HerShe's Community Service Day - 8/6/11

On Saturday, August 6, 2011, the HerShe Group had its first community service day of the Zeta program year at the Cahuenga Branch Library in Hollywood.

Every month, individuals from the Los Angeles community gather together at the library and have a mini-cleanup/gardening session. Andrew Carnegie built the library in 1916, making it the oldest library in the state of California.

HerShe girls were fortunate enough to help with the cleanup. Elson Trinidad, a member of the CahuenGardeners, which is the organization responsible for setting up the monthly cleanups, put the girls straight to work immediately after they arrived at the library.

The HerShe girls helped pick up trash, weed, water plants and sweep the front and backside of the library. By the end of the session, the library looked great and we went home rejuvenated with the spirit of giving.

Thank you, CahuenGardeners for inviting us to this mini-cleanup! We look forward to working with you again!

Also, a special thanks to Indiana Garcia for finding this opportunity to give back to Mother Earth!!

HerShe Girls Feed the Homeless

At the beginning of the program year, HerShe mentors decided to formally organize themselves into a Mentor Auxiliary Board and form committees. One committee that has really made a difference in the lives of others is the Community Service Committee. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, HerShe girls spent these two holidays feeding the homeless at the Union Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army. This effort was led by mentor, Marlene Bonner. Marlene thought that the girls needed to know that they had something to give and that no matter how bad their situation is — there is always someone who needs their help.

For many of us hardworking Americans, 68% of us are only one paycheck from being homeless ourselves. Homeless people aren’t a random subset of the American population, but they are people like us who are suffering from an unfortunate circumstance.

Moreover, homelessness affects 70% of all foster youth emancipated from foster care. Half of LA’s homeless are foster youth. We hope that HerShe girls will never be on the receiving in of our service to the homeless.