Last year I traveled to Washington DC for the People's Garden Summit. Nothing odd in that: school bureaucrat on a trip to the nation's capitol to meet with federal bureaucrat and talk about "bureaucrat things." I was going on behalf of my school groups and the National Gardening Association, a great group that gets kids all across the country outside and in the garden. Great right? But what makes this unusual is that the second leg of my flight from Philly to DC - canceled. more ›

In honor of Chef Jamie Lauren appearing in Top Chef: All-Stars, which premieres on BRAVO tonight, Beechwood is hosting an All Night Happy Hour starting deliciously early for a "night" event. When can you get your celebratory chef-drink & nosh on? Starting at 4 p.m. Bravo! more ›

Did you build the butterfly habitat in Venice? Did you? Or you or you? A very cool someone has built a monarch butterfly sanctuary in a rundown Venice lot, according to the Venice Patch. The habitat was discovered a few weeks ago, on the side slope of a lot on the east side of Pacific Avenue and 29th. more ›

It's an international annual event that draws some 14,000 people in Los Angeles County who altogether pickup around 300,000 pounds of trash from the beaches and inland waterways. Coastal Cleanup Day is September 26th and local organizer Heal the Bay is calling for action, asking people to a few hours that Saturday morning. more ›

This weekend is Big Sunday in Los Angeles, which means there are hundreds of opportunities for you to get involved with community improvement projects, big and small. more ›

This morning in Austin, Texas, where the annual SXSW conference is being held, Pepsi announced the winner of its Refresh SXSW Challenge, in which three people competed for a $50,000 prize to launch a web-based campaign for good. Mark Horvath, who was once homeless himself on the streets of Los Angeles, won the grant for his blog InvisiblePeople.TV. He even won against SparkHelp, a location-based mobile application that looks to connect people to opportunities to volunteer in their communities, which was backed by top blog Mashable. Today's grant is part of the bigger Pepsi Refresh Campaign, which will dole out $20 million over the course of the year to "bring digital pro social ideas to life." Congrats, Mark! more ›

Fans of documentaries like Food, Inc., The Cove, The Inconvenient Truth and movies like Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and The Soloist might not know they were all produced under a company called Participant Media. And it's that company that recently launched a new social action network called TakePart, which aims to be, in our words, the Google of Do Gooding and the Yelp of Volunteering. more ›

Our favorite recent piece of guerilla public art--that giant fork placed, well, at a fork in the road--will be the site of a food drive this weekend, says the LA Times. Benefitting the Union Station Homeless Services, volunteers will collect nonperishable food at the fork, located at Pasadena and St. John avenues, both days this weekend, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sculpture was a birthday present/prank for Bob Stane, founder of the Ice House comedy club and current owner of the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena. Stane always thought it would be funny if someone did that and his wish was granted by his friends. Now people want to see the piece be a permanent part of the city's public art collection. more ›

It was just a few months ago when 6-year old Pablo Castelaz lost his battle with cancer, after treatment at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. 13 months before that, he was diagnosed, almost seemingly out of nowhere showing no warning signs prior, with bilateral Wilms’ Tumor, a rare form of children’s cancer. more ›

The large annual Harley Davidson ride and charity from Glendale to Fairplex has been canceled this year. Although 25,000 bikers attended last year, topped off with performances by ZZ Top and Foo Fighters, the reality of pulling off the event meant to raise money for various charities just wasn't there for organizers as pre-sales were way down. more ›

We've seen, smelt and been saddened by the destruction of the deadly Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest. Containment is expected next week and soon after a new phase will be entered into: rebirth. "After we get in there and assess what damages need to be repaired, there will be opportunity for volunteers to help the Forest Service repair some of this stuff," explained Howard Okamoto, the Recreation Officer for the Los Angeles River Ranger District, which was the area most affected by the blaze. He said activities will likely include tree plantings and trail work, but once a list of needs is developed, more projects opportunities will be announced. In the meantime, those interested in volunteering should contact Okamoto to be placed on a list to be notified when projects are ready to go. He can be reached at 818-899-1900 x229 or better yet by e-mail at hokamoto [at] fs.fed.us. more ›

Over the past few years, WorldFest has consistently been a useful, fun and conscious festival chock full of vegetarian restaurants, eco-minded speakers and do gooding exhibiters. And making it even more impact-less to the planet, the solar powered fest is located right off the Metro Orange Line at Woodley Park in Encino. more ›

Over 40 LA restaurants are participating in today's Dining Out For Life to benefit Project Angel Food. The restaurant's, which include O!Burger (seen in the photo here), Chaya, El Chavo, Taste and Barney's will "donate a minimum of 25% of the day’s sales to benefit Project Angel Food, which cooks and delivers 10,000 meals every week to men, women and children struggling with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses." Check out the full list of participants at diningoutforlifela.org. more ›

Last Wednesday, GOOD and Knight Pulse partnered up to honor the five individuals they awarded for their involvement in various community projects addressing local and global issues. more ›

The Watts House Project (video) goes way beyond your average neighborhood beautification projects. It is large-scale "collaborative artwork in the name of neighborhood redevelopment" that seeks to engage a variety of individuals, from the residents of 107th street, to artists, to educators and community members. The project, according to artist and director, will Edgar Arceneaux, transform and remodel all 20 residences on the street through a collaboration with an artist, architect and resident of the property. more ›

Over the past few years, the exotic Sahara mustard plant has been aggressively spreading across the Joshua Tree National Park, possibly threatening the desert ecosystem and leaving irreversible damage. Perhaps the most noticeable damage to a visitor is the affect to the beautiful annual wildflower blooms. more ›

Here at LAist, we're always happy to take leads and tips from out tips@laist.com box about issues you are having in your neighborhood, commute, etc. We were happy to see our Orange Line post get picked up and now being worked on by the city and we are always looking for more issues to be brought to light. more ›

Photo courtesy of Ben Morrison. more ›

When we first met Andrea Ambrose, she e-mailed us a photo of decapitated chickens she found at a neighborhood clean up asking if we knew anything about it. We looked into it but also took great interest in her organization, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Clean Up Project (LANCUP). On Martin Luther King Jr. Day when then-President-Elect Barack Obama encouraged Americans to serve their country, the little-known volunteer group had 250 people come out to participate to beautify Silver Lake (to see their track record, everything they've done is marked on this Google Map). more ›

For some, this it not even a holiday where you get the day off, but to the normal world (government, banks, etc), this is a holiday. And if you want to take that seriously and honor the man it is named after, Obama has made that possible with his huge Renew America Together program. The LA Neighborhood Cleanup Project is getting together in Silver Lake at 10 a.m. to clean up the neighborhood an there are plenty of other events around town. more ›

In a follow up to last weekend's cleanup where decapitated chickens were found, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Clean Up Project has informed us that they are having another Silver Lake event next Monday on Martin Luther King Day, or what is now being called Barack Obama's National Service Day. more ›

For Moira Nordholt, who is known online as the Feel Good Guru, her Christmas day food coma comes around 2 p.m. The presents are open and the everyone has eaten, the day is over, right? Not for her this year. more ›

When it comes to Skid Row's largest Christmas toy party, some wait over ten hours in line; some wait over night. Fred Jordan Missions' 65th annual Family Christmas Celebration was last Sunday and it brought out the masses, with smiles in tow. more ›

The loss of 1.25 million jobs (yeah, 1,250,000!) in the last three months clearly has an impact on the demand (and need) for social services. On the flip side, the not-for-profits are struggling as they face budget cuts and sharp declines in donations. An increase in demand coupled with a decrease in supply...not too encouraging, especially around the holidays. Sunday's LA Time's included a "Guide for the Newly Poor" (h/t LA Homeless Blog) .On that note, here are some upcoming volunteer opportunities for the week. more ›

A few weeks ago, TOMS Shoes invited LA bloggers to check out their pop-up store on Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Due to their overwhelming success, the store, which was only supposed to stay until September, will continue to occupy the space until January. TOMS sells (and gives away) shoes all over the world, however this is their first and only store. This holiday season they aim to give away 30,000 pairs of shoes to children in need in Ethiopia, so it's definitely worth checking out, especially for some holiday shopping. more ›

Reverend Maurice Chase, best known as Father Dollar Bill, often can be seen throughout the year handing out dollar bills to those in need. And Christmas and Thanksgiving are no different, except a bigger wad of cash. Today he handed out $15,000, mostly in dollar bills in amounts up to $20. The first ten people he saw in wheelchairs received $100 bills. Chase has been criticized for giving money to people who might spend it on drugs or booze, but he says that's not the point. The point is to show them that they are not forgotten, not invisible. "The annual tradition is supported by the widows of Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, along with comedian Bob Newhart and philanthropist Eli Broad," reported ABC7 who sent cameras to scene in the streets of Downtown LA. more ›

Yesterday, thousands of homeless were served at the Los Angeles Mission, home of the Anne Douglas Center for Women. Actor Kirk and Anne Douglass hosted the Thanksgiving dinner with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Cindy Crawford, Corbin Bleu, Jennifer Love Hewitt and other notable names joining in on the serving line. more ›

Waking up early for Black Friday's "doorbusters" sounds like the anti-fun. So here are some of LAist's Holiday Picks for the philanthropist in you, none of which involve any malls, massive stores or long lines. All of these gifts have a charitable element to them, benefiting mostly local or national organizations so you're really giving two gifts and making lots of people happy. And you feel good. Everybody wins! Onto the gifts that keep on giving... more ›

“There is no better way to celebrate this holiday season than to help this City’s less fortunate families and children,” said Mayor Villaraigosa today in a statement. “At a time of great challenge for our economy and our country, it is our responsibility to give what we can to those suffering the most.” And things could be worsened if mudslides wipe out what was saved in the Sayre Fire. The lead agency on shelter management and relief effort for last week’s Sayre fire, the Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles is accepting monetary donations over the phone at (310) 445-2685 and through its website, www.redcrossla.org. more ›

Call 626.240.4550 x542 or email for more details; families and children welcome. more ›