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.