Join Friends of Grant Circle, NPS and your neighbors to keep the Circle beautiful

The National Park Service is turning 100 next August, and they’re kicking off their centennial celebrations on September 26th with a city-wide celebration — cleaning parks.

They’re looking to work with community members to help maintain and improve the parks in our area, including Grant Circle. Petworth neighbors Carol Herwig and George Morgan are partnering with NPS to launch a new Friends of Grant Circle group that will team up with NPS to help maintain the park in the Circle. The Friends will take care of things that don’t fall under “normal” maintenance and be the “eyes and ears” of the Circle for NPS. 

And they’re looking for volunteers to join them.

“Logan Circle is a great example of the first successful partnership between residents and the National Park Service,” Carol told me. “The park in the Circle is now spotless - it works. We can do that here, with Grant Circle, too.”

Some of the things the Friends will help with include painting the light poles and benches, cleaning of simple graffiti when necessary and pruning trees, with help from Carol, who’s an Arborist and Master Gardner.

A trash can with graffiti and a bench that's crying out for some paint

“The NPS and the Friends of Grant Circle are not looking for money, they’re looking for time,” she said. “The goal is a park that looks nice and is good for the community.”

If you live around or near the Circle (and if you attend the Grant Circle Social), this is an easy way to help give back to the community and keep the park looking good. "It's not a big time commitment," Carol said to me. "And the more people who come out, the less work there is."

If you want to volunteer some time or just learn more about the Friends of Grant Circle, you can fill out a volunteer/info form and Carol will get back to you with details.

The first Grant Circle cleanup with NPS is scheduled for Saturday, September 26th. 

Fill out the volunteer / info request form >

Drew

Hyperlocal community journalist in Petworth, Washington DC.



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