COMMUNITY DEEDS OUTWEIGHING WORDS VOLUNTEER WORK HELPS HONOR MLK.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

PACOIMA -- They honored his word by doing.

At homes and parks in neigborhoods crumbling with neglect, schoolchildren and teenagers awoke on a chilly Monday morning prepared to spruce up their community to honor Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader who dreamed that one day, everyone would gather together to make a better world for all.

``We want to help out in the community because even though it's a holiday, it's a holiday that means doing service,'' said Ariel Morales, one of hundreds of volunteers who joined the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and the Clean & Green Program.

Sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with King's words, ``Everybody can be great because everybody can serve,'' Morales, 22, helped younger volunteers plant dozens of saplings at Pacoima Little League Park, trees that one day will provide shade on those hot summer days.

``We want a beautiful park, not a park of just dead grass,'' said 12- year-old Jesus Camacho, who along with friend Jorge Leon, also 12, shoveled through the hardened earth to make it ready for a young sapling.

Monday's events also included the 22nd annual Kingdom Day Parade in South Los Angeles and other volunteer efforts on a day dubbed nationwide as ``A Day On ... Not A Day Off.''

About 500 volunteers participated in the revitalization of Drew Middle School in the Florence area by painting civil rights-themed murals, planting trees and creating a Peace Garden.

Since 1986, more than 20,000 young people have participated with the corps, which connects at-risk youths with service projects throughout their communities. On Monday, a group of them gathered at the Alicia Broadous-Duncan Multipurpose Center for a pep rally, some warm-up exercises and the job assignments.

Other teens pushed brooms and lawn mowers and raked up dead leaves for residents who were going through difficult times.

``I think it's one of the greatest things that anyone could have done for me,'' said Jonell Montgomery, a 66-year-old homeowner on Glenoaks Boulevard whose front and back lawns were trimmed.

``I've been sick these last few days, but I felt better when I saw all this,'' she said. ``It's just wonderful.''

City News Service contributed to this report.

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Students from Sun Valley Middle School clean up Jonell Montgomery's home in Pacoima on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

(2) Jonell Montgomery, 66, is all smiles as students clean up her yard in Pacoima on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer