The next time you drive down Pico in West LA you may notice it’s starting to look a little nicer. This weekend, Pico Boulevard will be repaved between Westwood and Sepulveda, a much needed fix. Not only that, thanks to an initiative by the Westside Neighborhood Council, 70 trees were planted on Pico in Cheviot Hills earlier this month. More than 200 volunteers showed up to make that happen. Here’s a video from Plant Pico Day. Yvonne Condes is the …
This month kicks off Discover the Arts LA month where museums and theatres throughout Los Angeles are offering discounts on admission. More than half of the thousands of visitors to Los Angeles got their information from LA residents. So get out there and tell your friends about LA’s amazing art scene. One of LA’s favorite bands, Ozomatli, played a mini-concert in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall during the Discover the Arts ceremony last week. I talked to Ozomatli bassist, Wil-Dog …
Looking for a volunteer opportunity that produces tangible results and feels great? Consider volunteering for Project Angel Food, a Los Angeles organization that provides meals for clients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other illnesses. Project Angel Food, located in Hollywood, prepares and delivers more than 13,000 meals each week across Los Angeles County, from Lancaster to Long Beach. Professional chefs and dietitians staff the kitchen and supervise the menus, but volunteers are an essential part of the meal preparation and office …
When your child is sick, I think every parent’s heart breaks at first. And then we pick ourselves up and get busy making sure we take care of them the best way we can. Sometimes that can mean traveling to a hospital that specializes in treating the illness a child has, and that can be disruptive and devastating to a family. Enter the Ronald McDonald houses. Now regardless of your feelings about McDonald’s restaurants, what the Ronald McDonald Houses provide …
One woman gave her kids money to hand out to homeless people. Another bought coffee for everyone in line at her local shop. And one woman gave out quarters at the laundromat. How are you spreading cheer this holiday season? MomsLA has teamed with Stonyfield to spread some #sweetitude through the holidays. Stonyfield gave 10 bloggers $50 gift cards to spread some holiday cheer. The bloggers used their money in very different ways. What was amazing is that everyone either …
I don’t know about you, but I have a much smaller list of people I’m giving gifts to this year than ever before. As a result, I feel like each gift is more meaningful and I’m actually taking more time to choose something special for each recipient, rather than get a few dozen items and dole them out at the office Xmas party. Enter Heart of Haiti. I recently learned about the beautiful, handmade items in the Heart of Haiti …
Did you know that according to the New York Times, one in four children in America live on food stamps? Did you know that you can’t use food stamps to purchase diapers? On average, the cost for diapers is approximately $100.00 per child, per month. Can you imagine having to choose between buying food for your baby and putting clean diapers on his/her bottom? As a mother of three, I vividly recall worrying about all kinds of things while my …
I recently met Mary Sue Milliken, Chef and Owner of the Border Grill, at the Cadillac Culinary Challenge, where she won the audience’s heart with her avocado recipes. Milliken was also there to promote Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America by 2015. Milliken talked about how she got involved with Share Our Strength at a time when she didn’t have much money to donate, but what she did have was the ability to cook. …
This is a part of a series of volunteer opportunities in the Los Angeles area. I have had some really crappy stuff happen to me recently. But right on the tail of that I had some amazing friends shower me with their love and generosity. I am never going to repay these wonderful ladies so I promised them I would pay it forward. This Thanksgiving, instead of helping myself to another piece of turkey I will be helping others. I …
This is a guest post by Mark Horvath My mom says I was a good boy up until about 9. My parents divorced right around then, and looking back, I probably started acting out. By acting out I mean getting in trouble at school, and not only using drugs, but dealing large quantities of marijuana and LSD. Between the ages of 14 and 16, at times, I sold as much as 20 lbs of pot a week. By the time …
