Local students create wellness garden at Hermosa Beach greenbelt

Three local students recently turned a portion Hermosa Beach’s greenbelt into a “wellness garden,” while helping restore native habitat for butterflies.

The project, “Planting Hope, Growing Minds,” was unveiled on Monday, July 20. Hermosa Valley School students Morgan Hashmi, Kennedy O’Brien and Lola De Avilla led the effort, in conjunction with the South Bay Parkland Conservancy and the city. It was part of the middle school students’ Girl Scout Silver Award project.

Not only did the Scouts get their hands dirty by weeding and restoring the area, but they also raised the money needed to support the project.

They also painted inspirational kindness rocks with various messages, such as “You are Enough,” “Choose Kindness” and “Keep Smiling.”

The rocks Hashmi said, are intended to support “mental health.”

“People can walk by and look at them,” Hashmi said, “and like them because they all have positive notes.”

Gardening, O’Brien said, is a “big part of mental health.”

“We know a lot of kids walk around here and I know a lot of people walk their dog on the greenbelt,” she said, “so it’s a good location.”

Three Hermosa Valley School students unveiled their Girl Scout Silver Award project July 20, 2026, at the greenbelt and 2nd Street in Hermosa Beach. The project, in conjunction with the city and the South Bay Parkland Conservancy, turned a space of the greenbelt into a ‘wellness garden’ and helped restore native habit to support endangered butterflies. Pictured in the front row are SBPC Vice President Mary Simun; Melanie Hashmi; project leaders Morgan Hashmi, Kennedy O’Brien and Lola De Avilla; and Kristina O’Brien. The back row is SBPC Vice President Project Development Jacob Varvarigos and Hermosa Beach Mayor Mike Detoy. (Photo by Michael Hixon/SCNG)

The project ‘Planting Hope, Growing Minds,’ located at the greenbelt and 2nd Street in Hermosa Beach, features a wellness garden with ‘inspirational kindness rocks’ and also supports the South Bay Parkland Conservancy’s efforts to restore native habit. Three Hermosa Valley School students, Morgan Hashmi, Kennedy O’Brien and Lola De Avilla, unveiled the Girl Scout Silver Award project on July 20, 2026. (Photo by Michael Hixon/SCNG)

‘Inspirational kindness rocks’ are part of a wellness garden unveiled on July 20, 2026, by three Hermosa Valley School students as part of their Girl Scout Silver Award project. The ‘Planting Hope, Growing Minds’ project, located at the greenbelt and 2nd Street, also supports the South Bay Parkland Conservancy’s efforts to restore native habit. (Photo by Michael Hixon/SCNG)

Three Hermosa Valley School students unveiled their Girl Scout Silver Award project July 20, 2026, at the greenbelt and 2nd Street in Hermosa Beach. The project, in conjunction with the city and the South Bay Parkland Conservancy, turned a space of the greenbelt into a ‘wellness garden’ and helped restore native habit to support endangered butterflies. Pictured are project leaders Morgan Hashmi, Kennedy O’Brien and Lola De Avilla at the unveiling. (Photo by Michael Hixon/SCNG)

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The trio raised money in part through selling Girl Scout cookies, Hashmi said, and they also received donations, which helped raise enough money to buy more than 20 California native plants.

When San Diego Chargers star kicker Cameron Dicker brought his Wholeheartedly Foundation to Hermosa Valley School in December to encourage youth to become involved in nonprofits, De Avilla said, they pitched their idea — but were denied.

But that led them to the SBPC, which for decades has promoted restoring native habitats for endangered wildlife, such as the El Segundo blue butterfly.

“The greenbelt is a really good area where people can come in and take a specific interest in a spot and restore habitat for the monarch and restore habitat for the El Segundo blue butterfly,” Jacob Varvarigos, SBPC’s vice president for project development, said during Monday’s event to unveil the wellness garden. “So this is the first type of collaborative effort where we’re adopting a plot and kind of opening that up as opportunities for other community members to come in.”

The students, Varvarigos said, put together a proposal and sent it to the SBPC.

“It works within our vision to restore habitat on the greenbelt,” Varvarigos said, “and so they raised some funds, and we we planted this area here with more of a long-term commitment to come back to the spot and maintain it.”

Hermosa Beach’s partnership with the SBPC and what the Scouts have done is an example of the city’s hopes for the greenbelt’s future, Mayor Mike Detoy said on Monday.

“It’s cool to see (the greenbelt) maintained,” Detoy said, and “have it continue to grow.”