Locals will be able to cast a line for free this week along the Anacostia River in Navy Yard.
Anacostia Riverkeeper will host its first fishing event of the year Friday at the dock of Diamond Teague Park, which is immediately south of Nationals Park.
During the event, kids and adults alike can make use of free gear, bait and basic instructions while they fish from 5 to 8 p.m.
The catch-and-release fishing event is slated to occur every Friday night until August. The program is in its fourth year.
Image via YouTube/Anacostia Riverkeeper
Two local organizations are looking for help to spruce up the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail next week.
Events DC and the Anacostia Watershed Society are seeking helpers to remove litter along the path Monday evening. Volunteers should register online and meet at RFK Stadium’s Parking Lot 6 (575 Oklahoma Ave. NE) at 5:30 p.m. The cleanup ends at 7 p.m.
“The area surrounding RFK stadium sees a lot of use by members of our community,” a webpage on the cleanup says. “By volunteering with us you’ll be a vital part of restoring, maintaining, and cleaning up the beautiful Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.”
Organizers require volunteers to wear closed-toe shoes. They also recommend long pants to avoid poison ivy contact and insect bites. Water coolers will be available for helpers with reusable bottles.
Photo via Twitter/Anacostia Watershed
We’ve made it through Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, but the post-Thanksgiving holidays aren’t over yet. Today is Giving Tuesday, a day started in 2012 to give those who spent the past four days shopping a chance to give some of the money they saved to causes and charities they care about. And this year is shaping up to be the biggest Giving Tuesday ever, with NPR declaring this year that the quasi-holiday has officially become ‘a thing.’
For those looking to support causes in their own neighborhoods, there are plenty of options in the Capitol Hill area. The Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy has a full, vetted list of area charities raising money this month on their website. Here are some local charities and organizations raising money today:
The Anacostia Watershed Society organizes cleanup and conservation efforts with the goal of making the Anacostia River swimmable and fishable. Funds raised go toward supplies to remove trash and tours of the river given to local students.
Reach for College! helps disadvantaged high school students across the district apply and prepare for higher education. In the Capitol Hill area, Reach for College! works with students at Eastern High School and Cesar Chavez PCS.
The Shaw-based STRIVE DC works with hard-to-employ adults in Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 to give them the education, skills and confidence they need to find a job. Funds raised will go toward three-week job-training programs for adults and two-year follow-up services for those who have secured a job.
Open Arms Housing operates a home in NoMa where formerly homeless women live together in apartments where they can feel a sense of security and community. The organization also offers voluntary mental health and substance abuse services to its residents.
Homeless Children’s Playtime Project
The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project makes sure that homeless children still have a chance to be kids by offering safe places where they can play, interact and work on homework. The project works within D.C. General Homeless shelter and other shelters across the city.
Based in Navy Yard, the Family and Youth Initiative pairs teens in foster care with caring adult role models and mentors. Donations provide anything from birthday cards for teens in foster care who otherwise would not receive anything to events where teens can meet families considering adoption.
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop
Free Minds runs the literary journal The Untold Story of the Real Me: Young Voices from Prison. The group works with incarcerated youth, including those at the DC Jail in Hill East, to help them express themselves and connect with others through writing. The group also provides copies of inmates’ writing to local schools.
Everybody Wins! operates literacy and mentoring programs in low-income public elementary schools throughout the District including Amidon-Bowen, Ludlow-Taylor, Tyler, J.O. Wilson, Maury and Miner elementary schools in the Capitol Hill area.
CHAW offers arts education and opportunities for children and adults around the Capitol Hill area. Donations will be used to cover art class tuition for those who otherwise would not be able to afford it and supplies for arts classes.
BEST Kids offers mentorship and peer bonding events for foster children in the District. Mentors are helped by experts in psychiatry, education, legal advocacy and behavior management and help children set and reach goals for themselves.
Barracks Row Main Street is a nonprofit organization that supports businesses along 8th Street SE and hosts events in the area. The money raised during Giving Tuesday will go toward planting spring flowers, other seasonal decorations and other public space improvements along the street.
Photo via givingtuesday.org
Analysts Say New Stadium at RFK Site Would Come at the Expense of Public Services — Analysts from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a group that conducts research on budget and tax issues, told Hill East residents that a new stadium at the RFK site would cost money that could be better used on schools, transportation and healthcare. [Capitol Hill Corner]
Advocates Hope Development Along Anacostia River Will Spur More Interest in Conservation — New development in Navy Yard and Southwest is bringing a lot more people in touch with the Anacostia River, which conservationists hope will lead to more interest in clean-up efforts. [District Source]
Photos: Inside Navy Yard’s New Pacers Running and Upcoming Hugh & Crye — JDLand took a look inside the Boilermaker Shops in Navy Yard, including the newly-opened specialty running store Pacers and the soon-to-be-open menswear store Hugh & Crye. [JDLand]
Metro Stands By Decision to Limit Service to Stadium-Armory Station During Construction — The interim general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Jack Requa, defended the decision to limit Orange and Silver line service to the Stadium-Armory Metro Station in a letter to ANC 6B commissioners. [Hill Now]
In 1955, a 424-foot military destroyer launched from Maine to enter the Navy.
Almost 30 years later, the Navy decommissioned the same vessel to the Washington Navy Yard as a display ship.
And on Saturday morning, a formal departure ceremony is scheduled to give former sailors, Navy employees and locals an opportunity to say goodbye to the USS Barry.
“I’m glad we’re able to bring the crew pier-side before the ship leaves,” Navy spokesman Brian Sutton said. “There are also a lot of neighborhood folks who have interest in the area, so we would love for them to drop in as well.”
The ceremony is set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Washington Navy Yard’s Cold War Gallery. It’s free and open to the public, and attendees can access the gallery through the Washington Navy Yard Riverwalk, with a government-issued identification card.
The event will honor the destroyer a final time with speeches and a small celebration, commemorating its military career and role as a permanent, public display ship at the Navy Yard.
In the late 1950’s, the Barry was assigned to the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, patrolling waters around the world and responding whenever needed.
When on active duty, the Barry was part of the blockade of Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis. The destroyer also successfully stopped a Russian ship that tried to depart the Caribbean without having its cargo inspected, according to Stars and Stripes. During the Vietnam War, the Barry is credited with destroying more than 1,000 enemy vessels, earning two battle stars in the process.
The Barry then served visitors of the Washington Navy Yard from 1984 to 2014, showing what it is like to live and work on a military ship. But over the years it has spent in the Anacostia River, the battleship has seen fewer and fewer visitors and mounting maintenance requirements to keep it safe for tours.
Now, the destroyer is more of an “industrial area” than a museum as historical organizations take away its artifacts for preservation and other displays, Sutton said. The Barry’s future is only certain up until Saturday’s departure ceremony.
But where is it going? No one knows yet, not even Sutton.
“The Navy hasn’t put out a contract on it, but that should be happening within the next few weeks,” he said. “One of the contracts will be awarded between December and January. The Barry will probably be moved not long after that happens.”
Tug boats then will tow the Barry downriver and on to its new home. While there are several Navy yards along the East Coast, it could end up anywhere.
For now, the destroyer will maintain its post on the banks of the Anacostia, waiting for its next assignment.
The newly formed Buzzard Point Marina Boat Owners Association has created an online petition asking the National Park Service to reconsider its decision to shutter the dock along the Anacostia River in Southwest.
The association, which boat owner Fred Mashack started earlier this month, has collected more than 80 signatures to “Save DC’s Buzzard Point Marina!” since its petition went up on Change.org yesterday. The National Park Service, the owner of the land under the marina, has told owners of the 58 boats docked at the facility that the agency would close it by the end of the year.
The petition says many boat owners who use Buzzard Point wouldn’t have the money to pay for more costly docking at nearby marinas.
“Buzzard Point is an historic D.C. marina dating over 50 years and has allowed D.C. boaters easy access to the water and to affordable boating for generations,” the petition says. “There are few other affordable and accessible nearby options for Buzzard Point boaters in D.C. to dock their 58 boats, which will likely force many to sell or move farther outside the District.”
Photo via Change.org/Buzzard Point Marina Boat Owners Association
Capitol Hill Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in the Capitol Hill area. If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out our event submission form.
For more events, be sure to check out our event calendar.
Thursday
Anacostia River Cleanup Canoe Trip
Anacostia Community Boathouse (1900 M St. SE)
Time: 1:30-4 p.m.
Thirty volunteers will help clean the river during a canoe trip guided by the Anacostia Watershed Society. RSVP required.
Canal Park Outdoor Movie: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Canal Park (200 M St. SE)
Time: 7-10 p.m.
Have a picnic and see “Guardians of the Galaxy” for free as part of the Canal Park Outdoor Movie Series.
Friday
Fairgrounds (Half and M streets SE)
Time: 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Food trucks descend on the Fairgrounds in Navy Yard for the Truckeroo festival. Past food trucks have included D.C. Slices, Goodies Custard, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Surfside and TaKorean.
‘Summer Sounds and Sizzlin’ BBQ’: Liam Evans & The Soul Revue
Gangplank Marina at The Wharf (600 Water St. SW)
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Listen to the soul music of Liam Evans & The Soul Revue along the Southwest waterfront promenade.
The District’s events authority and an environmental group are looking for volunteers to help spruce up the Anacostia River during a canoe trip next week.
Events DC and the Anacostia Watershed Society have scheduled the cleanup for Aug. 20 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The excursion will begin and end at the Anacostia Community Boathouse at 1900 M St. SE.
The cleanup is open to 30 participants, who will get canoes to use. Interested volunteers can register online.
Participants should bring reusable water bottles, sunscreen and clothes that can get wet, organizers said. But closed-toe shoes for volunteers are required.
“Volunteers will enjoy an AWS guided canoe ride, [and] be educated on natural and invasive vegetation while also improving the water conditions,” according to a news release.
Photo via Facebook/Anacostia Watershed Society
A family-friendly search for “hidden treasure, forgotten islands, ancient ruins and natural wonder” is set to come to RFK Stadium this weekend, according to the event’s organizer.
The Washington Area Bicyclist Association will host its second “Choose Your Own Adventure Scavenger Hunt” along the Anacostia River from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
The hunt will include “riddles, unexpected challenges, trickery and exploration,” according to the group. Participants must bring a bicycle, helmet and up to four teammates. A “costume fitting of a true adventurer” is encouraged, according to WABA.
Registration is free online. Clothing from Bluejacket brewery in Navy Yard and other prizes will be awarded after the event.
“So many D.C. area residents know the Potomac [River] and its views, but far too often, we forget about the Anacostia,” said Ursula Sandstrom, WABA’s D.C. trail ranger coordinator. “Saturday is an invitation to bring the family or a team of friends to explore what D.C.’s backyard has to offer.”
Photo via Flickr/WABA
A D.C.-based nonprofit organization is looking to recruit up to four coaches to teach rowing to children along the Anacostia River.
Serve Your City is seeking volunteers to teach and mentor at-risk 11-to-15-year-old boys and girls on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Anacostia Community Boathouse (1900 M St. SE).
No rowing experience is needed with all training and equipment provided, courtesy of the DC Strokes Rowing Club. Patrick Johnson, a U.S. Rowing Team coach, will lead classes and instruction.
Maurice Cook, founder of Serve Your City, said he hopes the program can serve as a stepping stone for disadvantaged youth to receive college rowing scholarships in the future.
“I’m just so excited to have the opportunity to do something to help these kids get outside and enjoy the resources that are right around them,” Cook said.
Serve Your City also runs a range of other sporting activities, including aquatics and tennis. They accept volunteers and participants of all abilities and experiences.
Prospective coaches can email Cook with their names, ages and coaching experience. Alternatively, they can call 202-341-1732 or visit the organization’s website for more details.
Photo courtesy of Maurice Smith
Locals can get free tickets to a D.C. United game this weekend if they help tidy up the Anacostia Riverwalk.
Events DC and the Anacostia Watershed Society are seeking volunteers to clean up the the trail Sunday.
Volunteers should register online and meet at Parking Lot 6 of RFK Stadium at 2:30 p.m. that day. Each volunteer will receive a ticket to the 5 p.m. D.C. United game at RFK. The soccer team is scheduled to play the Philadelphia Union.
Saturday morning, the Anacostia Riverkeeper also is a hosting a clean up event to remove litter from the Congressional Cemetery and Anacostia Riverwalk trails.
Volunteers should get to the cemetery at 8:30 a.m. to register. All supplies will be provided and Chesapeake Bay Roasting Co. will hand out free coffee. The cleanup will last until noon.
Organizers recommend wearing closed-toe shoes and clothes that can get dirty. Long pants are recommended to prevent poison ivy and insect bites along the trail.
Photo via Anacostia Watershed Society
Foo Fighters — Officials say that nothing has changed in planning the Foo Fighters’ July 4th concert at RFK Stadium, despite lead singer Dave Grohl’s recent injury. That said, the band has yet to release a statement updating their status. [WTOP]
Ben’s H Street — As Hill Now first reported on Thursday, Ben’s Chili Bowl’s H Street location will open this Wednesday, July 8. [Hill Now]
The Week Ahead — The ANC6B Executive Committee will meet at 7 p.m. at the Hill Center on Tuesday, and Larry Janezich has updates on the Boys & Girls Club and RFK Stadium. [Capitol Hill Corner]
Bridging the Anacostia — An analysis of the potential 11th Street bridge’s impact on neighboring communities. [Greater Greater Washington]
Locals can get a free lunch if they pick up trash along the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail this weekend.
Events DC, the Anacostia Watershed Society and other organizations are looking for volunteers to help spruce up the path on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After the cleanup, organizers will have a barbecue for the helpers.
Interested residents can register online and meet at RFK Stadium’s Parking Lot 8, which is just south of the facility on the Anacostia River.
Water coolers will be on hand. But volunteers should bring reusable bottles, the organizers said.
Photo via Anacostia Watershed Society
Hope Springs Eternal — “Can one stadium deal lead the Washington Redskins back to the city?” [CBS Washington]
Virginia Ave. Closures Scheduled — The new CSX Tunnel work will close the avenue to traffic and parking between 2nd and 3rd Streets SE “as soon as Monday, June 22” and the stretch between 4th and 5th Streets SE “as soon as Monday, June 29. [JD Land]
Librarian of Congress Retires — James Billington, who led the world’s largest library for almost three decades, has announced that he will retire Jan. 1, 2016. [WTOP]
Anacostia Renewal — A young documentarian is looking for donations to help her explores how the residents of Navy Yard and other D.C. neighborhoods connect with the Anacostia River. [Hill Now]
An independent filmmaker and environmental educator is looking for donations to help her make a documentary series that explores how the residents of Navy Yard and other D.C. neighborhoods connect with the Anacostia River.
Alisha Camacho, who is creating the documentary series, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the project, which came out of research she conducted as a student at The George Washington University.
The “Anacostia Unplugged” series is “about how going outside is saving lives, preserving the environment and empowering communities along the Anacostia River,” she said.
In addition to looking at life east of the the Anacostia, Anacostia Unplugged is expected to examine the role Navy Yard played in the river’s history and feature Ward 6 nonprofit organizations Earth Conservation Corps and the Living Classrooms Foundation, which use the waterway to help locals.
“There is a strong connection to the Navy Yard side and Ward 6,” Camacho said in an email. “One of the goals of Anacostia Unplugged is to bridge gaps by connecting everyone along the [Anacostia] Watershed.”
So far, Camacho has raised more than $3,250 from 35 supporters. Her goal is to get about $49,500 by June 30.
The money will go toward an assistant editor, artists and equipment to create “higher quality footage and editing,” Camacho’s Kickstarter page says.
“There is a lot of interest in this, a lot of partners involved and a lot of proposed story lines,” she said. “The problem with moving forward comes down to the funding, hence the Kickstarter campaign.”
Video via YouTube/Anacostia Unplugged
