By Bonnie Eissner

Earth Day — Monday, April 22 — is a perfect time to celebrate Upper West Siders who voluntarily help beautify parks and gardens in and around our neighborhood. WSR recently spoke to several volunteer gardeners about why, for them, getting dirty is good, clean fun.

Volunteers Keep the West Side Community Garden in Bloom

At the annual tulip festival at the West Side Community Garden, which stretches between West 89th and 90th Streets, west of Columbus Avenue, smiles abounded as people poured into the intimate space to take in the flowers in full bloom. Toddlers grinned as doting parents posed them for pictures. Beds of densely packed tulips in luscious colors ringed a small patch of grass where three volunteer gardeners knelt, pulling weeds. At a table amid the tulip beds, more volunteers answered questions and handed out informational postcards to visitors who showered compliments about the garden.

Hope Brice began volunteering for the garden about two-and-a-half years ago. A landscape architect who grew up in Texas, she was accustomed to having more places to be outside and dig. She appreciates the informal nature of the West Side Community Garden, she said. “I feel like a lot of the gardens in New York are really organized and it’s hard to get into them.” By contrast, she said, she can text the volunteer coordinator at the West Side Community Garden and show up when she’s available. Recently, she started a group chat to coordinate fellow maintenance volunteers.

Eric Thirer oversees the volunteer maintenance crew for the West Side Community Garden. He got involved over a decade ago by weeding flowerbeds. “Weeding is where it all begins,” he said in his soft, British-accented voice. A BBC cameraman for 40 years, Thirer lives about a block away from the garden and passed it on his way to work without thinking much of it, until, one day, he met a longtime member who simply asked him if he liked to garden. The answer was yes. His grandfather in England, where Thirer grew up, was a great gardener, he said. He kept coming as a volunteer and eventually landed one of the garden’s coveted vegetable plots.

Thirer can rattle off the garden’s many maintenance needs, which include replacing the rotting wooden structures in the flower garden and repaving some paths. Still, he described a laid-back approach to managing the maintenance crew. “When they show up, they do some stuff,” he said, in his understated way. “I like to be in the garden,” he said. “It’s part of our community, and I live in this community. It’s very much a village, you know, the Upper West Side.”

For Judy Robinson, president of the garden’s board of directors, who started planning the festival for the volunteer-run organization last July, the community reaction was the point. “Just seeing the tulips and other bulbs bloom is very exciting,” she said. “Even more exciting is seeing how many people enjoy it. People are happy when they come here; they feel good being in the garden.” 

Robinson estimates that about 60 volunteers care for the garden’s flowers. Members tend to other needs too, such as maintaining vegetable patches and fundraising.

Robinson lived on the Upper West Side for 30 years before she realized the West Side Community Garden even existed. In 2013, when she retired from a social work career, she walked by one day when the tulips were blooming. Amazed, she asked a volunteer, “What is this?” she recalled, in an interview with West Side Rag. The person said the garden was open to everyone, and asked her what she’d like to do. “I want to get my hands in the dirt,” Robinson said.

Eleven years later, she still enjoys caring for plants, and she likes working with people, which is a large part of her role as board chair. “I enjoy helping things grow,” she said. “It’s very satisfying.” 

A Sense of Ownership for This Central Park Volunteer

Shannon Randall, an Upper West Side resident and member of the West Side Community Garden board, also spends about nine hours a week as a landscape management volunteer and greeter for the Central Park Conservancy.

“I refer to this as my office,” she said, her blue eyes lighting up as she stood in Central Park last Sunday. She started as a conservancy volunteer in 2010 when she retired early from a financial services career. She loved gardening at her house on the New Jersey shore and needed to find ways to stay active and stimulated, feel positive, and make new friends, she said. “And boy, this came through 110% on so many different levels.” She admitted that gardening work can be tedious and time-consuming, but at the end of a shift or project, she feels a sense of completion, she said. “Of course, when you look in either direction,” she added, “you see how much more there is to do.”

To help maintain the park’s 843 acres, Central Park Conservancy depends on the assistance of 250 committed landscape volunteers and about 200 additional volunteers who work on landscape management tasks on a flexible schedule. About 4,000 people volunteer in the park annually.

“It’s funny,” Randall said, “I bring my family, my friends into the park, and I feel such a sense of ownership.” She added, with a smile and slight shrug, “Sometimes, I take a little extra credit for things.” 

A Park Tender Makes a Difference in Riverside Park

In Riverside Park, park tenders make long-term commitments to maintaining gardens, park entrances, steps, and walkways. The park has 250 park tenders, and 90 of its gardens are maintained by these volunteers.

Dan LaBelle is one of them. He manages the garden area at the entrance to the 72nd Street dog run. Over the past three years, he has replaced grassy liriope in the garden with flowers, such as brown-eyed Susans and columbine, which bloom in different seasons. He used to garden with his wife at their house in Connecticut. His wife volunteers for Central Park, but when he retired from practicing law a few years ago, he chose to help Riverside Park, which they live near and visit often. 

He finds gardening in the park relaxing and rewarding. “I bring family and friends over and show them my garden,” he said. “My sister was overwhelmed when she came over here last year and looked at it.” He encourages others to join him in tending to Riverside Park. “There are a lot of beautiful gardens in the park,” he said. “I think it’s underutilized and underappreciated.”

Ways to Volunteer

The West Side Community Garden’s main community volunteer event is planting tulip bulbs, usually the second week in November. Check the website for more information. The best way to volunteer on a more regular basis is to become a garden member for $15. 

Riverside Park Conservancy has short and long-term volunteer opportunities for people of all ages. The park is currently recruiting for its Riverkeeper Sweep on May 4. 

Central Park Conservancy welcomes new volunteers, especially during the busy spring and summer months. Community Volunteer Days are good opportunities for first timers. There are also Teen Volunteer Days. Spaces are limited and can fill up quickly. 

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