Food altar: Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative plans public communal table

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Bringing together art, food and community, the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative will be organizing a public communal table, laid out in Sicilian tradition (known as a ‘St. Joseph’s table’) on March 18-20.

There will be about 800 servings of pasta e fagioli, or Italian bean soup, for parishioners to eat. The event also includes lectures, visits to community gardens and exhibitions at the Watts Towers Arts Center. Money raised will be distributed to Watts residents through local food pantries, the Watts Senior Citizens Center and the arts center.

The communal table will feature a variety of ritual breads, plants and fruits. The organizers need as much help as they can get -- donations and volunteers alike. For more information, see the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative website.

For monetary donations, make checks payable to ‘St. Alban’s -- Discretionary Fund’ and send by March 17 to St. Joseph in Watts, c/o St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024. For nonperishable food donations: drop off at the above address or at Mudtown Farms, c/o Watts Labor Community Action Committee, 10950 South Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90059. (Please state when dropping food off that it is a donation for the “Communal Tables in Watts” food drive.)

-- Emma Wartzman