The past year was a whirlwind of growth for the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail, with awards, growth in volunteers, new events, media opportunities, new partners, and major trail improvements. In our fourth year as a Philanthropic Partner of the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), it feels like four years of stuff happened just in 2024.
Recognition
In April, we were surprised to receive a Community Impact Award from the Rosslyn BID for extensive restoration work near Rosslyn. In August, we were honored to be named the national recipient of the NPS Excellence In Volunteerism Team Impact Award in a ceremony at the Department of the Interior.
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Leadership Growth
We continued to grow and invest in our volunteer leaders, adding six new leaders. Six of our leaders completed Weed Warrior Training, and three completed Tree Steward training. We added our first youth leader and joined the celebration as she received Volunteer Alexandria’s Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. We also celebrated the marriage of our leaders Anna and Bryan.
Events
We continued expanding our resource appreciation events. We held our sixth Fireflies and Bat Walk. We added a Tulip Walk to our popular Tulip Bike Ride. We participated in Latino Conservation Week with GWMP and supported a Women’s History Walk. We added participation in the National Capital Region Bioblitz and co-hosted a Beaver Moon Monument Walk with GWMP. We also hosted our first Volunteer Appreciation Event.
Coverage
We started the year by being featured in a story by WTOP before making the cover story for Greet Del Ray magazine in April. In June, we hosted two producers from the NPR show Shockwave and showed them our favorite firefly watching location. Additionally, we were featured in the Choose to be Curious podcast in July. Our new video on how to bike to the airport and use the new bike storage lockers has been shared by multiple outlets.
Working with other organizations
It was also a year of new partnerships. Volunteer Arlington invited us to participate in a Cocktails and Causes night. We welcomed employees from Nestlé for their Day of Service. We were the beneficiary of the ALX Dog Walk and were able to bring GWMP’s B.A.R.K. Ranger program to the event. We also partnered with Bunch Bike, and our new cargo trike has been fantastic for hauling tools and marketing our group. We ended the year by joining the Old Town North Alliance and are excited to work on trail improvements in the Old Town North Small Area Plan.
Trail enhancements
We also celebrated major trail improvements. GWMP completed a new 14-foot wide bridge through Dyke Marsh, creating room to safely stop and enjoy the marsh habitat. We also collaborated with GWMP to renovate the Peter B. Webster III Memorial Area, which has a new frost proof water fountain, benches and bike racks.
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Great things are yet to come for the trail. We helped secure a $475,000 grant to replace water fountains and a $6,750 grant to replace bike racks on the trail and are expecting installation of the bike racks in 2025. We also adopted a strategic plan that will guide us through the next three years of improving the Mount Vernon Trail.