The Friends of Titanic Memorial Park (the Friends) look forward to its calendar of events and projects for 2019. The Friends were co-founded in the fall of 2017 by Corinne Irwin and Donna Hanousek in affiliation with the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly. They have a five-year formal agreement with the National Park Serivce (NPS) and assist NPS with park clean up, planting, conditions assessments and planning. The Friends completed its first full year of events and projects in 2018, which included working with NPS to organize three volunteer work parties, where dozens of volunteers weeded and planted annuals, removed dead shrubs, cleaned out the tiled activity wells and painted new benches.
In addition, the Friends held an event to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic and to thank the hard-working Friends volunteers,and participated in neighborhood events like the Southwest’s Duck Drop and Trick or Treat event.
This year, the Friends are building on this success with an active year of events with opportunities for Southwest residents to participate. The Friends are planning three volunteer work parties to improve the park. The spring clean-up event on April 13 will be a day of service to remember the sinking of the Titanic. The second clean-up event will be on July 5, which is in response to neighbors identifying the need to help NPS tidy the park after the July 4 celebration. The Friends will also hold a fall clean-up, date forthcoming. Neighbors interested in volunteering can visit the Friends website at https://www.fotmpdc.org.
In addition to the clean-up activities, the Friends are adding two activities in the park. One is to serve as a stop on the National Bike to Work Day on May 17. The other is to be one of the activity sites for the Southwest Business Improvement District’s Parade of Parks, date forthcoming. The Friends are also promoting education about the park, including the Titanic Memorial, which is listed on the National Register. As part of this effort, the Friends will be distributing interpretive information about the Titanic Memorial to hotels and other businesses to introduce more people to this beautiful monument and park.
By Donna Hanousek