The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council's Beautification, Sustainability & Outreach Committees, along with Northridge West Neighborhood Council joined together to create the first annual Porter Ranch Family Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 22.

The day kicked off with a community clean-up event at Tampa & Wilbur. Over 20 volunteers weeded, swept, and beautified the tree wells and sidewalks of Porter Ranch. At the end, there were 170 bags filled with debris! Thank you to all who participated. (See our before & after pictures.)

The clean-up was followed by a celebration at Holleigh-Bernson Memorial Park, with a catered lunch by Porter Ranch's Subway Sandwich Shop, games, crafts & an adventurous scavenger hunt! The informational booths were themed to Earth Day, and included Climate Reality, Sierra Club, SoCal350, Food & Water Watch, Save Porter Ranch, Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, LADWP (who provided cold, refreshing water all day). We also had booths from Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council and Northridge West Neighborhood Council.

A special thank you to Girl Scout Troop #616 for their volunteer leadership in managing the Save The Earth ball game with toddlers, and helping kids of all ages with the potting craft. Several Girl Scouts earned credit towards their Earth Day badges and Volunteering badges.

We also want to thank our volunteers from Chaminade Middle School who officiated at the Recycle Relay game, educating younger kids about what items belong in blue (recycle) cans, green (compost) cans and black garbage cans in our city of Los Angeles while having lots of fun.

These events were such a wonderful success that the Beautification Committee would like to make Community Clean-Up a regular event.

Before: