Spend Earth Day-time with CSU, Earth Day-night with TNP

Community Services Unlimited, Inc. is an organization I volunteered with in 2008 at their Thursday produce stand. This Earth Day, they're holding their 2nd Annual Earth Day South LA Event! 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Neelam Sharma
(310) 780 0426, Neelam@csuinc.org

Spanish Media Contact:
Denise Burger, (323) 627-4782, d.burgher@sbcglobal.net

Information: (323) 299 7075 or www.earthdaysouthla.org

EARTH DAY SOUTH LA

SAT, APRIL 17, 11AM-6PM

SOUTH LOS ANGELES GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS,

SCHOOLS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE EARTHDAY AND TO EXPLORE THE THEME OF WATER 

The 2^nd Annual EARTH DAY SOUTH LOS ANGELES EVENT, Saturday April 17^th 2010 from 11am to 6pm will be at Normandie Avenue Elementary School, 4505 S. Raymond Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045. A growing movement in South Los Angeles area has serious momentum and is being expressed through the arts, workshops, and food culture.

Presented by CSU Inc, SOL Foundation and the Normandie Avenue Elementary School, EDSLA over a hundred artists will participate in performances and ceremonies of Music and Dance, Community Mural, Graph Art Pieces, Recycled Art Exhibit and Fashion Show, and an Art Sale. Local food will be showcased with recipe demos, food vendors and produce for sale. Information tables will showcase the work of our partners and other community organizations.

Earth Day South LA (EDSLA) will include performances by Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship, Mystic, La Santa Cecilia, Asklyn Atkins, 2Mex, Rifleman, Dyane P, Buyepongo, Caribbean Dynamics, LA Samba Kids and the Normandie Avenue Elementary School Student Orchestra. Dance features the World Famous LA Breakers, Just Wanna Step and Bharata Natyam.  The event will begin with a gathering call from the Freedom Sounds Korean Drumming and an opening ceremony by Azteca Dancers.  A featured project will be the Southern California Library’s Sounds of Justice presented by Jeremy Sole (KCRW) and Kaos Network Beat Cypher Collective.

Normandie Avenue Elementary will be beautified with live graffiti art by Cre8, Duce, EnkOne, and Jeyd curated in collaboration with I.C.U. Art and a Community Mural, Art Sale, Recycled Art Exhibit and Fashion Show curated in collaboration with Liliflor Collective. A Hip Hop Poetry Room will feature an Open-Mic and workshops from BessKepp, NHS Poetry Club and the Get Lit Players. A mini EDSLA Film Festival will show films that reflect the work for a sustainable community, for example, A Drop of Life and The Power of Community. Workshops include Composting, Fruit Tree Pruning, Yoga, Capoiera, Healing With Herbs, Son Jarocho Dance, Recycled Art, How to Start a Food Not Bombs Chapter, Bike Safety and Maintenance and African Drumming. Also on offer will be activities for kids and a local fruit pick.

“Beyond organic” local produce will be featured in cooking demos by chef Gino Campagna (star of Kitchen Kids on AOL.com), Chef Jason Michaud of Local, Sirena Pellarolo from East Side Café and Lisa Nunez Hancock and youth of U R What U Eat. Produce will be available for purchase at the South Central Farmers booth. Pure fruit smoothies, iced herbal/fruit teas, tamales and salads will be on sale.

Our Partners include Councilmembers Jan Perry and Bernard Parks, Bike Oven, City Year, Caracol Marketplace, Community Build, Eastside Café, Food Not Bombs, Hunger Action Los Angeles, Garden School Foundation, Hip Hop Association, I.C.U. Art, LA Conservation Corps, Kaos Network Beat Cypher Collective, Lilliflor Collective Studios, NAES Environmental Club, SOL Cooperative, South Central Farmers, TreePeople, USC Student Activists for a Beloved Community, Southern California Library, and WORKS USA.

We are proud to offer this high quality event in the community, FREE for the community.  There is a suggested donation of $5+ to help cover the costs of the event, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds nor for not making a donation.

Together we envision an annual Earth Day event where community residents in South Central come together in a safe environment to have fun, celebrate our foods and cultures, learn about and participate in sustainable practices, and connect with each other and organizations working to make positive change in our neighborhood.

I won't be able to make it to the Earth Day celebration as I'll be with my parents, thanking them for the gift of life, but I hope that many people can make it out to Normandie Ave. Elementary to check out all the wonderful activities going on.

After spending the day with CSU & their partner organizations, come chill out in Little Tokyo with Tuesday Night Project at the Aries Party Fundraiser at Oiwake, 122 Japanaese Village Plaza, 8:45p-2a. $10 entry, $7 before 10:30p!