Strengthening a Shared Community

Some chose to beautify through community cleanups, landscaping and tree planting. Other volunteers fought food insecurity by packing meals or collecting canned food. Hundreds more pitched in on other projects—more than 20 in all—featured in the eighth annual Good Neighbor Day on Saturday.

The volunteer event, hosted by the University of Maryland, the city of College Park and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, aims to unify the community through service—pulling in students, faculty, staff, alums, College Park residents, officials and others.

“It is great to see families taking part in caring for the environment and teaching their children the value in doing good and being engaged in the community,” said Gloria Aparicio Blackwell, director of the Office of Community Engagement.

Among the highlights this year:

• More than 900 registered volunteers, the largest turnout in the event’s history
• 35,640 meals packed from the Terps Against Hunger meal-packing project
• Over 3,000 lbs. of food donated to benefit UMD Campus Pantry and the College Park Community Food Bank
• More than 275 trees planted

Check out some of the service projects in the gallery below.