Saturday, April 27 will be the first of the Love Escalon events for 2013.

Coordinated through the local Trinity Church, the goal is to get local residents involved in caring for their community.

The day of service is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and in the past has included a gathering of volunteers at Trinity for a short briefing and organizing into groups to head out to the various project sites.

There are spots open in many family friendly activities, from taking baked goods to local fire, police and ambulance personnel to writing military Letters of Hope to be sent to service members serving around the world. There will also be some ‘manual labor’ projects, including clean up at the local C.A.R.E. Center, and some highway clean up as well. Escalon Library will seek volunteers to help organize the shelves and volunteers will also go out into the community seeking donations of canned and non-perishable food items to bring back to the C.A.R.E. Center to help stock the shelves of the local food bank.

Schools in the area are slated to get some painting, organizing, and weeding in the garden areas.

The Love Escalon day, like those in surrounding communities, is typically hosted twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, bringing residents together in support of their town. Around the Central Valley, events are scheduled in communities ranging from Modesto to Riverbank to Ceres on April 27. Neighboring Oakdale will host its first work day of 2013 a week later, May 4, so as not to conflict with the community’s Relay For Life event on April 27 and 28.

Trinity Church Pastor Jim Davis helps coordinate the Love Escalon work days and can be reached at 838-3000 for more information or to sign up to participate in the April 27 event.