ALLIANCE for PARKS
GET INVOLVED AND PUT YOUR PASSIONS TO WORK!
HOW THE PARKS ALLIANCE WORKS
GPARC is a non-profit that works with the city of Gaithersburg to promote awareness, engage in public and private partnerships, and raise resources to support Parks, Arts, and Recreation programs and initiatives. We have a great group of people who know that Gaithersburg is the greatest city in Maryland, but relies on people and businesses in the community to keep making it better.
The Alliance for Parks, one of the three pillars of GPARC, focuses on All Parks for All People. Our overarching goal is to make sure that all citizens know of the parks that are available for use and enjoyment in the City of Gaithersburg. We are looking for community partners to help with our existing projects and programs, like our flagship program – Explore! Gaithersburg.
Explore! Gaithersburg
Explore! Gaithersburg is designed to help residents find and connect with parks in the City by participating in:
● Park Clean Up Days
● Creating Park Trail Maps: volunteers catalog trail surfaces, typography and amenities found on public park trails, and features of interest to all users, and then the City uses this information to create maps for each park.
● Tree Plantings
We are always looking for new ideas too! The Alliancefor Parks meets monthly 9 times each year from September to May. Join us and bring your ideas and enthusiasm to the table!
How Can You Help?
The Alliance for Parks offers multiple tiers of support:
Become a Park Steward: Becoming a park steward is a great option for a business or civic organization that wants to contribute financially to Parks in our community. Park Stewards support our parks by providing funds to support installations in parks across the city. For example, a Park Steward may:
● Sponsor a kiosk or bench in a park
● Purchase/install outdoor fitness equipment
● Purchase shade structures over playgrounds
● Water Fountains – for humans and dogs
● Host a fundraising event
Adopt-A-Park: Adopting a park entails providing support to a specific park (the City has 30 of them!) for one year, and to perform activities quarterly (spring, summer, fall and winter). The adopting group works in coordination with City staff by checking on the park and reporting needed repairs and
maintenance.
Depending on interests and skill set, people can take on projects such as landscaping, removing invasive plants and trail maintenance, in coordination with City staff — though simply picking up trash is a great way to support a park. Some suggested activities are listed below:
● Park clean up events
● Promote restoration/protection of the biodiversity
● Connect with educators and/or host educational events
● Coordinate Naturalist programming
● Collaborate with researchers/provide area for research
● Help understand park usage
● Advocate for and protect natural resources
● Invasive species removal (weed warriors)
Adopt-A-Trail/Sports Field: If adopting an entire park seems overwhelming, partners can choose to
Adopt-A-Trail or Sports Field. Partners would provide support to the trail or sports field at least twice
each year (think Spring and Fall cleanups), and would work with City staff by checking on the park and
reporting needed repairs and maintenance.
● Park clean up events
● Organize a trail walk
● Collaborate with researchers/provide area for research
● Invasive species removal (weed warriors)
Still not seeing what you are looking for?
Join our monthly meetings, or attend one of our events: email Carolyn Muller to get added to our mailing list.
GPARC
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