Change Growing from a Garden in Mecca
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MECCA- St. Anthony's trailer park has been plagued with a series of problems, but a group of people are working to make things better and they are starting with a garden and park. Video by kmir6.com
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MECCA- A community in Mecca is getting much needed improvements. St. Anthony's trailer park has been plagued with a series of problems, from electricity going out in the middle of the summer to bad drinking water. The living conditions are among the worst in the Coachella Valley. But a group of people are working to make things better and they are starting with a garden and park.
"There's actually going to be someplace safe for them to go because at this point in time there's nothing," said Joseph Luna, a volunteer from Cathedral City.
In a dusty lot in the middle of about one hundred mobile homes, volunteers and residents are laying the groundwork for the garden and park. Pueblo Unido and KDI design firm partnered to make the project possible. It's a small sign of progress for residents at the park who have endured so much.
"What happened in the years past, oh it was terrible, because every so often the lights would go out again and again," said Griselda Molina who has lived at the trailer park with her children for four years.
About 100 families live at the mobile home park and most of them are farm workers originally from Mexico.
"I see a big need that no one notices on the other side of the desert, that this exists out here and that they are living in pretty much substandard conditions," said Michelle Verdugo, a volunteer helping build the park.
Every Sunday the neighborhood kids will gather to help volunteers build the space.
"I can come everyday and play with my sisters and brothers," said Yahira Arredondo, one of the children living at the trailer park.
Even with improvements to electricity, water supply, and now the community space, it's a long road ahead for the community.
"A lot of the children are excited about helping us, and this is just a start," said Adolfo Pinon, Director of Community Building at Pueblo Unido.
"Right now they are just brining it up to code, at that point we'll see where we can go from that but one step at a time, one week at a time," said Verdugo.
To learn how you can help out visit Pueblo Unido of the Eastern Coachella Valley: http://www.pucdc.org/index_files/Page434.htm.
Or just show up at St. Anthony's Mobile Home Park on Sunday afternoons ready to work. There address is 67075 Hwy 111, Mecca.
-Jessica Flores, KMIR6 News.
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