Community involvement contagious

Editor: The Lodi Community Garden Foundation (aka Greening Lodi) came to existence through a collaborative effort between the City of Lodi and the Lodi Chamber of Commerce. Based on the concept of Asset Based Community Development, Greening Lodi is attempting to provide an alternative to funded programs by providing education and resources to the residents of Lodi by developing the assets of the community which are the people and property in the neighborhood.

So far, with virtually no money invested, we installed a small pollinator garden with a still in progress wall mural at Main and Elm streets. This project involved about 30 people, most of whom are local to the surrounding area.

The mural is coming to life with a donation from Lowe’s for primer and the hard work of our young GRIP artists. Also a big thank you to Busy Bee Laundry for allowing us to occupy the empty lot next door; we hope once the plants get established and the mural completed it gives you a great view.

Another event sponsored by Greening Lodi was the alley clean up behind Heritage School, partnering with the Heritage School Earthkeepers, a dedicated group of fifth- and sixth-graders dedicated to saving the world. Once again, all the volunteers were from the school and the local neighborhood. Of course, both of these projects started with a donation of a trash bin from Waste Management.

Finally, as I was loading my truck at Main and Elm after the Love Lodi event, an apparently homeless gentleman pushing a recycling cart stopped and asked about what we were doing. I explained the ABCD and how we were trying to build a sense of community, pollinator garden, and youth art mural. The gentleman reached in his pocket and gave me a dollar for more paint. Seriously, does it get any better than that?

As always, small donations are always appreciated. We have a long list of ideas to improve Lodi, and donations would be appreciated to help us reach those goals. Please see our website at www.greeninglodi.org for more information. CURTIS JURAN Lodi

What’s good about Common Core?

Editor: This is in response to the letter from a high school English teacher accusing me of dishonesty in my description of the Common Core course of study.

I was raised by parents who taught my brothers and me to be honest in all our doings. In my letter I quoted a statement by Rick Santorum, Chairman of Patriot Voices, who’s in a position to know what’s going on in our country.

The writer who challenged me did not say what he considered good about Common Core but it’s obvious that its authors are trying to reach impressionable children without the knowledge and consent of their parents, through their secretiveness. My numerous letters to the newspaper have always come from a conservative point of view. I esteem our Constitution, including the Second amendment. I’m pro-life and pro-traditional marriage of one man-one woman. No, I’m not trying to fool anyone. OLIVE FRANCIS Lodi