Cabrillo Park Neighborhood Association

 

Ruby's son is paying for pizza for the volunteers.  He is appreciative of our attention to his mother.  There will also be water and lemonade.  Solid Waste is set to come out on Monday, so we can simply stack the junk in the street and they will pick it up for us.  Tracy (from Caring Neighbors) and Khaalid (from Neighborhood Services) met with Ruby and her caretaker Evelyn the other day.  It was a good introduction and they got an idea of what is needed.  Caring Neighbors will do a home evaluation to see if there is anything structural inside Ruby's house that is needed for her safety.

 

Seems like we are good to go.  The weather should be in the mid-80's...which is welcome news.  We are starting at 9:00 AM, and will be there until 2:00 or 3:00 at the latest.  If you can only make it for part of the time, that's fine, whatever time and effort you can offer is appreciated.  Please bring any garden tools you can...if you have any problems with getting them there, let me know.  I have a truck, so I can help with that.  She does have some fruit trees that are overloaded and need culling and trimming.  Does anyone have a pole saw?

 

 

8/12/07 

We are scheduled to work at Ruby's place on Sept. 15th.   At this point, we have approximately 8 - 10 neighbors who have committed to be there.  Caring Neighborhoods is supplying a few of their volunteers, plus arranging for  a few students from a local high school.

 We will be approaching Home Depot, Raleys and a few other area vendors for donations.  Several of our volunteers will be bringing handtools.

 

John and I met with Khaalid, our Neighborhood Services Coordinator, last night to talk about what Ruby would need to get her yard in shape.  John has been in contact with her son who is basically looking for cleanup.  Not quite sure what (if anything) he is willing to put into the cause, but he lives in the Bay Area so I doubt that he will be able to help much.

 

There are some items that need to be thrown away (old and broken statuary, garden furniture) and a lot of plants that need to be be trimmed.  The son did ask that they be trimmed in a healthy manner, as the first person who started that project was just hacking and slashing.  However that person just drifted away...and possible left a trailer in her back yard.  So that is something else we will have to get rid of.  I mentioned putting it on the street with a sign saying, "free to good home".    The "drifter" does live a few houses down...so he would see it and claim it if he wants to.  It does have a license plate, but Khaalid said there wasn't anything he could do about tracking down the true owner and forcing them to take care of it.

 

Anyway, its a jungle back there.  Looks like it could be quite a nice place if it were cleaned up.  She needs a fence on the west side of the property, there used to a picket fence there.  She has the same picket on the east side of the house.  It doesn't look like its in great shape.  It has to either be replaced, or repaired and painted.  Khaalid put together a basic list of supplies he is going to see if Home Depot will donate: fence, paint, bark.  I asked for an automatic watering system (might as well shoot for the moon).  She doesn't need any new plants...just the weeds removed and the plants that will stay need to be trimmed.  We can haul the stuff to the street and arrange a pick-up from solid waste. 

 

I told him I thought we could get 10 people from the neighborhood to help out.  He will try to get 10 more from a community group that helps seniors in need.  Even if its just for an hour or two...you don't have to be there all day.  Hopefully by then we will have recruited a few more neighbors to the association on National Night Out.  Right now, the target date for doing the work is Saturday, September 15th.  So mark your calendars...

 

 

- David Bain