PHOTOS: West Hollywood Elementary Gets a Makeover Thanks to Volunteers

School was out, but was bustling Saturday as parents, neighbors and city officials descended upon the campus with brooms, shovels and paint brushes in hand for the 2nd annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

This year's project, put on by Friends of West Hollywood Elementary (FOWHE), with help from the Sunset Strip Businesses Association and the City of West Hollywood, saw nearly 50 volunteers painting benches, raking away trash and planting a hedge at the K-6th grade public school located at 970 N. Hammond St. off Sunset Boulevard.

"We've been trying to get some curb appeal out here for a long time," said Stacy Klines, a parent at the school and former president of FOWHE. "This is exactly what I've been dreaming about since my child was in kindergarten. It's taken until fourth grade."

This year's Day of Service comes during a crucial time of budget cuts for public schools. The Sunset Strip Music Festival, created by the Sunset Strip Business Asociation, raised $3,210 this past year to support arts and music education programs at West Hollywood Elementary.

Klines points to Chris Clarkin, community engagement coordinator for the business association, for giving the project at West Hollywood Elementary some traction.

"I took it upon myself to lay out the landscape drawing," said Clarkin, a chair of the city's Public Safety Commission, who works in property management on the side. "This is a community improvement project to build better relationships between parents and neighbors."

The school will get a hedge at its main entrance on Hammond Street to ward off dogs, and parents waiting for their kids can now stand on a paved patio instead of dead grass.

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