By 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, at least 35 volunteers had gathered on Paint Branch Drive to pull invasive plants and replace them with native species.
The group—mostly University of Maryland (UMD) students—was one of many across the city participating in College Park’s 14th annual Good Neighbor Day, which brought together more than 100 volunteers at 20 service sites throughout the city and campus.
“It gets wet kind of soon in there, so if you start walking on muddy stuff, just go back out and start over,” called out Meg Smolinski, outreach coordinator for UMD’s Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The Arboretum has been part of Good Neighbor Day for more than a decade.
“My goal is that by the time I retire, I will have removed invasive species from one acre of campus,” Smolinski said.
On the southwest edge of campus, electrical engineering senior Isabelle Bryden led about 50 volunteers to clean up Guilford Run, a small stream.
“This year was our largest turnout yet, and we made it the furthest we’ve ever made it,” Bryden said.
Across Baltimore Avenue, College Park’s Lakeland neighborhood hosted its first Health & Wellbeing Fair, where for one activity, residents gathered around a litter of kittens under the care of Beltsville Community Cats. Rescue coordinator Adaeze Offorbuike said she hoped some student volunteers would sign up to foster the kittens.
Other volunteers, including former College Park Mayor Andy Fellows and members of College Park Scholars, hosted the inaugural Discover Technology event as part of UMD’s Data Justice program.
“The reason we are doing the Data Justice program is to work with students to think about how to use technology to make things more fair,” Fellows said.
Not far away, inside Virtual X Kitchen on Roanoke Place, restaurant owner Nomie Hamid moved between the stoves and drink bar, checking the butter chicken and chickpea masala that student volunteer Olivia Linus was stirring.
“I felt like doing something in the community, and you don’t really get to do this often,” said Linus, a senior cell biology and genetics major. Hamid, a College Park resident for more than a decade, and his team prepared 500 boxes of food to distribute throughout the city, including to senior facilities.
“I’m a food person. I love feeding people,” Hamid said. “Everybody should have food. Everyone should always be eating.”
At the Pregnancy Aid Center (PAC) on Erie Street—located in College Park for 51 years—mechanical engineering sophomore Bennett Vitek assembled a book box for the clinic’s library. PAC Executive Director Mary Jelacic said many parents cannot read in English, so volunteers read to children while their parents are in appointments. The book box built on Good Neighbor Day will be placed at the clinic’s entrance.
On the College Park Trolley Trail near Greenbelt Road, more than 20 volunteers uprooted weeds from the permaculture garden’s plant bed. “Most of the plants are edible, so neighbors can walk up when things are in bloom and just grab what they want,” said Alec Lynde, a Berwyn resident and organizer.
Councilmember Alan Hew (District 1) said volunteers were removing weeds first and then layering shredded wood to suppress new growth. They also planted American persimmon trees in the garden.
“It’s really lovely and beautiful, but weeds come every year,” said Jewel Tomasula, a Hollywood resident who often bikes by the garden. “Pulling up the weeds is something you have to do regularly, and many hands make light work. So it’s nice to have this coordinated day.”