BIG SUNDAY VOLUNTEERS FAN OUT, TACKLE NEEDED TASKS.Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer Some 25,000 people fanned out across the Southland on Sunday to plant trees, serve lunch to Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. veterans, bathe dogs and perform countless other volunteer acts on Big Sunday -- a day devoted to giving time GIVING TIME, contracts. Any agreement by which a creditor gives his debtor a delay or time in paying his debt, beyond that contained in the original agreement. When other persons are responsible to him, either as drawer, endorser, or surety, if such time be given without the consent of and energy to the community. This year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. put his political muscle behind the annual event, visiting Big Sunday projects all around the city. The mayor was anything but lonely, with thousands of volunteers pitching in on 250 projects from Anaheim to Palmdale. The mayor was greeted by a throng of screaming teens at Reseda High, where he grabbed a microphone and addressed students with his arm around a DJ in black shades. ``We're one city today,'' Villaraigosa said. ``We are one city.'' In Big Sunday's largest San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. event, some 2,000 volunteers at Reseda High planted 120 trees, painted a mural, pulled weeds, collected trash and spruced up the landscape. Mariya Berkovich, 18, was one of the many students who picked up a hoe hoe, usually a flat blade, variously shaped, set in a long wooden handle and used primarily for weeding and for loosening the soil. It was the first distinctly agricultural implement. The earliest hoes were forked sticks. , broom, paint brush or spade. ``Since I'm a senior, I'm about to leave. It's just a wonderful experience,'' she said. In Studio City, volunteers at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. Doctrine and Organization served lunch to Iraq war veterans. They also wrote letters to wounded vets and made care packages for soldiers fighting in Iraq. Iraq war vet Juan Beltran, 33, who broke his back in a helicopter crash and uses a wheelchair, was served a lunch of chicken, potatoes and salad. ``I've actually had a pretty good experience after coming back from Iraq; people have treated me very nice,'' Beltran said. But he said getting lunch at the church Sunday was the first time, since coming back to the United States, that he was treated as a guest of honor at a public event. There were several other Big Sunday events in the Valley. At ONEgeneration in Reseda, a crew of volunteers repainted the interior of the senior center. At Boxer Rescue in Sun Valley, volunteers gave dogs a break from kennel life by taking them on walks and bathing them. Big Sunday keeps getting bigger every year. Not bad for what started in 1999 as Temple Israel of Hollywood's volunteer day, the brainchild of screenwriter David Levinson, who attended the synagogue. It wasn't long before Big Sunday founder Levinson was approaching other synagogues and churches. Soon organizations were contacting Levinson, and now everyone from hockey players to book club members has gotten involved. ``Everyone's welcomed,'' said Levinson, 46. ``The whole idea behind it is that no matter who, how rich or poor or anything else, everyone has something that they can help someone else (with).'' alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 3) LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Senior Lead Officer Christopher Crosby, above, helps at the Big Sunday event at Reseda High School Reseda High School, established in 1955, is located in the Reseda section of Los Angeles, California, United States. The current principal of Reseda High is Alfredo Tarin. The mascot of Reseda High is the Regent, a lion welding a crown and a scepter. . At left, Autumn Flowers, 15, of Rialto Rialto, city (1990 pop. 72,388), San Bernardino co., S Calif., a residential suburb of San Bernardino; inc. 1911. The city has greatly expanded as a result of the economic and demographic growth of the southern California area. dances with Sunny Keller, 3, of Studio City. Below, two teens move a tree to be planted at Reseda High School. Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion