Photo by Gray Lens Photography
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yanking vines might seem like a small thing. Raking leaves? Collecting litter? Much the same. But between 9 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturday, Feb. 1 (rescheduled from Jan. 20, due to weather) – just a few hours –all those small things will add up to something big as volunteers join forces with Friends of the Wissahickon to give Blue Bell Park a much-needed sprucing up.
The park cleanup is FOW’s 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Volunteer Day of Service project. And if it’s as successful as past MLK Day projects tackled by the Chestnut Hill-based nature nonprofit, Blue Bell Park – just off West Walnut Lane near the traffic circle – is in for quite a makeover.
Last year, the MLK Day project focused on cleaning up the area around Clifford Park, at Wissahickon Avenue and West Johnson Street, explains Shawn Green, director of field stewardship for Friends of the Wissahickon. “I’m hoping we have a large turnout this year and we’re able to replicate what we did at Clifford Park, which is right next to Thomas Mansion.”
As is the case in Blue Bell Park, the forest perimeter at Clifford Park was clogged with vines. Volunteers were able to make a big dent in eliminating that pesky, choking overgrowth, and the before and after difference, says Green, “was like night and day.”
“I’m hoping we will have the same impact at Blue Bell Park,” he adds. “But on top of that, we’ll have some other tasks that volunteers can take part in because not everyone wants to cut and pull vines, and there’s always litter to pick up. We have a large stormwater infrastructure, and the leaves need to be raked out annually. The sidewalks need to be raked as well.”
Past MLK Day projects have drawn crowds of volunteers. “It’s always a popular day for groups,” Green says. “We already have several school and work groups that have signed up and some of our regular trained volunteers will be co-leading the day with us. It’s a really good mix of people and for a lot of them it might be their first interaction with Friends of the Wissahickon. For some, it might even be their first visit to the Wissahickon Valley. It’s always exciting to have some fresh faces and get to connect them with a park that means so much to us.”
Photo by Shawn Green
As for large groups, it will be especially important to provide advance notice. (For more information on that, contact Marisa Miller at miller@fow.org.)
Providing advance notice for groups helps FOW ensure that there are spots for everybody. In the past, for smaller clean-up projects, corporate groups have taken all the spots, Green says, “and we want to make sure we have enough room for other individuals and other groups that may want to join.” For larger events such as the Blue Bell Park project, that tends to be less of a concern, he says, but still … check in with FOW.
“I see people coming as strangers and leaving as friends. It’s just a beautiful part of life.”
Shawn Green, director of field stewardship for Friends of the Wissahickon
And for all volunteers, advance online registration is strongly advised. The registration process includes a waiver form, which volunteers are required to fill out. Waiver forms will be available on the day of the event for walk-ins, but easier and better to register online. (Here’s the link.)
Don’t worry if you lack experience or equipment. FOW will provide all the tools and gloves you need to do the job. And the organization has never been short of expert leadership. There’s no age limit, although clearly volunteers need to be physically capable of performing the tasks at hand. Wear long pants and sturdy shoes. Bring a water bottle.
At this point, the number of volunteers for the Blue Bell Park project is unknown – registrations are still coming in – but if past is prologue, there will no shortage of helpers. Dozens, in fact. Last year, Green says, there were about 240. That number, he adds, was inspiring.
Green always finds the response to FOW’s MLK Day of Service – and all of the organization’s service days, for that matter – particularly heartening.
“It’s not just taking care of the park,” he says. “And if you know the park, you know how special it is, and there’s a lot of meaning to just coming out and getting your hands in the dirt. But it’s also really a fantastic community. I always feel like these days are a lot of fun. I see people coming as strangers and leaving as friends. It’s just a beautiful part of life.”
