September – Druid Hill Park and Druid Heights CDC

Our annual Druid Hill Park event went down in typical VU fashion: cleaning and greening, epic #voluntbeering, a fall moonsoon, and hanging with Congressmen.

For the third time, we came together at Druid Hill Park to beautify one of Baltimore’s most historic green spaces. Over 100 volunteers braved the heat to tackle invasive vines, remove trash, and plant trees. Prior to the start of the event, volunteers learned about the history and importance of Druid Hill Park to the surrounding community. Inspired by the sentiments of community members, volunteers beautified the park and even cleaned out an old pool!

 

We also got District 7 and 11 in on the action and a group of volunteers manned a cleanup at the Druid Heights CDC with councilmen Nick Mosby and Eric Costello. We picked up trash, did some weeding, and painted playground equipment.

After the hard work was done, we hosted one of our best after parties ever under the Columbus Pavilion. Live music from Gotham Theory filled the park as we got cornhole and beach volleyball underway. There was healthy competition brewing from the bubble ball games with the help of BubbleBallMD. Jurasic Pork BBQ and Goganics served up some delicious (and healthy!) eats from their food trucks. And, as always, it wouldn’t be a VU event without beer, provided by Harpoon Brewery.

As if it couldn’t get any better, we were honored to have Congressman Elijah Cummings on hand to speak to us about his memories in Druid Hill Park and the importance of volunteering. Rep. Cummings described the hope he felt seeing the multitude of young people brought together in their free time to do right by the community. He ended his remarks praising our potential and noting, ‘Our diversity is not our problem. It is our promise’.

It was an event not to be missed, and was all captured on social media using our first Snapchat filter!

 

Check out our friends who made September’s event possible:

Druid Hill Park
www.druidhillpark.org

Druid Heights CDC
http://druidheights.com

Gotham Theory
www.gothamtheory.com

Harpoon
www.harpoonhelps.com

Jurasic Pork BBQ
www.facebook.com/jurasicporkbbq

Goganics
www.facebook.com/goganicsfoodtruck

BubbleBallMD
www.bubbleballmd.com