Lending a Hand Helps Everyone

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.”   Marianne Williamson


On Saturday, Oct. 22 the community of the Crescenta Valley will be gathering as there is work to be done. It is our annual Foothill Community Cleanup Day. Eleanor Wacker, a long-time board member of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, believes it started in 1991. Many concerned residents and business owners decided that we should have a cleanup and paint out graffiti day. They assembled in the Dilbeck Realty parking lot and hosted a barbeque when it was all done. However about 15 years ago, the City of Glendale Neighborhood Services joined in with Crescenta Valley residents to have an annual event in the Foothills and decided to have it in October on Make a Difference Day. It has grown every year since.

Due to the many volunteers that gather for this event annually there is practically no graffiti and much less to clean up on Foothill, so they have even branched out to include freeway off ramps, school yards, Deukmejian Wilderness Park, and any other areas that need attention. The CV Chamber provides a continental breakfast and the Committee For a Clean and Beautiful Glendale provides a very generous pizza lunch. Awards are given to the group or groups that pick up the most cigarette butts, or whatever the motivational contest encompasses. The word of a community event with volunteer credit for school goes out over the Internet and young people from as far away as Duarte participate each year. The event starts and ends at Dunsmore Park in La Crescenta and has drawn as many as 200-300 participants.

As the City of Glendale website states, “A pedestrian carelessly drops an empty beverage container in the bushes on the way to the bus stop as an uncovered dump truck speeds by leaving a trail of debris that escapes from its load.

The driver waiting at the red light takes advantage of the stop to dump out an ashtray filled with cigarette butts right onto the street. Once the light turns green, the car drives past an entire residential block lined with overfilled garbage containers. It’s trash day.

Litter is a problem that affects everyone. It occurs every day and it can happen anywhere, in any neighborhood, in any city, all across the nation. That is why Make a Difference Day takes place all over the United States on the fourth Saturday of October each year. It is a national day of volunteerism created by USA Weekend Magazine to help make communities better.

You can make a difference and help reduce the amount of litter that gets swept away into our storm drains and contaminates our waterways and beaches. Join the millions of volunteers nationwide, who have been making a difference for the past 15 years.”  Go to www.CleanUpGlendale.org or call (818) 548-2877 to register. And thank you for making the Crescenta Valley a better place.

It is not too late to call the chamber office to reserve your spot at our Recognition Banquet when we honor heroes that also have made a difference in the Crescenta Valley. The banquet is Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Oakmont Country Club, 3100 Country Club Drive in Glendale. Please join us on this special occasion to honor these upstanding individuals. Please call the Chamber office by Oct. 21 to reserve your spot at the banquet.  Dinner cost is $45 per person.

Remember, everybody can be great because anybody can serve.  Come and see how the CV Chamber can help or come and congratulate those that serve.

Important Chamber dates: Oct. 22 –  Foothill Community Cleanup day; Oct. 27 – Recognition Banquet; Nov. 9 – Taste in the Foothills.

Please call our office for more details on any event. How to reach us: (818) 248-4957 / crescentachamber@aol.com / www.LaCrescenta.org / 3131 Foothill Blvd., Ste. D.

  julia rabago