This past Saturday was a beautiful day: the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and citizens were cleaning up their local parks across Philadelphia. Each spring and fall, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation hosts “LOVE Your Park,” a service day that brings out volunteers and community members to clean and celebrate Philadelphia’s beautiful green spaces. As a member of Philly311, I’ve spent countless weeks promoting “LOVE Your Park” but I’ve actually never attended. That was about to change since I decided to pay a visit to my local park, the radiant and spacious Clark Park in West Philly, to snap some photos and green up my thumb a little bit. Here are a few takeaways from this awesome event.
- The Community
This event is amazing at bringing communities together. There’s no better way to meet neighbors than coming together to beautify a public space. Everyone participating at Clark Park last Saturday was warm and friendly and wanted to make the event as fun as possible. We here at 311 fully embrace neighborhoods coming together and make it our mission to foster community in Philadelphia.
- Doing some old-fashioned “Yard Work”
I grew up in the Massachusetts suburbs where maintaining and working on “the yard” is a year-round task. Raking leaves, cleaning the scattered brush, planting some new flowers and saplings were just a few things I’d help my parents with on the sacred turf we call “the yard.” Now that I live in an apartment building in a major city, yard work is not a part of my life anymore. “LOVE Your Park” gave me the opportunity to get back in touch with some roots and feel like I was back in the yard with mom and dad.
- Meeting Park Officials
Most parks in Philadelphia (and in every major city) have a “friend’s group” which is a group of volunteers that live in the neighborhood who coordinate events at the park. The volunteers that run these groups are unsung heroes of the community. Events like “LOVE Your Park” are a great way to meet the people that help lay the groundwork for bringing neighborhoods closer together. If you need help finding your local park’s “friend’s group,” contact Philly311 and we can steer you in the right direction.
- Making the Park Beautiful!
Lastly, after a hard day’s work, Clark Park looked as beautiful as ever. It was really amazing what a group of neighbors could accomplish in just a few hours. Where there was an expanse of fallen leaves as far as the eye can see, there is now shining green space that we can all enjoy until winter unleashes its icy grasp onto our city.
I very much hope I can attend more volunteer community clean-up events in my neighborhood before it gets too cold, or I can plan ahead for events in the spring. For any information or questions regarding community clean-up events, get in touch with Philly311 and we can route you to the correct city agency.
Blog post by John Ryan at Philly311.
