Family day of service 2026

Every year, the Littoral Society joins our partners at United Advocacy Group (UAG) and Southeast Gateway Community Action Partnership (Gateway CAP) for "Family Day of Service" in Bridgeton. For the past several years, volunteers have joined us to help maintain "Triangle Park" which is a joint project between us that we've been working to improve since 2019. 

This site originally had a gas station and some old houses on it, which had long since been demolished. At the corner of MLK Jr. Way and South Avenue, across from the Alms Center and a playground, this site had great promise to become an environmentally friendly "pocket park" which could soak up stormwater runoff, beautify the area and provide habitat for pollinators with native plants, and be a nice place for local residents to enjoy some time outside.

The project began with a rain garden. This garden helps to redirect stormwater that flows down M.L.K. Jr. Way and allow it to percolate into the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer instead of running off directly into Indian Field Branch, which is a tributary of the Cohansey River. Native trees were also planted along the back end of the park. Students at the local ExCEL School helped us to put together and paint some planter boxes, which provide an outer edge to the park and contain native perennial plants. In later years, we added benches for residents to enjoy the shade under the trees we had planted. Then in 2023, the sidewalk was redone in a way that would both allow easier access for residents and facilitate additional stormwater flow into the rain garden, additional trees were planted, a fence was installed,  and the planter boxes were professionally painted.

Family Day of Service is a long-running event hosted by UAG that we have joined as partners. For the past several years, one of the projects that volunteers focus on during the event is maintaining "Triangle Park." Other projects have involved things like painting a mural on a new fence in the neighborhood, picking up litter, and this year included painting a new bus stop that was recently constructed.

A total of about 50 kids and adults volunteered their time this year to help their community. The Littoral Society took charge of a group focusing on Triangle Park. We had a couple of tasks for them: add soil & mulch to a new planter box, pull weeds out of the rain garden, and plant some new plants. The kids went at their jobs with more enthusiasm than you would think possible for pulling weeds!

As a result of their hard work, this little park looks much better and now has even more native perennials providing food & habitat for local pollinators. And the rain garden will continue to capture and filter stormwater runoff so that it doesn't flow straight into the local stream, to the Cohansey River, and from there down to the Delaware Bay.

Extra special thanks to all the volunteers that came out, as well as our partners at UAG & Gateway CAP, and to the Littoral Society's Restoration Corps for making this great event possible!