the Sunday, 10-28-2012 Crispus Attucks Park workday -- a success

Here is an item not related to Hurricane Sandy:
  
From: Will Gomaa
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 3:45 PM
Subject: Crispus Attucks Park workday update--success!
                                     
On Sunday, before our thoughts turned fully to Hurricane Sandy, we had a tremendously successful workday at Crispus Attucks Park.  Huge thanks to the 15+ volunteers who spent their Sunday morning (and part of their Sunday afternoon) weeding, pruning, sawing, raking and bagging, turning the Memory Garden from an overgrown mess into a space fit to be  used and enjoyed.
            
Before we got to work, the gravel paths in the Memory Garden were impossible to make out.  A dense thicket of vines, shrubs, grass, and weeds--some that were planted, some that took root on their own--had completely overgrown the paths.  The area near the bench was littered with trash and overrun with crabgrass.  Volunteers trimmed back the bushes and trees, uprooted weeds and other vines, and weeded the gravel walkways.  As you can see from the attached photos, the paths are now easily walkable.
 

The same bushes that had overgrown the Memory Garden had also overgrown the U St. alley--in places, the alley was encroached 6 feet or more.  Volunteers trimmed the overhanging branches and bagged the waste.

 

All told, the volunteers filled 48 heavy-duty bags--leaves, branches and weeds that will not enter the Bloomingdale sewer system!

The volunteers achieved an extremely impressive amount in a little more than a morning`s worth of work.  Looking forward to the next Crispus Attucks workday in the spring!

Will Gomaa
CADC Vice President