It was a picture-perfect morning that would produce a perfect picture of working together.
Some 400 volunteers mingled with police in preparation for the Hollywood component of Faith & Blue Weekend, a national endeavor to facilitate “safer and stronger communities by engaging law enforcement officers and other local residents through the connections of faith-based organizations.”
In 2020, in the aftermath of widespread civil unrest following the George Floyd incident and others, Faith & Blue was created as an initiative of Movement Forward, the Atlanta-based organization devoted to building the “Beloved Community” envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Its mission is to improve connections between police and neighborhoods in big cities and small towns across the country.
Now an annual event, Faith & Blue aligned with the Church of Scientology as its religious partner for the most recent Hollywood cleanup event.
“There’s no limit to the good that we can accomplish if we have the courage and capacity to sit together and reason together. Because when we do, we find out that…there is more that unites all of us together than there is that divides us.”
To kick things off, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tim Talman approached the stage set against a brick façade at the south end of the parking lot. The fit, mid-50s officer immediately had the crowd’s attention as he sang a rousing “America the Beautiful” to a thunderous ovation.
“Only in Hollywood can you get a cop that sings like that,” remarked LAPD Captain Yasir Gillani, who then set his gaze on the crowd.
“It’s really cool to look around and see all these diverse people and we all want to make Hollywood a cleaner and safer place. This is amazing.”
Dozens of groups and organizations as well as 40 commercial sponsors contributed volunteers and supplies to take on the task of ridding the streets of trash and graffiti—a step toward an improved environment for all, while making life a bit more liveable for those unfortunate enough to live there.
Rev. Markel Hutchins, founder of Faith & Blue, traveled from national headquarters in Atlanta to thank volunteers firsthand for tackling the streets of Hollywood.
“I wanted to come and see the wonderful work that is being done by the Church of Scientology and all of these wonderful partners,” Hutchins said, “and to say ‘Thank you’ to every community organization, every sponsor, and especially to the liaisons of Faith & Blue who have made this event happen.
“There’s no limit to the good that we can accomplish if we have the courage and capacity to sit together and reason together,” he continued. “Because when we do, we find out that no matter where we’re from, what we believe, who we love and what we look like, there is more that unites all of us together than there is that divides us.”
Hutchins called Faith & Blue “the largest and most consolidated police community outreach project in American history, in three short years.”
By 2021, Faith & Blue had aligned with more than 1,500 faith-based organizations in nearly 700 host communities, participating in some 2,000 engagements in every state—activities including meet-and-greets, community dialogues, inspirational gatherings, picnics or BBQs, and community service projects. The organization had by then also joined forces with more than two dozen national and 750 local law enforcement partners, and more than 50 state agencies.
The movement has continued to grow, with even greater results expected nationwide in 2023.
Faith & Blue events are held the first weekend in October, at times in multiple locations in larger cities. In Los Angeles, the recent events beyond Hollywood include a community cleanup sponsored by L.A.’s Monastery of the Angels, and an Open Discussion on Facing the Future with Hope, featuring Rev. Hutchins, LAPD Chief Michael Moore and other community leaders, held at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw neighborhood.
Equipped with supplies provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of Sanitation, Home Depot, and a variety of local shops, the teams headed out to all points of the compass. By the cleanup’s end, they had covered 170 city blocks.
Before the Hollywood cleanup volunteers dispersed to tackle their local streets, LAPD Community Coordinator Senior Lead Officer Mika Gonzalez reminded the crowd: “There is unity in community. You guys are here, we are here, we are going to clean Hollywood and make it look absolutely beautiful.”
The volunteers divided into 10 teams, each comprised of adults and a few children, and assigned a senior lead officer from LAPD’s Hollywood Division.
Equipped with supplies—from trash bags, paint and brushes to assorted cleanup tools—provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of Sanitation, Home Depot, and a variety of local shops, the teams headed out to all points of the compass. By the cleanup’s end, they had covered 170 city blocks.
Along Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame, memorializing the artists who have enabled generations to envision new realities, evidence is plentiful of those whose realities are blighted by homelessness.
Moving east and west past the Pantages Theatre, the W Hotel and dozens of souvenir shops and fast food stops, police and volunteers worked side by side to the frequently surprised looks from tourists and locals.
The cleanup teams were repeatedly thanked by those who saw their efforts, as cars passed and drivers honked their horns and flashed thumbs up in support.
Capturing the community spirit of the initiative, a photograph of one volunteer team—cutting through a residential side street, led by an LAPD officer wielding a rake—was chosen by Movement Forward in March 2023 as one of five national Faith & Blue photo contest winners. The image also appears on the Faith & Blue challenge coins for 2023.
“It exemplifies the spirit of connection that is Faith & Blue,” wrote Jared Feuer, Movement Forward COO, and shows “the confidence, purpose and togetherness of the volunteers.”
Several more blocks down the boulevard, patrons outside a store saw that togetherness in an approaching team and made way with a thumbs up once they heard the group’s lead officer call out, “Excuse me, I’m picking up that trash.”
Meanwhile in the 6600 block of Hollywood Boulevard, a team descended on a vacant Art Deco building covered with years of graffiti, posters and handbills.
The Kress Building, a certified historical structure, was originally opened in 1934 as a “five-and-dime” chain store and later housed the flagship store for Frederick’s of Hollywood until 2006. Investors later tried to bring back “the old glitz and glamor of Hollywood” by turning the architectural treasure into a restaurant, bar and music club, complete with a rooftop pool and patio, but it closed in 2011, leaving the building vacant and the façade in neglect.
The volunteers, under the guidance of Home Depot’s Luigi Iezza, gave their all to clean up the façade, including plying a long-handled paint roller and brushes to cover graffiti with a fresh coat of the building’s signature pale-yellow hue.
Iezza, an assistant manager at a Burbank location, said he was surprised at the Faith & Blue turnout and at how much was accomplished in a matter of several hours.
“I didn’t realize it was this big,” he said. “I’m going to get some of our other stores involved next time.”
The effort ended back in the Capitol Records adjacent lot with a late and well-deserved lunch from a variety of sponsors. An estimated 200 storefronts up and down Hollywood Boulevard had been cleaned. In addition, 1,600 copies of The Way to Happiness booklets, calling attention to Precept 12, “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment,” had been distributed to pedestrians and business owners—many of whom pledged their involvement in future efforts to improve their environment.
Volunteer groups gathered for photos with LAPD K-9 Officer Zuke, a red Labrador, and his partner, Officer Brett Coffey, who together had recently seized one million fentanyl pills and $20 million in cocaine—another way to clean the streets of Hollywood.
Before closing out the day, Officer Gonzales again addressed the crowd: “Thank you for helping to take care of our environment and taking care of your neighbors. The most important thing is, we did it together!”
