2007 Volunteer Accomplishments

What a year 2007 has been! Our programs continue to grow, and our green building, the Herring Run Waterched Center, is nearing completion! That's reason to celebrate. And celebrate we did!

Our 2007 Annual Meeting and Celebration was a tremendous success, with great food and drink, terrific tunes, inspiring conversations, an energized raffle and auction, and some truly beautiful views of the Baltimore Harbor.

We were honored to have over 150 guests in attendance showing support for the Herring Run Watershed Association. Thanks to your abundant generosity, we raised over $4400 over the course of the evening for future programming and building needs. To all of you who came out and/or have supported us in other ways, we offer our heartfelt thanks.

October is Neighborwoods month, an annual October celebration to draw attention to the value of trees in our communities. Developed and organized by the Alliance for Community Trees, with the support of the Home Depot Foundation, this program has been widely embraced across the U.S.

On Saturday, October 6 the HRWA entered into a terrific partnership with the Jones Falls Watershed Association, the Parks and People Foundation, and Johns Hopkins University to rally 88 volunteers to help with a series of tree plantings on Johns Hopkins Eastern Campus and City College. By the end of the morning, nearly 200 trees had been planted, mulched and watered. What a day!

What better way to kick off summer than with our annual Native Berry Festival! Now in it's third year, this grand park picnic is our way of thanking our volunteers, donors, and friends of the Herring Run Watershed. We are proud to say that this year's attendance was truly outstanding, with over 75 guests in attendance. Blueberries were far and away the berry of choice in our soon-to-be-famous dessert contest. Our exemplary judging panel, Ann Costlow of Sofi's Crepes, Jeff Smith of Chameleon Cafe, and Jerry Pellegrino of Corks and Radio Kitchen, happily sampled and re-sampled all the desserts and selected this year's blue ribbon recipes.

• Big Bad Wolf House of Barbeque - delicious /BBQ, as always
• The Brewer's Art - craft beer so good, it makes you cry
• Zeke's Coffee - iced tea & coffee, so smooth and cold
• Safeway on Harford Rd. - ice cold fruit drinks & soda

• Caleb Stine - rising musical star and folk hero
• Good Guise - fun-loving "disgruntled folk dancing gypsy troupe"

• Alabama Barbeque
• Chameleon Cafe
• Dangerously Delicious Pies
• Ladew Topiary Gardens
• Lutherville Bike Shop
• Poor Boy's Garden Center
• Red Canoe
• Senator Theatre
• Sofi's Crepes
• Urban Adventure Company
• The Brewer's Art
• Zeke's Coffee
• WYPR & WTMD

Not surprisingly, spring is one of our busiest seasons, with everyone anxious to get outside and enjoy the warmer weather. And this spring was no exception. Here are just a few of the highlights:

On April 14th, a team of industrious volunteer site captains led an army of over 300 volunteers in the cleanup of a dozen sites within the Herring Run watershed. The beautiful spring weather made for an enthusiastic crowd, resulting in the collection of 5 tons of trash from our local streams! Folks then congregated in Herring Run Park to celebrate, socialize and receive free Earth Day T-shirts from the American Chemical Society. Thanks to Whole Foods and Zeke's Coffee for their generous donations.

Thanks to Volunteer Central and Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks for helping, 30 volunteers came out for a momentous Earth Day tree planting on April 21st. In just one day 205 new trees and shrubs were planted along a 1/2-acre buffer located along Cedonia Ave. in Moores Run Park. We invite everyone to drive by and see the impressive results.

Saturday, April 29 dawned warm and sunny, an ideal day for people to peruse the rows of trees and shrubs in our native plant nursery. And what a turnout for our first sale of the season! For four hours, over one hundred fifty exuberant souls hiked the road from Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation's headquarters on Hillen Road to our nursery located at the north end of Mount Pleasant Golf Course. With over 40 species to choose from, eager buyers had some tough decisions to make. Redbuds, Serviceberries, Dogwoods, Azaleas, Clethra, and Blueberries were some of the biggest sellers. In all, over two hundred twenty-five plants found new homes to help increase the City and County's tree canopy.

On May 1, roughly 60 students from WEB DuBois High School got to spend the day planting 25 street trees along Westfield Ave., McClean Blvd., and Fleetwood Ave. in the Hamilton Hills neighborhood. Thanks to the Parks and People Foundation for their assistance with digging the holes!

2006

2005

2004