“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and
should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Five youth from Communities
of Excellence in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
Prevention (CX3) in North County Regions were among a group of
youth and community members that took part in the Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day of Service on January 20, 2014, helping clean up the Escondido
Creek Trail. George Shunk, Rodrigo Polanco, Jennifer Perez, Carolina
Flores, and Elmer Barrera are all members of CX3, a youth-led program
that works to make their community healthier and safer and promotes
physical activity.
The youth involved each come to CX3
with a different background and interests, but they are all unified
under the common goal of building community.
Shunk, age
17, loves to run and loves cars. He joined CX3 because he wanted to
make a difference in the community.
“I participate to
spend time with other youth - people that share the same passion to
improve their community,” said Shunk. “We can all do something
together.”
Polanco, also age 17, likes to make people
happy through his service. He originally joined CX3 because he needed
community service hours for a class. His passion for the program has
since grown to become more personal.
“I began to see how
30 minutes to an hour a day of service to the community makes a
difference,” says Polanco.
Perez, age 13, likes to draw.
She joined CX3 to get community service hours and to add it to her
future college applications so she can get into a good college.
“I like CX3 a lot,” says Perez. “I want to keep doing this
program because it’s a lot of fun and we can help keep our community
safe and clean.”
As these youth came together to honor
their community in cleaning up the Escondido Creek Trail, they shared
perspectives about what the clean-up event meant to each of
them.
“This event meant that if everybody gets together
and participates in a whole group, we can all make a huge change,”
said Shunk. “After everybody got together, it was amazing to see how
many people were there – it was kind of overflowing. A friend that I
invited brought his mom, his brothers, and sisters. We had adults,
kids, little kids. It was really cool!”
Polanco and Perez
both made the connection between their day of service and the greater
impact on the health and safety of residents in their community.
“If we come together and try to make a change and offer our
time, for 2-3 hours just to clean up trash on the side of the creek ,
it will help the neighborhood and rest of the community to use that
path, to use that creek,” expressed Polanco.
“With all of
us going out and cleaning things up to make it look better, we can
have more people go outside and walk, which would also help prevent
crime,” Perez chimed in. “If you have more people walking around, you
won’t have as much crime.”
The youth recognize the
importance of taking their service beyond themselves and giving back
to benefit their community as a whole. They want their community to be
one that is healthy, safe, and thriving.
“A clean
environment will help the whole city continue to work towards a
healthy community and thrive,” said Polanco.
Following
the completion of their day of service, the youth shared tips for
community members on how to keep the Escondido Creek Trail clean:
Going forward, the youth involved in the CX3 project are working on additional programs to encourage the Escondido community to get outside. The group is partnering with Mission Middle School’s garden club to develop a learning garden where youth will grow and cultivate edible plants while building a stronger connection to healthy foods. CX3 participants are also planning to create a mural along the wall behind Hayashi Sushi on the creek trail. This wall is victim to graffiti and is the site of other illegal activities as well. Beautification projects foster a sense of community ownership and pride and help to deter crime.
The CX3 project is a partnership between the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency and Escondido Education COMPACT, a recognized Live Well San Diego partner.
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