FYI… I am recuperating well this week from my surgery Feb 1 to remove a 3 centimeter hematoma (blood clot) from my brain caused presumably by my bicycle accident last November. I am off work and my other normal volunteer activities until my neurosurgeon sees a CAT scan that shows my brain has returned to its proper position inside my skull from where it was displaced by the blood clot. But one of my yearly efforts is too critical to let even this stop me…

It’s nearly March again, and the one time in the year I pitch my circle of family and friends for a donation to a worthy cause…

I am soliciting donations for the Saturday, March 20 North Valley Caring Services (NVCS)} Bike-a-thon to collect pledges to support this vey crucial community organization located in and supporting a very poor, at-risk, mostly Hispanic community just three miles east of where I live in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

The Langdon/Orion Street neighborhood, where NVCS is located, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles, known for its gang activity, poverty, homelessness and dense population. North Valley Caring Services continues a herculean effort to help that marginalized community help itself. Their current programs include:

* A breakfast program and food pantry for the neighborhood residents and homeless folks in the area

* Early childhood education classes

* Parenting support including English classes

* After-school activities for children and teens

* Referral & health-related services

The need is particularly great this year, because of our “Great Recession” and the fact that NVCS will soon be losing their “First Five” grant, that has been a major source of funding their programs for pre-schoolers and their parents. I was thrilled to be able to raise over $700 last year, urging my friends, familil and extended network to make a pledge to NVCS in honor of my April 2 birthday.

At my U-U congregation we help NVCS and the community it supports in other ways to. We collect food every Sunday for their food bank. During the winter holidays we buy outfits for all the younger kids in their programs, which are given to the kids by Santa at the yearly NVCS Christmas party. Since we llive in an area where many people have citrus and other fruit trees in their yards (and much of it falls on the ground and rots), I am helping organize an effort to go on Sunday afternoon and pick people’s friut and take it to the food pantry. It seems crazy to have a yard full of rotting oranges when two miles down the street people don’t have enough food to eat.

So this year, because of my brain injury, I will be riding only in spirit, but gathering even more pledges for my at-risk neighbors to the east, and the wonderful organization that supports them.

I would welcome any pledge. I pitch my family and fellow congregation members to pledge a dollar a mile ($26 total) or whatever. Even $5 or $10 would be a great help. If you would like to join the effort, and maybe honor my April 2 birthday to boot, you can email me at czale@socal.rr.com or call me at 818.298.5386.