MLK Day strengthens our watershed community from Abington to Philadelphia

We had another successful Martin Luther King Day!

Temperatures below zero didn’t stop us from working hand in hand with our communities on the 24th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service. We engaged youth and adult volunteers both near Tacony Creek in Philadelphia and Jenkintown Creek in Abington.

In Philadelphia

Near Tacony Creek, we partnered with Olney Christian School and New Life Church to host indoor environmental games. We learned what a watershed is through the crumpled watershed game and saw how trash gets to our creeks using our enviroscape. We practiced our aim with the cornhole game, which helped us learn the names of our creeks and we learned about our sewers and stormdrains through the CSO (Combined Sewage Overflow) surge game. We even tested our water knowledge playing Watershed Jeopardy!

Everyone enjoyed all the activities and giveaways, including reusable bags that the students and children in attendance painted with native fish stamps.

We want to thank all our partners, volunteers from TechServ Scholars, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and TTF Board Members, Susan Myerov and Donna Wray.

In Montgomery County

In the morning, at Abington Friends School, forty students and parents created two kinds of bird feeders to attract hungry birds to their backyards during the winter.

Both bird feeders were made using recycled materials — one utilized toilet paper rolls, covered in lard and then rolled in bird seed. The other type of feeder utilized recycled containers and twigs as perches. The containers were painted, holes were cut above the perches and the feeders were filled with seed. Students and parents made beautiful designs on their bird feeders, and even got to take them home to put in their backyards.

Thank you to Abington Friends School for inviting us to participate in Martin Luther King Day festivities as well as supporting our work upstream, through collaborative programs like MLK Day and projects on the campus such as the rain garden and creekside planting!

In the afternoon, volunteers gathered in the dining hall at Manor College in Abington (upstream!) to assemble pollinator boxes. Fifteen volunteers worked to assemble, paint and stuff these pollinator boxes. These pollinator boxes will be put to good use across our watershed. These boxes are artificial nests that provide shelter for pollinators such as bees and wasps. They are similar to wooden bird houses, except the front is left open and stuffed with hollow materials.

 

These pollinator boxes are a great addition to gardens! Don’t worry, the bees and wasps that stay in pollinator hotels are solitary, and not aggressive like other hive dwelling wasps and bees. Thank you to the Manor community for welcoming us for such an exciting activity on Martin Luther King Day and supporting projects including our wonderful rain garden located on campus.

Thank you for joining and participating with us!  Enjoy more photos here. Want to volunteer and do good in your community? Learn more here.