In every community there are special people who care about where they live.

For Bremerton, there’s Rick and Ruth Richtmeyer.

The Richtmeyers were featured last week in the Bremerton Patriot for their work at Lions Park.

The couple, who live in a condominium that overlooks Lions Park, has worked tirelessly for almost three years to eradicate invasive plants from the shoreline along the Port Washington Narrows.

They were instrumental in beginning the Adopt-a-Beach program to fight off invasive weeds so that native species can thrive.

As they tell their story, once they started working on pulling weeds and non-native plants, others saw what they were doing and joined in.

Their motto is “No weed goes to seed,” and they are keeping up with that volunteering whenever possible.

Bremerton’s spirit of volunteerism is something that’s taking hold. Last October, volunteers came out to clean up one of the entrances to the city named “The Gateway.”

Some of the organization was done by the city’s park department, but underneath all that was the group Volunteer Bremerton, which came from the grassroots efforts of a few movers and shakers.

That group has scheduled what it is calling “Round Two” of The Gateway clean up on April 26. Weeding and general clean-up work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will continue through 1 p.m. Check out their Facebook page (Volunteer Bremerton) for more.

Silverdale is just as lucky. It has a number of volunteers who tend to the area in and around Clear Creek.

Those volunteers have spent endless hours making sure that native growth is protected and that native species in the creek have a healthy environment in which to thrive. They also see to it that there’s a clear trail for folks to walk.

They schedule work parties periodically and are always welcoming help. Check them out at www.clearcreektrail.org.

With warmer, drier weather just around the corner (hopefully!) now is a great time to get out and get busy on a project in your community.

Volunteering is a great way to meet other people with similar interests and, at the same time, do some good for our shared spaces.

One of the best things about community members doing these tasks is that it helps get things done in times of tight budgets when cities and counties have fewer dollars in their budgets for these projects.