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| Photo: Cabrillo Meeting (L to R): Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, Theresa Gee, Marianne Kjobmand. Kitty Ha, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Devi Joseph, Summer Graham |
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Congratulations to Devi Joseph and the Friends of Cabrillo Playground for being chosen as NPC’s Volunteer of the Month for February. Devi and her group made a great effort to promote the parks bond, and they have been working hard to fix elements of their park by meeting with elected officials.
Why do you volunteer in your Neighborhood Park?
DJ: As a community, we recognize that if we didn’t do anything our neighborhood would continue to be vandalized. In 2006 we had major vandalism problems in the playground and homeless people who were frequenting the playground at night. All the neighbors realized that we needed to organize around the Playground. With the help of Lorraine Banford, our NSA Manager, and Neighborhood Watch we started having regular neighborhood meetings.
What inspired you to work in your community to improve the parks?
DJ: Personally I recognize that I was one of the few people in the neighborhood who had the time to get as involved as I did. Most of the people in the neighborhood are working families, they have children and often elderly relatives they take care of. I have more or less retired. I have the time, the interest and I see everything that goes on. It is like my backyard.
We needed to make a statement that we were going to do the best for our neighborhood. It was easy to get people involved because everyone wanted the same thing.
When I wake up each morning I would see broken glass all over the playground. Teams who came to play would bring their own brooms with them to clean up the glass.
What got you started volunteering for your neighborhood park?
DJ: It became a neighborhood pride issue. We wanted a clean safe neighborhood for the children. St. Thomas is a few blocks away, Lafayette School 5 or 6 day cares within a mile radius of the playground. On the weekends we have teams that come play—a basketball team a soccer team. The playground is used all the time and it is just not up to standard.
They remodeled the playground the last time in the early 80s. The playground needs an upgrade now, as the structure is splintering and the equipment is out of date.
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| Photo: Cabrillo Cleanup (L to R): Mark DiGiorgio, Theresa Gee, Bette Matsuoka, Vera Rogers, Jocasta Mettling, Amy Belkora |
