Appreciation Nation: Fall Cleaning for La Mesa Parks Comes on Day of Service

La Mesa’s spring cleaning—and weeding and painting—takes place in the fall, and this year’s Park Appreciation Day brought out scores.

Wanting to give back to the community and teach their children likewise, church and service groups—and local Scouts and ROTC members—raked, planted flowers, picked up trash and painted picnic benches for four hours Saturday morning.

La Mesa has 14 parks, including five shown in this gallery—Harry Griffen (the largest), La Mesita, Northmont, Jackson and Aztec. 

At Harry Griffen next to Grossmont High School,  help came from Brownie Troop 6651, Junior Girl Scouts, Naval Junior ROTC members from Grossmont and Cub Scouts, who cleaned areas adjacent to the amphitheater.

Members of the Motorola Mobility Group did their part at Harry Griffen as part of National Make-a-Difference Day, which was a part of the group’s Global Week of Service.

At Northmont, near Severin and Amaya drives, the La Mesa Rotary and members of the related Grossmont Interact cleaned the area near the parking lot, pruning shrubs and weeding while young children played soccer nearby.

At La Mesita Park, next to Parkway Middle School, Christ Lutheran Church Ministries had a large group of members pruning, raking leaves and clearing out brush—and cleaning out the sand area of the playground among other things. A barbecue followed there and at other parks.

Pastor John Palka of Christ Lutheran said he expected upwards of 30 members to join the effort for the third year at La Mesita. They worked at Harry Griffen in earlier years.

Darlene Jackson of the church said: “This is a beautiful city, and I like giving back to the community.”

Councilman Mark Arapostathis, using litter grabbers with a large plastic bag in hand, picked up trash at Harry Griffen Park after a stint at La Mesita.

At Jackson Park on Jackson Drive south of Murray Manor Elementary, members of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, across the street, applied anti-graffiti coating to the restroom building’s exterior.

The Rev. Mary Sue Brookshire said the coating would make cleanup easier if the wall was tagged. She added: “We use this park for picnics and our kids at the Charley Brown day care use this playground, so this park means a lot to us, and we wanted to do our part.”

At Aztec Park, in west La Mesa near Baltimore Drive, about 13 members of Dwell, a faith-based community, did weeding, raking and painting, said Aaron Henderson of the group.

Rafee Jajou said his children enjoyed being involved in the Aztec Park cleanup.

“It is important to teach your children about community service at a young age,” he said of the 8 a.m. to noon effort.