Hey, kids and teens: Sundays this summer, you can help Connecticut Avenue’s pollinator gardens grow

A closeup of the pollinator garden outside of Politics and Prose last fall.

Van Ness Main Street and ANC 3F have a kid-friendly volunteer opportunity (and a chance for teens to earn community service hours) each Sunday through August. Here’s the notice from Kathy Sykes, the master gardener who has led volunteers in planting the pollinator gardens along Connecticut Avenue, and ANC 3F Commissioner James Tandaric:

It’s finally summer and we invite students of all ages – from elementary, middle and high school – to join Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 3F and Van Ness Main Street on Sundays in July and August to garden in the pollinator corridor along Connecticut Avenue in the Van Ness Main street business district area. Activities include watering, weeding, and planting seeds or seedlings.

By tending to these tree box gardens that are now home to native plants, we are inviting pollinators, such as birds, bees and butterflies, to do their job and collect pollen and nectar so plants can flower.

This a great opportunity for students to obtain community service hours over the summer, and at the same time, learn about native plants and pollinators and meet new friends.

We will be at different locations each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. See the locations and calendar below. We ask that children under 15 be accompanied by an adult.

Summer calendar

July 3 – Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Avenue)
July 10th – Calvert Woodley (4339 Connecticut)
July 17 – Laliguras (4221-B Connecticut)
July 24 – Forest Hills of DC Senior Living (4901 Connecticut)
July 31st – Franklin Montessori School (4473 Connecticut)
August 7th – Politics and Prose
August 14th – Forest Hills of DC Senior Living
August 21 – Franklin Montessori School
August 28th – Politics and Prose

Questions? Please send an email with “Summer Youth Gardening” in the subject line to
Kathy Sykes at [email protected] or James Tandaric at [email protected].

For community service hours, please send an email to [email protected] with “community service hours” in the subject line.