100 Philly parks need your help with fall cleanup
Organizers are looking for volunteers to help spruce up 100 city parks the weekend of Nov. 8, 9, and 10.
Chris and Samantha Moore volunteered at Cliveden Park in East Mount Airy for years while slowly easing into their role as leaders by helping with fish fries, Easter egg hunts, Halloween candy giveaways, and movie nights.
Chris eventually became president of the Friends of Cliveden Park in 2014, and he and Samantha have learned to embrace the significant role the group’s volunteers play in keeping up the park and its stone community house. Like Cliveden, most Philadelphia parks get heavy use and suffer from blowing debris, lack of maintenance, and other issues. They depend on volunteers.
It’s time, the Moores say, for some autumnal TLC — and for some more volunteers.
Organizers of the forthcoming Love Your Park Fall Weekend on Nov. 8, 9, and 10 are looking for hundreds of volunteers to clean up, collect leaves, and do other maintenance tasks at any of 100 city parks.
“The cleanups mean a lot,” Chris Moore said, “because there are so many parks in the city, and there isn’t enough staff to clean the parks as often as they need. So we volunteers keep the park clean, pick the leaves up in the fall, plant trees and flowers in the spring. The cleanups keep the park looking good and make it safe so when the kids come out to play, you don’t have to worry about falling limbs and dog poop all over the park.”
Organizers ask volunteers to register online in advance.
Love Your Park, a program organized by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and the nonprofit Fairmount Park Conservancy, is hosting the weekend cleanup in partnership with the Park Friends Network.
The program is meant to support neighborhood parks without staff, community gardens, and watershed parks. The network has 140 volunteer groups who help maintain neighborhood parks. The groups are registered with the city, and help organize cleanups, raise funds, and advocate for the parks.
The Love Your Park program organizes two citywide park events each year — on the second Saturdays of May and November — to bring resources and attention to Philly’s green spaces.
The fall event spans the entire weekend and helps prepare parks not only for winter but the following spring. Volunteers plant and care for trees, rake leaves, clean garden beds, and other tasks designed to prepare the parks for winter.
“Love Your Park Fall Weekend is an opportunity for each of us to show just how much we care about our communities and the green spaces that bring us together. Philadelphia’s parks thrive because of the dedicated volunteers who give their time and energy to keep them clean, safe, and beautiful,” Susan Slawson, Parks and Recreation commissioner, said in a statement. “Whether you’re planting trees, raking leaves, or cleaning up litter, your efforts make a difference that lasts all year.”
Kevin Roche, Fairmount Park Conservancy’s chief of staff, said that 95% of city residents live less than 10 minutes from a park, and help is needed to “maintain and celebrate these shared public treasures.”