Bill Maynard, Director of Community Gardens for the City of Sacramento, will lead two composting seminars for City of Sacramento residents Saturday morning (8:15 and 9:15) at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Garden at 3663 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Attendees will learn how composting works, what materials should and should not be composted, how to maintain the compost pile, and how to obtain the right balance of food, air, and moisture. In addition to composting training, Maynard will include a session on planting cover crops, which help revitalize the soil. “Discount coupons for composters from Home Depot and free post waste kitchen countertop bins to carry your waste to the com

Sweet Dreams Foundation recently completed a dream room for Jackson Grant. Jackson is a resilient little boy who has endured leukemia and here is his story as described by the Sweet Dreams Foundation. In the spring of 2009, Hayley and Lance Grant noticed a severe change in their son Jackson. He started moving slow, wanting to be held all the time and the little light in his eyes began to fade. They went to the pediatrician and were given antibiotics to clear up any infections. Jackson awoke the next morning to his left eye swollen shut! After their visit to Mercy Folsom ER they were informed that their son had leukemia and needed to be immediately transferred by ambulance to UC Davis Chil

THE HOME DEPOT, KaBOOM! AND ASPIRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS JOIN FORCES TO BUILD A NEW PLAYGROUND ON VETERAN’S DAY WHAT: More than 200 volunteers from The Home Depot, Aspire Public Schools, and organizers from the nonprofit organization KaBOOM! will join together to build a state-of-the-art, 2,500 square foot playground in one day. The playground will provide a safe, fun environment for the children in the community. The playground will also celebrate Veteran’s Day as veterans from the area will assist in the building of the playground. When a former private high school on El Camino Avenue in Sacramento closed, the Aspire Public Schools organization purchased the 9 acre campus and opened Alexander

Two children were greeted by a chain link fence surrounding Zapata Park's brand new playground Tuesday afternoon. The park at Washington Square, located in Alkali Flat on 905 E St., was scheduled to open yesterday after the cement foundation solidified. Maria Kernan, a representative of the Community Housing Opportunities Corporation regarding the park, said that the fence would be removed at noon tomorrow. Home Depot and KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization that builds playgrounds across the nation, teamed up on a project for the park that took over two months to complete. The playground was erected and the park was rejuvenated last Thursday with the help of over 250 volunteers. The pl

More than 250 volunteers from Home Depot and KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that builds "playspaces" across the nation, showed up at Zapata Park today to assemble a new playground designed by children and refurbish the park. The playground, located in Alkali Flat on 905 E St., was the 1,764th playground constructed by the two companies and was built for children ages 2-12. Workers also filled the playground with brand-new sawdust, painted hopscotch squares, repainted a picnic area and repainted the lines of the basketball court. The Sacramento Tree Foundation also came out and planted some trees. Kenny Altenburg, a project manager at KaBOOM! said that the project has been in the work

There were several Earth Day celebrations and events Thursday. One of the biggest and most successful was the official City of Sacramento Earth Day Celebration. The event was held at Cesar Chavez Park and in the plaza of City Hall. An estimated 3,500 people of all ages attend this years' event. It was supported by Mayor Kevin Johnson and the City Council. The City of Sacramento Neighborhood Services Department organized the event.   I spoke with Neighborhood Services Department Director Vincene Jones. Jones and her staff started back in January giving early notice to Sacramento area schools, informing them of the event and its value as a field trip. Local media was enlisted to help get t

There was reason Saturday for double celebration at Sacramento's Safetyville USA. It was not only the 12th annual Family Safety and Health Expo, it also marked Safetyville's 25th year of teaching safety and life skills to more than 200,000 children to date. The free event hosted around 3,000 children and their families for a fun-filled day of learning and celebrating. In the middle of the expo, birthday festivities took the main stage and were led by Liz McClatchy, President and CEO of Safetyville Center Incorporated (SCI) and Terry Polvado, Vice President of SCI. Children sang "Happy Birthday" to Safetyville and were introduced to the new and yet-to-be-named mascot of Safetyville, a dog