Wednesday, April 05, 2017

The Four Mile Run Conservatory is Springing2Action in Four Mile Run Park!

Our kids are picking up after us. Let's not let them down. 
The Four Mile Run Conservatory is Springing2Action in Four Mile Run Park! Spring2ACTion is a 24-hour online event that provides a simple way to connect donors to the charitable causes they care about most and encourages them to take action. This virtual fundraising effort, hosted by ACT with the help of generous sponsors, will offer local nonprofits the chance to raise thousands of dollars for the benefit of all Alexandria.

Contribute now!!


By the time the group of summer camp kids got finished their clean-up of Four Mile Run Park in the summer of 2010, the results were astounding. In little over an hour, there lay in one big pile, a clump of 30 gallon trash bags, all mostly full. The thing was: it didn't look that bad when they started. Other groups had been through the park all summer and it had never looked better....well, at least not in the last decade. And yet, just a few weeks later, another clean-up turned up piles of more trash. It's a constant struggle.
I asked the kids what they thought was needed to keep some folks from having to continuously clean up after other folks. I suggested more trash cans. They suggested more police patrols and security cameras. All I know is that the winter hasn't been kind to the Four Mile Run. Without nice weather to bring volunteers out, the trash and debris, depressingly, is back. Without some intervening force to keep the litter out of the stream only the armies of helpers that come out month after month can keep the stream alive.














The Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation wants to be that force. As we continue working to plant trees and remove invasive plants, this year we also aim to reduce litter throughout lower Four Mile Run with "Clean Stream Extreme"!!
Help us equip volunteers with tools for stream clean-ups and install recycling bins & litter traps to make that less necessary. Our Spring2Action fundraising goal is participation - 100 donors, at any giving level. Help us today!!














In the past year, Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation volunteers contributed more than 400 hours of their time in improving the park, planting 26 trees, removing 12 cubic yards of invasive Kudzu vines, and documenting the wildlife that call Four Mile Run Park home. In March, we finished fundraising toward our 'Kick the Habit' project to install water bottle/jug fillers at the City's two most heavily used athletic facilities. These will soon be installed and we will conduct outreach to get citizens to 'Kick the Habit' of disposable single-use water bottles, which are such a major component of the litter found in Four Mile Run.
With your involvement and support, each day Four Mile Run becomes cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful.