With just a few hours of your time, you can make a real difference in the community by volunteering to clean up various areas of Pomona.

Once again, Cal Poly Pomona is a partner in the annual Pomona Beautification Day on Saturday, April 5. Thousands of volunteers will work at various sites throughout the city and will receive a free T-shirt, lunch and two tickets to the L.A. County Fair.

“There are so many ways to serve the community, and this is a small yet impactful way to demonstrate our support,” says Megan McDanel, volunteer coordinator at Cal Poly Pomona’s Center for Community Engagement. “This is the perfect opportunity to show everyone that Cal Poly Pomona is an active, caring member of the community.”

The annual city-wide clean-up kicks off at 7 a.m. at Pomona City Hall. Volunteers will work throughout the city from 8 a.m. to noon. Fairplex will host a celebration from noon to 3 p.m. with a free lunch, live entertainment, door prizes and an art show.

Cal Poly Pomona will assign volunteers to five sites:

• Prototypes: Volunteers will help grade and plant sod at the back of the residential facility that serves about 120 women and children. Prototypes provides counseling, life-skills education classes, secondary and advanced education, and treatment for substance abuse and mental health disorders.
• Pomona Hope Afterschool Center: Volunteers will help spruce up the center, which serves children in first to 12^th grades. The center provides resources and a safe, affirming environment for youth to grow and learn.
• Pomona Hope Community Garden: Volunteers will help with weeding and preparing garden beds. In partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Pomona, the garden grows food, people and community — as well as helping residents save money on grocery bills. In the future, Pomona Hope wants to pilot a scalable model for urban green-space and gardening.
• Helping Hands Caring Hearts Ministry: Volunteers will clean and reorganize the kitchen, as well as clean the tables and chairs in the dining area. Helping Hands provides food, clothing and groceries to homeless and needy people in Pomona. The ministry serves about 130 people every Sunday.
• Pomona Historical Society: Volunteers will weed and garden at the Adobe de Palomares, a historical site in Pomona. The room and gardens depict everyday life from about 150 years ago. This was a crucial period in California history, as the American annexation of the state brought tremendous changes to the Palomares family and their contemporaries.

To register for Pomona Beautification Day, go to www.handsoninlandempire.org/broncos and enter the Invitation Code “broncos.” Choose the project you want to participate in and register as an individual or a group.

For questions, contact Megan McDanel at the Center for Community Engagement at (909) 869-3129.