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Weekend of service

President-elect Barack Obama's call to service now has an online presence - USA Service. There are many events this weekend; the weekend precedes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the inauguration of the President-elect. I will be participating in two local events. The first of these is on Saturday with California Habitat Indigenous Activists and the second is on Monday at Presentation Park.

California Indigenous Habitat Activists or CHIA will be expanding its restoration project along the Ohlone Greenway in the Westbrae Commons neighborhood. I volunteer regularly with CHIA on its regular fourth-Saturday-of-the- month workdays. CHIA's work is chronicled in a local ecology nature-made profile.

The urban fruit tree movement has another member in Presentation Park, a small city park (.17 acres) located on land formerly owned by a Catholic monastery. The Presentation Park Fruit Tree Project has arranged for the planting of "several fruit trees" and a park clean-up.

I served with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (AmeriCorps*NCCC) after college and applied the service legacy to each place I lived thereafter: New Haven Urban Resources Initiative Community Greenspaces program, Boston Urban Stewards, and now in Berkeley, with CHIA and Berkeley Partners for Parks. Last weekend, I volunteered with the Mission Greenbelt Garden for Birds at 22nd and Shotwell in the Mission District of San Francisco. I wanted to be at the outset of another nature-made space. Also, I like gardening and birds (read our Bird Watch posts). I volunteered on the second day of three work days. Concrete was cut on the first day, clay tilled and amended on the second, and shrubs, grasses, and flowers planted on the third day. Will you be participating in any service projects this weekend?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lovely to see concrete being removed and trees and plants going in. Great going! I am looking into the options for this weekend, need to pick something that a rambunctious 5 yr old can be along for. Maybe a beach clean-up or at least a march, if nothing more. Hope you have fun at the events!