About
Friends of Bandy Field
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An organization of City and County residents joined in a common cause.
Friends of Bandy Field was formed by City of Richmond and County of Henrico
residents who joined together to preserve Bandy Field as an undeveloped
green space for passive recreation. Bandy Field Nature Park
has now been
established as an official Richmond City Park , but our efforts to
preserve
and enhance the nature park continue. We depend on volunteers within our
organization as well as volunteers from supporting organizations.
Supported by other organizations, in particular, the Boxwood and Tuckahoe
Garden Clubs.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by a
great variety of partner organizations.
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The Tuckahoe Garden Club of
Westhampton and The Boxwood Garden Club have been actively involved in protecting and preserving Bandy Field as a
natural, open green space. The Garden Clubs began working with The Friends
of Bandy Field in 1998 to lobby Richmond City Council to add Bandy Field to
the city’s park system. They have contributed funds and volunteers to help
establish butterfly, wetland and wild flower habitats, remove invasive
plants and assist in the planting of trees and shrubs.
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In 2004,
The Garden Club of Virginia awarded The Tuckahoe and Boxwood Garden
Clubs the Common Wealth Award for their work at Bandy Field. This is a
monetary award given to member garden clubs to aid in areas of conservation,
preservation and education. With the application of these funds additional
projects were under taken. These have included the installation of permanent
signage on The Field, the assemblage of ecology boxes to be used by local
schools, the training and education of volunteers to develop and conduct
environmental programs, and additional roadside plantings.
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Other critical organizations supporting our habitat restoration are the
City of Richmond Parks and Recreation Department, The
Virginia Native Plant
Society, and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
Our habitat restoration projects brought together a diverse group of
residents and community groups for a common purpose. In addition to
volunteers from partner groups above, volunteers came from the Virginia
Muslin Coalition for Public Affairs, Richmond Tree Stewards, Boy Scout Troop
418 Capitol, Orchard House School, Virginia Commonwealth University,
Collegiate Schools, and the James River Garden Club.
An
organization with obligations: The Trust for Bandy Field.
The ordinance
that established Bandy Field Nature Park as an official city park also
obligated Friends of Bandy Field to pay for one-half of the yearly
maintenance costs of the field, up to a maximum of $1,800. With the dual
goals of raising an endowment to meet this obligation and to raise funds for
further habitat restoration and enhancement, Friends of Bandy Field
established the Trust for Bandy Field in 2002. As of July, 2006, we have
raised over $52,000 in our campaign for the Trust for Bandy Field.
Richmond's The Community Foundation manages the trust.
We continue to seek contributions to the trust; these contributions support
our work to protect, restore, and enhance the park. To contribute, please
send your check, made payable to the "Trust for Bandy Field" (also please
write "Enhancement Fund" on the "For" memo line of your check), and mail
your check to:
Ms. Lisa O'Mara
Donor Services Officer
The Community Foundation
7501 Boulders View Drive, Suite 110
Richmond, VA 23225-5546
Contributions are tax deductible. Individuals making a contribution of $100
or more become lifetime members of the Friends of Bandy Field.
We invite you to join us.
To become
a member of Friends of Bandy Field, please send a check to
Friends of Bandy Field
602 Ridgetop Road
Richmond, VA 23229
We ask for an annual contribution of $10 per person per year.
We also seek volunteers for clean-up days, habitat restoration projects,
clerical activities, and other activities. If you are interested in
volunteering please send an e-mail with your contact information to Charles
Price (fewmit@comcast.net).
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