LABOR OF LOVE; UNSEEN GARDENER TENDS CLINIC'S GARDEN.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

Nobody at the community clinic ever sees Sacramento Juarez when he comes in the evening, but the next day they know he's been there. The weeds are picked, the roses pruned, the brush on the hillside gone.

There's no paycheck in it for Juarez - just a feeling, a giving back to the Samuel Dixon Family Health Clinic for being there for his family of eight.

``I've only seen him twice - once when I came in when we were closed and now today,'' said Cheryl Laymon, the clinic's executive director. ``He gets no recognition, no thanks. He just does it. He's a good man.

``Sacramento is an angel who comes around in the night.''

Juarez, who emigrated from Mexico 25 years ago and settled in nearby farming communities, now lives in Val Verde. He takes pride in the tiny low-cost clinic that serves the entire Santa Clarita Valley.

He is one of those people who quietly gives, asking for nothing in return but the satisfaction of contributing to his community.

``The clinic has been good to my family,'' the Spanish-speaking Juarez said through a translator. ``They've taken care of my family and my kids.''

This father of six has proved a role model to his own children and to the kids of Val Verde. From him, they have learned how to plant a garden and basic gardening procedures. But he's given them much more - a sense of pride in ownership, a desire to care for something very important in their community.

``When he first came here the roses were growing like weeds,'' Laymon said.

Juarez' youngest helper is 4-year-old son Aldo, who helps pick up the soda bottles and other litter tossed into the clinic's planters along San Martinez Road. Juarez is personally offended by the scarred concrete planter walls, the work of acrobatic skaters, he said.

But he's proud of his accomplishments, and the clinic staff is grateful. The upkeep is easier now than it was more than two years ago, when Juarez tackled the thick brush on a steep hillside at the back of the clinic in hope of limiting any fire danger. He expertly pruned the pear, peach and apple trees, which bear abundant fruit for anyone dropping by to pick a few. He waters the plants and fixes the sprinklers, work done in the evenings so patients aren't inconvenienced. One morning a week, Laymon comes to work to find the clinic's trash cans set in a row on the curb.

``It doesn't seem like a big deal, but how many people think of taking the trash out when they're at work,'' Laymon said.

Juarez' new project is to trap a gopher bent on undoing his hard work. The rodent was too smart for the poison bait he left.

``It's going to destroy the rose bed,'' said Arleen George, a clinic staffer acting as interpreter.

Juarez works days at Castaic Brick yet manages to work later at his labor of love.

``There's a way to do everything,'' he said.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) In Val Verde, Sacramento Juarez, with son Aldo, 4, maintains landscaping at the Sam Dixon Family Health Center free of charge.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News