The Sterling Foundation, Inc. has become Sterling Park's homeowners association (HOA) of sorts.
"There are many HOA's surrounding Sterling Park, but Sterling Park does not have one," said board member Phil Hostetter, a member of the foundation for the past 10 years.
The non-profit foundation provides some of the services of an HOA through the volunteer work and dues paid by members, bolstered with community donations and funds collected through the foundation's recycling program.
The foundation uses most of the funds to maintain the community's main roadway, mowing the median every year and planting trees there in 1993 with grant funds. Foundation members pick up trash along the three-mile stretch of Sterling Boulevard three to four times a year and hire private contractors to mow twice a month from April to October. The Virginia Department of Transportation is mandated to mow the roadway twice a year.
"If you see an unkempt, unmowed area, you're not going to want to move in," said Karen Teague Peko, treasurer for the foundation. "The boulevard gets to be knee deep in grass. It's unsightly. It doesn't look good."
Board member Edwin "Ed" Linek cleans the boulevard in between the official pickup days. "Ed picks it up year round," Peko said. "He weeded the whole boulevard himself. He's great."
THE FOUNDATION started a newspaper recycling program in 1989 to raise funds for the mowing project, opening it as a weekly drop-off site for newspapers and other products. The county started its own recycling program in 1990-91. Shortly thereafter, the county joined the foundation to co-operate a recycling center at the Park View High School grounds, combining the county's three recycling drop-off sites into one site.
Now, the foundation collects the income from newspaper recycling, about $6,000 a year, and the county is allotted the rest, collected from recycled cans, cardboard, plastic, telephone books and other products at the daily operation.
The Sterling Foundation co-sponsors countywide political debates with the League of Women Voters and hosts several community events. One such event is the annual Sterlingfest, held as a family event during Columbus Day weekend to provide entertainment, children's games and crafts, along with business and non-profit booths. The event aims to "promote community pride," according to an invitation letter about the Sterlingfest.
"We don't have a town center. We're not incorporated. We don't have a village green where people can talk," said Pat Settles, foundation member. "With the Sterlingfest, we have an opportunity at least once a year for the whole community to come ... see what the community has to offer."
Settles said the Sterlingfest gives residents a chance to gather together in one place, namely the Sterling Community Center and nearby streets. "We don't have any place else," she said.
THE STERLING FOUNDATION is an outgrowth of the Sterlingfest committee and a group called the Grasshoppers that funded mowing of the boulevard through community donations. In 1989, a group of Sterling Park residents organized a 25th anniversary celebration of the community called the Silverfest. After the event, a committee formed to turn the event into an annual festival promoting unity among different Sterling developments. Sterlingfest attracts 8,000 people a year.
"A sense of community had not developed in the past because Sterling was never incorporated as a political entity, and Sterling Park, the hub of our community, did not establish its own homeowner's association," Hostetter said in "The History of Sterling Foundation."
In 1990, the foundation incorporated with the intention of eventually becoming an HOA, but the paperwork was not done correctly, so the idea died, Hostetter said. "It's much more a community entity now," he said.
"There's a lot of things in Sterling that need to be done," Linek said, adding that the foundation hopes to expand its work by planting more trees and beautifying the area.
The foundation has 60 dues-paying members and a 12-member board. Members include local businesses, residents and volunteers.