More than 40 people came out to volunteer in the Presidio Sunday morning as part of a nationwide effort to inspire volunteer service in observance of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, park officials said.
The Presidio Trust partnered with HandsOn Bay Area (HOBA) to organize volunteers to help clean up non-native shrubbery in an area known as Park Scrub near Mountain Lake.
"The Presidio has long been a place of service," Presidio Trust executive director Craig Middleton said in a statement. "We are honored to take part in the National Day of Service and Remembrance as a way of paying tribute to those lost on 9/11."
The area getting the makeover will become the habitat for the endangered San Francisco Lessingia, which is a rare flowering plant in the daisy family, National Park Service biological science technician Coty Sifuentes-Winter said.
To go along with the 12 regular volunteers, HOBA brought in 32 extra bodies to help with the restoration project, Presidio Trust volunteer coordinator Jenny McIlvaine said.
"It's really an honor to have this many people come out to our park," Sifuentes-Winter said.
The Presidio hosts a number of different volunteer programs on a weekly basis, including a weekly Sunday project, McIlvaine said.
Frank Miller, who has been a regular volunteer at the Presidio for about a year, was excited to see the number of people volunteering today.
"It's really nice to see so many people," Miller said.
Miller volunteers with the nursery, park stewards and forestry departments.
The National Day of Service and Remembrance is part of HOBA's month-long "Season of Service," a campaign to engage 3,000 Bay Area volunteers in performing 9,011 hours of service.
HOBA is an affiliate of HandsOn Network, an alliance of innovative volunteer management organizations around the world, and hosts a number of monthly events including managing more than 80 direct-service projects per month.
HOBA was started by the families of the 9/11 victims and is used to "create positive volunteer experiences" and for people who "want to be part of something bigger," HOBA project manager Julie Walsh said.
Sunday was the second of three "Season of Service" events.
The film Speaking in Tongues was aired last Thursday at the Presidio's Herbst Theatre and the Presidio Trust will be hosting a community disaster preparedness training this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Presidio Log Cabin, officials said.
Bay City News
