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One of FOGFLP's claims to fame is that our volunteers spend well over 1,000 hours every year helping the park. Volunteers are the soul of our nonprofit organization, and their work is fundamental to our identity. But who are these people? And what, exactly, do they do on behalf of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park?
Meet the FOGFLP Tuesday Work Team. Every Tuesday from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., in all but the very worst weather, about a half-dozen sturdy volunteers gather on Eagle Drive or in Winans Meadow, depending on what needs doing that day. Most are retirement age, and some have been showing up in the park on Tuesday mornings, like clockwork, for many years.
People give their time to FOGFLP in lots of different ways – leading hikes, doing committee work, helping out with tech and communications. But Tuesday mornings in the park are where the vast majority of those annual volunteer hours are spent.
They come armed with trash pickers – sadly, there is always litter to be removed. Clad in work boots and gloves, they clear brush from trails and remove invasive vines from trees. Sometimes they put down mulch and chips to nourish the gardens along Eagle Drive and at the Ben Cardin Pavilion.
Occasionally, the group takes on bigger projects. More than a decade ago, husband and wife pair Antonio Carpenter and Brenda Pinkney spearheaded the removal of invasives from a large section of the Crimea area, in the process reviving the magnolia grove that blooms magnificently every year in early spring.
Although Tuesday is the focus, the work sometimes takes place on other days. A small group tends the park’s gardens on Saturdays. Some venture into GFLP on a near-daily basis, removing trash as they go.
Then there are the larger weekend cleanups that occur several times a year. Collaboration is an important aspect of these efforts; in recent times, the Work Team has partnered with volunteers from UMBC, Outward Bound, REI Corp., T.Rowe Price, Baltimore Weed Warriors, Mid-Atlantic Audubon, TreeBaltimore, TreeKeepers, and others.
Over the years, FOGFLP volunteers have made numerous visible improvements to the park. One of the more notable of these is the wooden trail signs that help guide visitors throughout GFLP. Recently, volunteers installed a Little Free Library and restored the iconic bronze eagle statues on Eagle Drive. One of the team’s current projects is fixing up and painting a gazebo off Eagle Drive that had fallen into disrepair.
The Tuesday team’s close collaboration with city trail workers is a critical factor. Volunteers regularly survey the landscape, reporting their findings of dumped trash, damaged boardwalks, and downed trees to Baltimore City Recreation and Parks’ Trails Division staff.
“We have a wonderful, cooperative relationship with the trail workers, Kenny and Sarah, and Trail Division Manager Tim Howell,” says Peggy Cummings, organizer of the Tuesday Work Team and head of FOGFLP’s Environment Committee (membership in the two groups is largely overlapping).
The Tuesday Work Team as it exists today was started in the early 2000s by Jo Orser, a longtime volunteer and former FOGFLP board president. Although the same group has made up the core of the team for years, new volunteers are always welcome. Anyone wishing to get involved should contact Peggy Cummings at pgh09peg@gmail.com or Executive Director Mike Cross-Barnet at execdirect@friendsofgwynnsfallsleakinpark.org.
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