Providing Funds And Extra Services At A State Park

Volunteers clearing one of the trails in Patapsco Valley State Park.

This organization started out as a gathering of businesses, groups, and volunteers, to convert an old building into a visitors center in the late 1990s. By 2000, the Avalon Visitors' Center was completed and open. But it wasn't the only new item ready for Patapsco Valley State Park. Along the way, that gathered group had formed into FRIENDS OF PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK (FPVSP).

Obviously this group of active individuals had much more in mind. From advocacy to beautification to trail maintenance to recreational programs, this group provides. Most important, though, is the fundraising that the group accomplishes. Such additions as "Discovery" backpacks for visitors enhance the exchange of information, iPads for the park rangers help them to do their work more efficiently, and the Hollofield Play Space adds to the appreciation and fun of the park's youngest users, even those with physical challenges. These park additions are extras that normally are not found in a fiscally tight State budget.



Just in the past month, weather has played a significant role in the area, causing above average accumulation of rainfall for the month of May. And the prospects for June include more of the same. When the major flooding event occurred on May 27, FPVSP helped make sure that park users were notified and exercised the courtesy of taking a break from the park to let personnel assess for damages and make sure the park was safe for users. This was especially important as media attention was focused on flooding in Catonsville and Ellicott City.

As it happened, the downpour of rain and flooding, with the resulting damage was the second catastrophic event in less than two years. As also happened previously, Ellicott City's clock turned out to have floated away in the flood waters. Fortunately, pieces were found about a mile away from the town on River Road. FPVSP board member Dave Ferraro helped in the recovery of the clock.

The Ellicott City clock is loaded into a pickup truck.

Unfortunately, one of the organization's major fundraisers, Cocktails for Trails, which had been scheduled for June 7, had to be postponed and rescheduled to August 2. The event will still be held at Elkridge Furnace Inn. This will allow volunteers and the organization to devote resources to cleaning up and helping affected neighbors. By the way, if potential donors are looking for ways to help in the wake of the flooding, this is one organization that will utilize your donations completely for the needs of the park. Clean-up costs money and does take a toll on equipment, so they could use your contributions.

Cocktails For Trails has been rescheduled.

Thanks for information from this page on FPVSP: https://fpvsp.org/hfpvsp/; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/457781641036486/photos/a.464618647019452.1073741828.457781641036486/1048202985327679/?type=3&theater; this page on FPVSP: https://fpvsp.org/cocktails-for-trails/; and the above link.

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Church And Community Garden

Some of the Giving Garden's produce loaded for delivery.

There is a marriage, of sorts, between a church and a community garden. It's happened in a declining, post-industrial community of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hope is made of small things. An involved church and a garden that provides community members with fresh produce does just that.

The GIVING GARDEN has become intertwined with the work and mission of the PITTSFIELD CHURCH OF CHRIST, almost to the point of not being able to speak of one without the other. Russell Moody explains more about the reasons for the Garden, "The Giving Garden exists to make a difference in our larger community. We operate on the notion of loving our neighbor. Sustainable practices help the earth, impact people that need a helping hand, and is considerate of our earth moving forward. The Giving Garden is working example of people coming together to help people, leaving the smallest footprint possible."



The idea with the Giving Garden is that anyone who wants to tend a garden is allowed to utilize any plot that's available. But seniors and those in need become the recipients of the bounty produced. It's not unusual for the gardens to produce more than 8,000 pounds of produce in a single year. Even some local organizations have benefited from the harvest, including a hospice, which has received sunflowers to brighten up the rooms of their patients and the local Headstart program, which received pumpkins for their youngsters to decorate.

Last year, the Church, the Garden, and Alchemy Initiative teamed up to offer a new youth education venture, Roots Rising. The program provides life skills workshops for teens, while also providing them jobs on farms, in food pantries, and in community kitchens. With a launching grant, the program began last summer. The previous summer the Church built a new basketball court for local youth, so they had a safe place to play with friends and acquaintances.

Local businesses and citizens regularly to keep the Giving Garden in operation. With such groups as the Springside Garden Group and Ward's Nursery contributing shoots and seeds, that community feel helps make the work a little easier for volunteers like Bambi, Woody, Zoey, Nick, Gordon, Rob, Nancy, Kim, and many others.

Tending the garden takes physical labor.

The next event happens in just a few days, on June 2 at the Pittsfield Church of Christ. The event is being held to help with distribution of child IDs and to provide kids with the experience of touching a real live truck. Kids can get information and sign up for the Boys and Girls Club Of the Berkshires. There will be a raffle for a bike gift card, and there is a donated bike that one of the youngsters can win for free. Sounds like fun!

Sunflowers for the local hospice.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/russell-moody-giving-garden/; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BerkshireBotanical/videos/1277167195694370/?hc_ref=ARTQ_0hlqpKex7gao9SIp7kJFX-B4xta-zZCx4bRBArqHL61vbg3-LkbwnXEABwLGaw; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1150108035129795/; and the above links.

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