In Washington D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, 35 CommuniTyler volunteers partnered with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club to perform trail restoration and maintenance
CommuniTyler DC was a great success! Ty’s friends were there, friends of Ty’s friends were there and even friends of friends of Ty’s friends were there. It was wonderful to see so many faces−some familiar and others new−while making improvements to the trails in Rock Creek Park. I think Ty would have enjoyed being there. We were surrounded by nature as we made improvements for the many runners, dog walkers and families who will pass by to enjoy this park for years to come. To top it all off, we were truly blessed with the weather, which I don’t think was a coincidence.
−David Cooper−Vince
I was boarding a metro train on Saturday morning when CommuniTyler really began for me. My boyfriend and I ran into a good friend of ours who introduced us to his two new roommates. The three of them−also on their way to CommuniTyler−were trying to complete a crossword puzzle together.
They shuffled around to make seats for us and we jumped into their puzzle−solving vortex. A few stops later, I laughed at the thought that I was arriving at the official starting point for CommuniTyler having already met two new people, challenged my brain, and enjoyed a few belly laughs. Perfect, right?
Almost 40 DC−area Tyler fans gathered on Saturday to clean up a section of the Melvin Hazen Trail. My favorite part was working with some of my closest friends to fix a stone walkway that ran through a creek bed, jumping on stones to get them to settle into the mud. The jumping turned into dancing and two of us found ourselves in a silly and spontaneous moment performing ballet along the trail.
I thought a lot about Tyler this weekend: how he would’ve enjoyed pulling ivy, cribbing the trail, and fixing the stone walkway alongside us…not to mention the ballet. He would’ve been performing the changements right there with us. We miss you Tyler, but will always be inspired by you.
−Susannah Harris
