This spring Pickering Creek Audubon Center and Delmarva Community Service (DCS), Inc. will join forces for Greening the Grounds, a project to create new native plant habitats at two DCS properties in Cambridge. These locations include the Chesapeake Grove Intergenerational Center and DCS administrative offices at the Delmarva Action Center. The project is made possible through a generous grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns program.
Greening the Grounds will enhance landscaping at the DCS sites by replacing current plantings of invasive and non-native species with beneficial native plants, trees and shrubs. The new plantings will not only beautify a prime public setting frequented by local residents, but will also provide new habitat for birds, butterflies and other native pollinators, thus offering a welcoming environment for community members and wildlife alike.
This first-time collaboration between the two organizations was spurred by a shared commitment to nurturing nature and community. The project supports DCS’ dedication to making their facility campuses more sustainable and Bay-friendly and Pickering Creek’s quest to find new ways to engage with communities through wildlife-inspired gardening and other hands-on learning activities.
Delmarva Community Services, Inc. (DCS) located in Cambridge, MD is a multi-service organization that provides residential, day and vocational services for local residents facing physical, mental and economic challenges. The heart of the program is the state-of-the-art Intergenerational Center at Chesapeake Grove, completed in 2021. With its pre-school childcare center, senior center community space, large cafe where seniors and other community members share mid-day meals, and meeting rooms for public events, the Intergenerational Center fosters community building by encouraging spontaneous interactions among seniors, children and individuals with disabilities.
Pickering Creek Audubon Center is a 450-acre wildlife sanctuary and environmental center located on the outskirts of Easton. Its mission is to conserve natural habitats on the Eastern Shore by engaging and empowering the community through exploration, education and stewardship. A commitment to education is at the heart of the Pickering Creek tradition. By offering programs for children and adults alike, the organization aspires to inspire more people in more places to value and protect the natural world, thereby laying the foundation for future conservation. Pickering Creek has inspired generations to learn about and protect birds, other wildlife, and the natural world, reaching over 13,000 contacts each year.
The Greening the Grounds partnership is one of mutual support. Pickering Creek will facilitate the greening of the campus by leading the design and installation of the new habitat gardens, helping to establish DCS as a community leader in the use of sustainable landscaping in a public setting used primarily by local audiences. DCS clients will participate in the planting of the new green features, and future programming at the Center will incorporate the new garden. This supports both the DCS goal of cross-generational community building and the Pickering goal of connecting people of all backgrounds with nature.
Feel inspired to help? Greening the Grounds will take place over the course of two planting days this spring: May 13, and May 26. Each day volunteers will gather between 10AM-12PM. For further information or to become a Greening volunteer, go to https://pickeringcreek.org/programs/upcoming-programs/
For further information about Delmarva Community Services, visit www.dcsdct.org.
For further information about Pickering Creek Audubon Center, visit www.pickeringcreek.org
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