The purpose of this monthly newsletter is to keep Foundation partners and affiliate groups better informed with monthly updates on our activities, upcoming meetings, and other news of interest.  Your input is welcome.  If you have content to add to a future newsletter, wish to subscribe, or want to unsubscribe, please contact the Foundation webmaster/secretary, Karen Townsend at KarenTownsend@rrpfoundation.org.

Partners Luncheon Summary - Wednesday January 18, 2006, NOON
The Carillon at Byrd Park

Instead of a regular monthly board meeting, the Foundation held a second annual Partners Luncheon on Wednesday, January 18th.  Over 50 people turned out for the event, representing approximately 25 partner groups.  Foundation Executive Director, John Zeugner shared the Foundation's recent accomplishments and went over Foundation procedures.  John Pope, the new Director of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities was introduced along some other Department staff and representatives from the Cultural Arts (Pine Camp and Dogwood Dell).  Partners also gave short summaries of their group's activities.

Calendar of Upcoming Board Meetings and Other Events

February 15, 2006 - Chimborazo Park
March 15, 2006 - James River Park Visitors Center (Strategic Planning)
April, 19 2006 - Maymont
May 17, 2006 - T B Smith
June 21, 2006 - Belle Isle Visitors Center

Regular board Meetings are held at 8:15 am on the third Wednesday of each month.  Locations vary as noted above.  Partners are cordially invited to join any or all Board Meetings.  For directions, please refer to the City's web page for community center information.

Attention All Partners - Information Technology Opportunity

The Foundation has received a very generous offer from Gerald Saunders (VCU Instructor and Friends of Barker Field President) of help in organizing our data and offering new web-based services to Partners.  Some ideas being tossed around are to:

• Offer online group collaboration tools similar to Yahoo Groups;
• Maintain Partner contact data via a web-based database where Partners would be able to make changes via a form on the website; and
• Allow Partners to login and view monthly (or maybe weekly) updates to their account balances.

If you have any other ideas of how the Foundation might better serve your needs in this area, please e-mail Casey Cockerham.

Partner News

From Friends of James River Park...

On Sunday, April 23 Friends of James River Park invites families to stock the pond on Belle Isle.   A tour of nature and history will take place following the fish stocking. Check out the News and Events link at  jamesriverpark.org for the details.

The annual membership party for Friends of James River Park will be at the Pump House on Saturday, June 10. The party will honor Ralph White and the staff of James River Park. Bring a dish to share and meet other river lovers. Free for renewing members or $15 per person (includes membership!).
 

From Monica Rumsey of Friends of Forest Hill Park ...

Friends of Forest Hill Park recently elected a new president, Ms. Asha Kays, who has been an active member of the group for the past several years. She replaces outgoing president Gina Wojtysiak, who resigned in December 2005 but will continue to be involved in project-specific activities.

 

Asha has been designing a beautiful Web site for FFHP, and as president has made a commitment to getting 501 (c) 3 status for FFHP, as well as taking up the challenge from Councilwoman Kathy Graziano to hold an auction to help raise funds for the 1843 Old Stone House in Forest Hill Park. A tentative timetable for the auction is late 2006. Proceeds from the auction will be used to continue much-needed repairs and mechanical upgrades as outlined in a professional Historic Structure Report that FFHP commissioned two years ago.

 

In the next few months, FFHP will host two key events that will impact the park in a significant way:

 

Saturday, February 25: Forest Hill Park Tree Planting Event, co-sponsored by Philip Morris Incorporated and its employees, and Councilwoman Kathy Graziano. This project is one of several held in Richmond City Parks to help restore the tree canopy lost to Hurricane Isabel and other natural disasters over the past several years. More than 10 saplings and young trees will be planted; some are ornamental, a number are wildlife-friendly, and three Osage Orange trees will be planted near the circa 200-year old specimen that grows near the Old Stone House. To volunteer, please phone Gina Wojtysiak, 233-5096.

 

Sunday, April 23, : "Country In The City," a tour of 10 homes and 3 churches in the Forest Hill neighborhood. The tour is sponsored by Forest Hill Civic Association, and proceeds from ticket sales go to Forest Hill Park. The Old Stone House in Forest Hill Park (West 41st and Stonewall) will be a hospitality and ticket center for tour participants. To volunteer to help with Stone House hospitality, please contact Monica Rumsey, 233-7361.

From Bill Conkle of the VA Dept of Conservation and Recreation...

Join the Fan Woman’s Club and the Fan District Association on Saturday, April 8, 2006 at 9 in the morning in your favorite Fan park.  In the past few years, groups of citizen volunteers have formed Friends of groups for most of our neighborhood parks.  These groups have worked with city officials to develop park plans that meet the needs of their neighbors, from a children’s playground to community gardens.

The Fan Woman’s Club Neighborhood Improvement Committee and the Fan District Association’s Parks and Trees Committee are joining forces for this first ever annual Spring event to deploy as many volunteers as possible to all of our neighborhood parks in an effort to supplement seasonal maintenance activities completed by the City.  The end result will be a sense of pride in our neighborhood parks as a valuable resource and treasured green space and, even more importantly, a broader use of neighborhood parks as a public community asset.  Some of our parks are very visible, green spaces that dot our neighborhood and are visible from our streets and avenues.  Other parks are pocket parks secluded in block interiors and accessible only from alleyways, but treasured by urbanites still.

Set aside a few hours on Saturday, April 8, beginning at 9 AM.  Go to the park either closest to your home or one that has ties to your heart!  A coordinator will assign tasks to volunteers in priority order.  Wear sturdy shoes; bring gloves, garden tools, rakes, shovels, pruners, wheel barrows, spades, brooms, any implements at your disposal to make the job easier.  We’ll be weeding, mulching, planting, picking up trash/litter, raking, and an assortment to tasks specific to each park.  Volunteer alongside your neighbors and friends to build a strong sense of community, relish in the Spring air, and play in the dirt. 

Federal Park (pocket park between Main and Floyd, Rowland and Shields)
Grace Park (median park of Allen from W Broad to Monument)
Lombardy Park (the playground at Lombardy, Hanover, and Park)
Meadow Park (park at Meadow, Stuart, and Park)
Monroe Park (our largest park at Belvidere, W Main, Laurel, W Franklin)
Paradise Park (pocket park between Floyd and Grove, Vine and Allen)
Scuffletown Park (pocket park between Stuart and Park, Strawberry and Stafford)
Sydney Park (triangular park at Floyd, N Morris, and N Brunswick)

Resourceful Links for Partner Groups

Each month we include links to a few websites that might prove helpful or informative to our partner groups...