AmeriCorps Reading Literacy Program hosts Community Gardening Project on MLK day, Jan. 21

The intent is to help the garden reach its goals of becoming a sustainable food forest, donating all it grows to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.

AmeriCorps members will lend a helping hand to the local garden by weeding, mulching, and providing an over-all beautification of the two-thirds-acre garden located in the heart of the Mesa, at the corner of Meigs Road and Dolores Drive. The garden is calling for community volunteers to get involved on this day of service and is expecting 70 people.

Coffee and water will be provided, and volunteers are encouraged to bring their gardening gloves and long-handled tools.

The AmeriCorps Reading Literacy Program, currently in its 12th year, serves more than 1,000 students each school year (www.americorpstutors.org). Students are typically in grades K-8. Members have helped improve the reading abilities of targeted students through a reading-tutoring program.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is an ongoing tradition the local AmeriCorps program has used year after year to get involved in the community. This work is in addition to services at local schools. This year’s event reinforces the members’ sense of responsibility in investing in a sustainable future for generations.

The Santa Barbara County Education Office is an intermediate agency between the California Department of Education and the 20 school districts and two community colleges in Santa Barbara County (www.sbceo.org). AmeriCorps is a national service program that engages thousands of Americans of all ages and backgrounds in a domestic Peace Corps to make a difference and get things done across America (www.americorps.org). AmeriCorps is administered in California through CaliforniaVolunteers (www.californiavolunteers.org), an office of the governor.

Further information is available by contacting Tom Spadoro, Santa Barbara County Education Office, at 964-4710, ext. 4405.