On Saturday, April 24th, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Chief Service Officer Diahann Billings-Burford and Department for the Aging Deputy Commissioner Caryn Resnick joined over 130 New York City volunteers to plant trees in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx as part of MillionTreesNYC Spring Planting Day 2010. Volunteers included individuals, families, and groups from 92 Y Teen Program, Good Shepherd Services, Boy Scouts of America, City College, NY Palace, Sigma Alpha Delta at City College and seniors with the Gray Panthers. Over two days -- Friday and Saturday -- nearly 2,000 volunteers planted 20,000 trees in parks and open spaces across New York City in celebration of Earth Day and as part of the one million trees to be planted over the next decade through MillionTreesNYC.
"Nearly 2,000 volunteers celebrated Earth Day and helped New York City grow greener by planting 20,000 trees in parks and open spaces throughout the city," said Commissioner Benepe. "Thanks to these volunteers' efforts, MillionTreesNYC Spring Planting Day is the city's largest organized tree planting event of the year so far, measured by the number of trees in the ground. The new trees, which enlarge our urban forest, will provide shade, cool air temperatures, slow global warming, and naturalize our urban cityscape - while making it easier for us to breathe."
In addition to Pelham Bay Park, trees were planted in Bronx River Forest, New York Botanical Garden and Raoul Wallenberg Forest in the Bronx; Spring Creek Park and Floyd Bennett Field at Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn; Central Park in Manhattan; Highland Park and Rockaway Community Park and Roy Wilkins Park in Queens; Arden Heights Woods, Cloves Lakes, Greenbelt, Ocean Breeze Park, the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office that adjoins the "White Trail" and Willowbrook Park, and Wolfe's Pond Park on Staten Island.
Volunteers were recruited to plant trees through the MillionTreesNYC website and with the help of NYC Service, which was launched by
Mayor Bloomberg in April 2009 to channel the power of volunteers to address the impacts of the current economic downturn, make New York City the easiest city in America in which to serve, and ensure every young person in New York City is taught about civic engagement and has an opportunity to serve. Participating corporate volunteer groups included MillionTreesNYC lead sponsor BNP Paribas as well as Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Spectra Energy, Toshiba, Disney, NYC League of Hotel Concierges, Goldman Sachs, CIT, Citibank and Random House.
MillionTreesNYC Spring Planting Day was supported by in-kind donations from Rob Cano Events, which provided food for all volunteers, and Green Apple Cleaners, which generously cleaned all of the volunteers' work gloves so that they can be re-used for future planting events.
MillionTreesNYC, a cornerstone of
Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC vision to establish a healthier, more sustainable New York City, is a public-private partnership between the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and
Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project, through which one million trees will be planted and cared for throughout the five boroughs by 2017. Since MillionTreesNYC was launched in October 2007, over 325,275 trees have been planted prior to today's plantings. For more information, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org.
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