Planner, LA City Planning Office of Historic Resources

Eric brought his minature white horse Rowdy and of course Don Larson brought Cinnabon who is always the star of the show!  

So much entertainment and fun.

Thank you Sharkey's in Northridge for supplying delicious burritos and chips for the VCC and booth volunteers - they were well received and needed!

Amazing volunteers from VCC helped with everything - set up, parking patrol, activity assistance and break down - thank you.  Also thank the Navy Cadets, Boy and Girl Scouts and Key Club members for be great volunteers in all areas.

It was a great celebration of the clean up event and an opportunity for the community to mingle and be part of our success.