Andre’ and ‘company’ makin’ it look good in the hood!

Noted local actor and playwright Andre Lee Ellis lends a hand to some of his neighbors as they put together the frame work for a garden bed during “Operation DMZ (De-militarize) Garden Group,” which is committed to making life better in the neighborhood of North Ninth Street where they live by building a community garden and cleaning up the trash and fixing up their lawns and planting flowers and shrubbery. As Ellis said: “It’s time to take our hands of the trigger and place them in the soil.” Ellis was inspired to initiate this effort when a 37-year-old male was shot and killed in his neighborhood. “As I watched this scene unfold it became important to me to do something positive in this community,” Ellis said. Elected officials, social service group representatives, neighbors and others came out and helped make the pre-Earth Day gathering success. Ellis is definitely “Putting the Neighbor Back in the Hood.” (Photo by Yvonne Kemp)