Home Volunteers: How You Can Help

The Roots & Dreams idea is based on neighborhood involvement. It's conception began with one person, but without the help and support from the community, this idea would not have been possible to complete. To become involved in the final stages of this project, or to sponsor a tile, please email Kris Swanson at the Corner Store.  See also our Funding page for information on sponsoring tiles.

Special Thanks

This website will be updated regularly, so please forgive any temporary oversights...

Our thanks go to Earl Ettienne at CVS/pharmacy for believing in the concept and shepherding it through the proper channels, to the CHAMPS Community Foundation  for awarding a special grant to get us started, to Attorney Alan Dye for helping the Corner Store attain nonprofit status, making donations tax deductible, to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for a grant to continue work, to more than one thousand Capitol Hill students making and signing the tree tiles, and to the many parents, neighbors and friends contributing through tile sponsorships, time and talent.

Special thanks to committee members Mary Case of Qm2, Wally Szyndler and Jay Thomas of the Melwood Horticultural Training center, and to all the neighbors on E Street for their support of the Roots & Dreams idea. Thanks to the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW) for lending their nonprofit experience and status to get us started, and thanks especially to Cheri Grills, the superb manager of our data base, without which no arts organization can survive.

Thanks also to neighbor, parent and building contractor Peter Hackett for his help selecting and attaching panels and tiles, and to parent and wizardly webmaster Nick Sundt for creating and maintaining this website! Gratitude to Watkins art teacher and Corner Store board member Laurie Siegel for helping develop the Roots & Dreams course, complete with tile building, to Watkins principal Jennifer Smith and teacher Waduda Henderson for generously loaning a doublewide groundfloor classroom next to the CVS wall as our work area for the summer.