Adopt-a-Park Program Offers Community Members Hands-on Opportunity to Care for their Parks

Prince William County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism’s Adopt-a-Park program was created in 2019 to promote partnerships between community members, groups and businesses to assist DPRT staff with routine maintenance, clean up and beautification of our parks, open spaces, and trails—creating a beautiful and clean environment for all to enjoy. For Prince William County resident’s Preston Williams and his wife, Mari-Jane, signing up for our Adopt-a-Park program was a natural fit.

“I have a great appreciation for the county park system, and the Adopt-a-Park program seemed like a flexible way for us to volunteer as a family because you can do it when it best fits your schedule,” says Preston. “The park that we adopted is near home and is a place where we spent a lot of time at youth soccer games.”  

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Preston (pictured right) and his family help clean part of George Hellwig Memorial Park as part of their Adopt-a-Park volunteer commitment.

“With 4000+ acres of premier park land and 50+ miles of trails, it is often challenging to keep up with the tremendous use of Prince William County Parks’ open spaces,” says Janet LaFleur, (pictured right, with Preston Williams) Recreation Senior Manager at DPRT, who developed and manages the Adopt-a-Park program. “Having a strong group of volunteer park stewards to support the park system in Prince William County really makes a difference in achieving the high standards we have for these important areas in our community.”

Volunteers who sign up for Adopt-a-Park will help with sprucing up designated areas within the parks and trails system by doing tasks such as removing litter, debris, controlling weeds, planting of trees and plants, mulching and identifying hazards and eliminating of such. This program also aims to educate county residents about the importance of our parks, open spaces, and trails.

“The program is still fairly new so we’re always looking for businesses, organizations, families—really anyone who wants to adopt one of our parks, trails or outdoor spaces,” adds LaFleur.

Through the program, students who need community service hours can use their volunteer time to count towards those hours. Local businesses who join the Adopt-a-Park program will receive recognition for their stewardship of the environment.

Williams says he would encourage others to join the program, for many reasons.

“You can’t find a more convenient way to volunteer. You don’t have to do it on a certain date at a certain time. You clean your park about once a month (more if you like, of course) but when it best suits your schedule. It’s also an outside family activity that doesn’t require much equipment, just trash bags (supplied by the park system), grabbers and daylight.”

Preston adds, “Maybe the best perk of all is when you’ve completed the tasks, you’re at a park!”

To learn more about the Adopt-a-Park program, click here or email Janet LaFleur for more information.