National Public Lands Day at James Park Community Gardens

National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands Americans enjoy. Each year over 170,000 volunteers will help plant trees, remove trash, and build trails at public lands across the nation. This event is in support of the Let’s Move Outside initiative and the National Environment Education Foundation.

This year the City of Evanston is holding a volunteer day in support of NPLD at the Community Gardens located at James Park. Volunteers will help improve the exterior of the community gardens by collecting garbage, pulling weeds and laying mulch around the fence exterior. Gardeners from the James Park Community Garden will be on-hand to help volunteers with these tasks. This garden is approximately 100-feet by 400-feet in size and many volunteers are needed for the event.

The work day will start at 9 a.m. and last approximately two hours. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own gloves and weeding tools. A limited supply will be available on the day of the event.

A community garden is a piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment. They are typically on land owned by local governments or not-for-profit businesses.

Want to volunteer? Click here to register or call 3-1-1.

Resources needed:

• Based on input from community gardeners, at least 10-15 people could be helpful at each site on September 24th, for a total of 30 – 45 volunteers.
• One volunteer coordinator/staff person will be needed for each site to direct volunteers and oversee activities.
• Trash bags and gloves will be needed at each site.
• Use of wheel barrows, shovels and other garden tools would be helpful, depending on the projects.