At our May meeting the Van Buren block club had a discussion of projects to support as part of its nonprofit mission. We had a request from neighbor Julie Burleigh to help in the construction of a shed to house garden tools at the new community garden on an empty lot in the 2600 block of Raymond Avenue. The owner, Angele Lang, has agreed to allow the lot to be used for community members to raise vegetables and flowers.

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps brought in volunteers to clear weeds and till the soil to prepare it for planting. Then community members constructed 37 raised beds, each 4 feet by 10 feet. They needed a shed to complete the project so that the family gardeners would have a place to keep some tools. The Van Buren block club donated $1,000, which was the major cost of the shed.



At this time, in late June, all the beds have been taken and there is a waiting list, so it is clear that many families in the neighborhood have become involved in this great project. There are already lots of vegetables growing in the beds and people are there most days watering and working on their plots.

For info on the community garden contact Julie Burleigh , (323) 737-6211

We had a second request from block club member Brenda Steppes, who is a school principal, to provide some support to Marlton School at 4000 Santo Tomas Drive in Los Angeles. This school has a K-12 program for deaf children and is primarily a school for the deaf. Brenda told us that the school gets very little funding from LAUSD and they needed money to send some of their students on a field trip to Washington, DC. We then voted to send $1,000 to Marlton School to help that program.

We received back nice thank you letters from Julie Burleigh for the Raymond Avenue Community Garden and from Nancy Huerta, principal of Marlton School.

Marlton School