Working Together for a Cleaner, Safer Hollywood

Each month, volunteers tackle the trash on the streets of Hollywood

Hollywood Village gathered at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre and hit the streets again this week, cleaning up homeless encampments and raising spirits with The Way to Happiness, a common-sense guide to better living.

Hollywood Village volunteers are committed to raising awareness of the homeless crisis, which has increased by 23 percent in L.A. County this year. 

On the third Saturday of every month, Hollywood Village cleanup launches from the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre. This month, a member of the Navajo Nation joined the team and held a prayer circle, blessing the cleanup crew. Then the team of 51 volunteers grabbed shovels and bags and took to the streets.

Joining the team this month was a group of foreign exchange students from USC, who helped fill and haul away 33 bags of garbage, including 44 contaminated syringes.

After the cleanup, volunteers handed out hundreds of copies of The Way to Happiness written by humanitarian and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. The Way to Happiness is a common-sense nonreligious moral code with 21 precepts to guide people in making better choices in their lives.

The Hollywood cleanup takes place the third Saturday of every month. Local businesses that provide breakfast and lunch for the volunteers and the tools and equipment for the cleanup include Kettle Glazed Donuts, The Oaks Gourmet Market, Tommy’s Original Hamburgers, Home Depot of Hollywood and Garbo Grabbers.

The cleanups are a partnership between the Church of Scientology, The Way to Happiness Foundation and the Los Angeles Police Department.

For news of the plans for next month’s cleanup, visit the Hollywood Village Facebook page. Those wishing to help should arrive Saturday, August 17, by 9 a.m. at the Church of Scientology at 5930 Franklin Ave.