Over the last couple of years i have heard stories about parents and other community members getting rebuffed by Elysian Heights Elementary School when they volunteered to organize clean-ups and other support. In particular, I had heard that a group who wanted to rehabilitate the garden was told, basically, to...go away. So, a few days ago at Chango coffeehouse, I was so pleased to see a small stack of invitations to a "garden renovation" at the school. Each mini-flyer was individually crayon-decorated. The info:

Please Joing Elysian Heights Garden Renovation/ On: Tuesday, Dec. 18/ From: 8:00 - 12:00/ 1562 Baxter St./ Enter Gate from Valentine Street/ Help change and expand your school!

The following was email-forwarded to me:

We'll be rebuilding the soil, pruning trees and bushes, repairing the shed, setting up compost bins, and more... And we'll also be reviewing the garden plan and having a big discussion about what the garden will include as we build it in the coming months. Please come help us out if you can. You don't need gardening experience. If you can join us, please bring cardboard and newspaper. We'll need all that we can get for a base layer in rebuilding the soil which is currently taken over by crab grass.