Love Dolores is a neighborhood effort, not a call center, so the quickest way to reach us is usually the same way you reach your picnic neighbors: straight through the channels you already use every weekend in the park. Whether you want to pick up a trash grabber on a Saturday afternoon, bring your business in as a partner, hand us a stack of posters for the next Community Day, or tell us about a broken bin near the tennis courts, this page explains who handles what and how to get an answer.

Below you'll find the four things people ask us about most: volunteering, partnering, press and creative requests, and the Eco-Popup sorting station at the corner of 19^th and Dolores streets. If your question is really a quick one — what time the popup opens, which items can go in which bin, when the next clean-up is — skim the short answers first. They cover most of what lands in our inbox.

If you want to give your time, the sign-up form on the homepage is the fastest route: fill in your name, pick the Community Day you can make, and we will follow up with the meeting spot and what to bring. Groups are welcome — school clubs, office teams, neighbors from the same block — just mention roughly how many people are coming so we can pack enough supplies. Volunteers under 18 should have a parent or guardian along.

Good at design, photography or writing? Say so in your note. Flyers, chalk art, signage and the occasional newsletter all come from volunteers, and we are always short of people who can hold a camera steady.

Cafes, markets, restaurants and shops around the park have been part of this from the start. If you run a business nearby and want to help, the useful things are simple: keep a stack of #lovedolores cards on the counter, offer a small reward for volunteers, or put up a poster in your window. Reach out through the volunteer form and mark your message as a partner enquiry, and tell us what you have in mind and what dates you are thinking about.

Journalists, bloggers, podcasters and illustrators: yes, you can use our numbers, but please get them from this site rather than from an old article. The two figures we cite most are that food and beverage packaging makes up the majority of litter found on San Francisco streets and in its parks, and that cleaning up trash left behind at Dolores Park costs taxpayers roughly three quarters of a million dollars a year.

Artists who want to draw, photograph or paint in the park for a project: let us know the date and we will try to connect you with the crew on duty so nobody mistakes your easel for lost property.

The running conversation happens under #lovedolores and #dolorespark. Tag a photo of your picnic set-up, your reusable cup, or the sign you decorated, and it may be featured. Direct messages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are read regularly and are often answered faster than a long email.