At the registration location, Ralphs Grocery on Manchester in South LA, just before the tree-planting.  I’m with Michael Espinosa, who runs the Los Angeles Community Beautification Grant program.  He also attended the tree-planting back in January.  He’s been instrumental in all the projects I’ve done in the area.  Back in 2006, my block club and I applied for a CB grant and I was project director on it when we won.  Michael taught me a lot about the opportunities the city makes available to communities and he’s been supportive of all our efforts here.

Here the Los Angeles Conservation Corps is giving us a demonstration on how to plant the trees.

That red instrument weighs 30 pounds and is used to push the stake into the ground.

Novelist Leonard Chang come to help us.  Here he’s breaking up the dirt in the tree-well with a pick-axe.

Film executive Karen Peterkin helps me shovel out the tree-well.  It was more fun than it looks! 

Eriq LaSalle helped us out and worked  very hard.

Always happy to see E.  We’ve been friends since 1985.

That’s Jeff Stetson, playwright, novelist and screenwriter.  He learned of the tree-planting via my facebook page and surprised me.   He planted a tree a few feet east of the one we worked on.  So kind of him to come out and support.

This is the team that planted our tree that Karen named “Earth:  Me, Leonard, Karen, Eriq and Xavier.  Xavier, 18, works with The Los Angeles Conservation Corps.  He was our supervisor on this job.  Pretty impressive.  Wonderful to see young people doing things to improve communities.  LACC is a fantastic organization.  They train kids as young as 13, so if you know of teens in the Los Angeles area who are interested in the environment, check them out.  They have good opportunities for youth and can train them in green careers.

It was a productive and fun morning.  I’m happy to say that there are 8 new trees in the ground on Manchester Ave. now!  Thanks so much to Lisa Sarno and Kayla Barnett of Million Trees LA, MWH and LACC.  Our community is that much better because of all of you.

On Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 8:30am, Million Trees LA is doing another tree planting in our community!

We will sign-in again at Ralphs Grocery, 1730 Manchester Ave. LA, CA 90047 and walk just a couple of blocks east on Manchester to the location where we’ll be planting several trees.

I’m excited and so grateful to Lisa Sarno and Kayla Barnett of MTLA for making this happen!

When I began my quest back in 2007 to get trees planted in front of the Ralphs Grocery in my South LA community, my vision was merely to have a few trees in front of the store, to bring some life and beauty to the dull concrete and enhance the neighborhood.

What we ended up with, after an arduous battle, was far better than my greatest dream: 20 beautiful Ginkgo Biloba Trees that begin at the corner of Western Avenue at Manchester and stretch east past the store more than a block down on BOTH sides of the street.

I can’t help but smile inside and out when driving past these gorgeous bursts of green. Knowing that my dear friends and neighbors installed these trees that are now flourishing and quietly bringing peace, beauty, and cleaner air to the community gives me profound satisfaction and joy.

A few months after the big planting in January, Lisa Sarno, executive director of Million Trees LA, arranged another tree planting, right around the corner. She had The Los Angeles Conservation Corps plant several African Fern Trees on both sides of Western Avenue going south.

And now it’s about to get even GREENER for us, as she is bringing yet ANOTHER tree planting to our area. When we began in January, she promised us two additional phases of tree installations and she has followed through on that. She is my heroine!

Lisa and her colleague Kayla at MTLA are asking for our assistance in getting the trees in the ground the morning of July 10th and I’m inviting you to join us.

It’s SUCH a rewarding feeling to plant a tree and improve a community, the city and the planet. Planting a tree is one thing you can do to combat global warming. And it will be there for you to visit as the years go by.

I think it’s impossible to see a tree you planted years earlier and not feel great about how it’s grown taller and spread wider, over time, knowing you gave it its start.

Hope to see you there! Thanks.

“It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.” — Wangari Maathai