'More Than A Hero,' Jill Mather Helps Keep Chatsworth Clean

Northridge - Chatsworth, CA — Without community leaders, Northridge - Chatsworth wouldn’t hum along nearly as smoothly as it does. We’d miss their contributions in big and small ways.

Patch has partnered with T-Mobile to recognize these often unsung community leaders and celebrate their contributions.

This submission comes from Barbara Malin, a Northridge - Chatsworth reader who nominated Jill Mather.

How do you know this community leader?

I volunteer with her organization Volunteers Cleaning Communities

What does this community leader do?

Everything! She founded VCC, she is a board member of the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council, Chatsworth Kiwanis, Rotary, Woman's Club, a member of Friends of the Santa Susana Mountains State Historical Park, the Chatsworth and Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce, and founder of VCC, a grassroots organization dedicated to cleaning the streets and highways of our San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas.

Why do you believe the community leader should be recognized or honored?

In addition to picking up trash on the streets, Jill and the volunteers have adopted a section of the 118 Ronald Reagan Freeway to pick up trash between Tampa Avenue and Balboa Blvd. both east and west including off and on-ramps. This is a five-year commitment with CalTrans, but Jill says it will be a lifetime commitment for VCC. Jill and VCC are also involved in clearing abandoned homeless encampments and working with the unhoused in active homeless encampments to clear their trash and items that need to be hauled away.

What's one thing you want everyone to know about the community hero?

Jill Mather, founder of VCC is a mentor, a friend, and more than a hero. She is an outstanding visionary who is educating the public, working with schools, businesses, and other community groups to keep our communities clean. Those who join VCC are part of the solution and Jill has made this possible for everyone.

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