'Take Me I'm Free." Finding Surprises And Moments Of Delight In Los Angeles (2024)

You don't need me to tell you about some of the inherent frustrations with living in as great of a place as Los Angeles — traffic and those maddening and seemingly contradicting parking signs being but two examples.

But this area of 10 million people also offers surprises and moments of delight. Oftentimes, in places where you've been thousands of times.

That is what happened this weekend, when I took my dog for a walk in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park on a lovely afternoon. The sun was emerging from a cloudy May Gray morning, Sheriff was chasing ducks, Angelenos were picnicking on the grass, kids were playing at the playground areas. All was status quo, until I started seeing these little potted plants lining the footpath and in different spots for people to discover.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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Each pot had a little sticker with the words "Take Me I'm Free" on it.

A grassroots effort

The further I went, the more of these cute little pots I saw. Turns out, this treasure hunt of free plants is the work of the grassroots organization, Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program (LHTP), that provides academic support and leadership development to kids and teens from the community.

Angela and Nichola Nguyen are part of the group's program working with high school students from the area. The sisters and high schoolers were out at Lincoln Park with other volunteers since the morning.

Nichola and Angela Nguyen, high school students from the East Los Angeles are who volunteered this weekend to give away free plants at Lincoln Park.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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"We just go to volunteer [because] in our area there's a lot of places to help with," said Nichola, the younger of the two sisters.

The two joined the community organization about two years ago. They said the group meet on Thursdays to figure out which events need volunteers.

Making a difference in communities

On Saturday, it was at Lincoln Park. The young volunteers first cleaned up different areas of the park, then started potting plants donated from Home Depot into smaller containers.

"Then we left them around the park for people to pick up," said Angela.

Dennis Ortega, founder and executive director of LHTP, said the higher schoolers and teens who volunteered at the event were more than just participants.

"We train them to plan all the details of the events, [to] run that event," Ortega said. "Instead of having the adults do everything and the teams just help, the adults are actually helping the teams to do it. So the skills go to them."

Ortega founded Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program in 1985, the year he moved to the neighborhood. The aim was to get kids in the area from joining gangs and for those in gangs to get out. When LHTP became its own nonprofit organization in the early 1990s, the focus expanded to include college preparation, leadership development, and other areas of community engagement.

Before the pandemic, Ortega said the organization was working with more than 1,000 kids.

On Saturday, some of them were at Lincoln Park to surprise unsuspecting folks like me with these lovely gestures and moments of kindness.

There could still be some potted plants waiting for you to pick up. If not, enjoy the stroll over this lovely long weekend.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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Learn more about the Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program

The nonprofit program was established in 1985 and now serves 1,000 children and teams each year in Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights, Chinatown, and El Sereno.

• Contact: (323) 223-2509 or email: LHTP@aol.com
• How to support