On Saturday, May 18th approximately 40 volunteers came out to Hope Meadow to help plant the 3000 native landscaping plugs. We had volunteers from Hope Church, Pennsylvania Master Naturalist, National Wildlife Federation Habitat Swardrds, The Lancaster Sierra Club, members of the Ephrata community and Rail-to-Trail users.
All week we drilled holes, prepared water and organized the plants by size. Many evenings were spent drilling holes and draining drill batteries. We came close to drilling the full 3000 holes for the plants prior to the event. Only a few needed to be drilled during the planting event to get all the plants in the ground. A huge thank you to Paul Trella for helping with the plants, drilling and securing water for the freshly planted plugs.
Hope Church has an amazing events committee who volunteered their time and resources to make this planting day a success. They provided water, snacks and a wonderful lunch. I really appreciate their dedication and thoughtfulness when planning this event. It was nice to be able to eat lunch and socialize with volunteers after planting the meadow. Thank you, everyone, on the events committee. Hope church is so blessed to have such wonderful talented group of volunteers.
I would like to thank Hope United Methodist Church for their support and dedication to making Hope Meadow a reality. The thoughtfulness and outreach are truly amazing. They really know how to foster dreams. As a fairly new member of Hope Church, I always felt welcome but in the last year with the first seed of Hope Meadow planted the entire church rallied beside me to help the environment and make Hope Meadow a site to see.
We would also like to thank the Lancaster Sierra Club. The Lancaster Sierra Club supports sustainability, green infrastructure, and environmental awareness. Hope Church received a grant from the Sierra Club to help purchase a portion of the native plants. Members of the Sierra Club came to help plant the meadow and it was great learning about the club and meeting members.
Thank you to every volunteer, donor, supporter, educator everyone touched by this project. I am excited to continuously report, educate and explore all of Gods creations that find a place to call home in Hope Meadow.
