THE NORTHWEST PARK OAKVIEW WEED & SEED  PROGRAM

MONTGOMERY COUNTY GOVERNMENT

SILVER SPRING REGIONAL CENTER

____________________________________________________

RESPONDING TO A CALL FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

Organizations and Residents of All Ages Participate in

Montgomery County’s 23^rd Annual Community Service Day

October 24, 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland.   On a wet rainy morning organizational volunteers, parents, children and youth armed with gloves and orange trash bags disappeared into the wooded tree line of Broad Acres Park, joining thousands of residents across Montgomery County in celebration of Community Service Day.

During the activity Takoma Park youth soccer league play along with residents jogging and walking on the park track served as the perfect backdrop to the park clean-up.  These are the kinds of activities for which the park was intended after its renovation, construction and dedication during the fall of 2008 through September 2009.  However, as volunteers entered the woods of the park it was apparent different types of activity were occurring.

Numerous drinking sites were found littering the woods with empty cases of beer and glass bottles.  Volunteers also pulled out luggage, tires, blankets and a couch.  Left in the park for the Department of Parks to follow-up on were rusted mechanical items too heavy to be pulled out be volunteers.  At last year’s community service event volunteers identified a rusted vehicle to be removed.

The Parent Resource Room at Broad Acres Elementary School which also houses the Northwest Park Oakview Weed & Seed, served as the base of operations for the day.  Officially advertised as a 9 to 11 activity, Officers from the Maryland National Capital Park Police conducted a security sweep of the park prior to the event ensuring participants did not have any unexpected run-ins with vagrants that sometimes hang out at the park.

The park clean-up wasn’t the only activity occurring in the Weed & Seed area this morning.  In addition to serving as a base of clean-up operations, the Broad Acres Parent Resource Room was converted into a mini-barber shop, as the YMCA Linkages to Learning and the Tzu-Chi Foundation teamed up to provide haircuts to youth of needy families.  Additionally, David Morrison, Executive Director for the Long Branch Athletic Association, stated the organization used Community Service Day to support their curriculum of “good citizenship” to children and youth enrolled in LBAA programs.

The day’s activities wrapped up at 11:30 with MCPS students waiting to receive forms that credit their hours of labor towards the required Student Service Learning hours required for high school graduation.  All participants felt Community Service Day 2009 at Broad Acres Park and Elementary School was a huge success.

Participating organizations included:  The Northwest Park Oakview Weed & Seed, Silver Spring Regional Center, The Office of Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg, The Department of Parks, Maryland National Capital Park Police, MCPS Broad Acres Elementary School, The State’s Attorney’s Office of Montgomery County, The Long Branch Athletic Association, The YMCA Linkages to Learning, The Tzu-Chi Foundation, The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity from Maryland University, The Montgomery County Volunteer Center, The Northwest Park Community Association, The Northwest Park YMCA Community Center, Americorp. Vista Volunteers along with parents and youth from Broad Acres Elementary, White Oak Middle, and Springbrook High School.

Weed and Seed is a U.S. Department of Justice program that provides more than $1 million in funding over a five-year period to help communities provide focused law enforcement activities to “weed out” persistent criminal activity, while at the same time “seeding” with human services and community-building programs.  With the Weed and Seed Model, community leaders work hand in hand with law enforcement officials, educators, government agencies and non-profits to help grow safe and healthy communities.

For more information about the Weed and Seed Program contact Victor Salazar at the Silver Spring Regional Services Center (301) 565-5847.