project leader
Michael M
location
Cherry Street
Manhattan (Lower East Side, City Council District #2, State Assembly District #65, State Senate District #26, US Congressional District #7)
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Photos from our planting event

the project

  

 (A few of the open planting spaces available for beautification)

Our project aims to bring the community together in continuing our efforts to repair the park to its splendor by organizing community planting days. Corlears Hook Park has 6 entry points. These entry points are currently extremely unwelcoming to passersby, offering little enticement to enter the park and utilize many of its’ amenities. Our project aims to make these entrances more appealing with planting beds on either side of all entrances. The areas to be planted range in size from 3’x8’ to 20’ stretches where we can create beds of any size. 

There is about 500 square feet of potential planting space across these 6 entry spots!
- 2 along Jackson Street
- 3 along Cherry Street
- 1 via pedestrian walkway from East River Park

These areas are highly visible from in and around the park and once beautified will serve as a more visually welcoming and appealing entryway into the Park. It is our hope that through this project we can build upon our core group of dedicated volunteers and increase our numbers significantly enough that we can tackle larger projects throughout other areas of the park in the future (additional planting areas and regular maintenance of plantings). Through the clean-up events we have organized already we have seen how engaged the community can be in caring for the park – many have expressed a desire for opportunities such as the one we are proposing – where they can get their hands in the soil and plant, in addition to the raking, pruning, weeding and picking up of trash that we currently do. 

We hope that the outcomes of this project will include increased park usage by the local community, as well as visitors to the Lower East Side, and increased awareness/membership of our friends group. 

the steps

We will work in consultation with the Parks Department and Partnership for Parks, as well as the park gardener in careful selection of appropriate perennials, annuals, and size of each planting area.

The funds raised will help cover the cost of plants, planting supplies/tools, promotional materials (fliers/banners), and food for volunteers during planting events. 

Based on the funds we are able to raise we will scale this project appropriately by working with the Parks Department and Partnership for Parks to identify the most appropriate of the 10 areas to address first to provide the best possible impact. Larger planting areas in less places will provide a more dramatic effect than spread out smaller areas. 

We will organize planting days in the park to beautify the areas around the entryways by cleaning, weeding and planting new beds with a mix of annual and perennial plantings. 

In addition to our core group of volunteers, we will recruit additional volunteers from our own mailing list and Facebook page and partner with the Vladek Houses Resident Association and the East River Housing House Committee to promote the project and recruit more helping hands (thus potentially increasing membership for Friends of Corlears Hook Park).

why we're doing it

Corlears Hook Park was severely damaged by the storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy. The park lost many plantings, trees and the dog runs were destroyed. We have been working to repair the damages done by the storm and most recently worked with the DOT on replacement of damaged lamp posts and with the Parks Department on replanting of felled trees. 

We hope that the outcomes of this project will include increased park usage by the local community and visitors to the Lower East Side.

budget

Final Disbursement:



RAISED = $480.00
less ioby Platform Fee  already assessed
less ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $22.22
less ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $13.33
TOTAL TO DISBURSE = $444.44

1st Disbursement:



RAISED = $4,108.00
less ioby Platform Fee  $35.00
less ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $188.56
less ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $113.14
TOTAL TO DISBURSE = $3,771.30

 

Original Budget:

Promotional Materials (Fliers, Banners, Postcards) = $1,000

Food & Water for Volunteers = $500

T-shirts for volunteers = $600

Plants and dirt  = $5,150

Gardening Gloves = $750

Subtotal $8,000

Minus $4,000 donation from Partnership for Parks

Total to raise through ioby campaign = $4000

 



SUBTOTAL = 4,000
ioby Platform Fee  $35
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $200
3rd Party Payment Processing Fee (3%) $120
TOTAL TO RAISE = $4,355

We already have the following commitments for donations to the ioby campaign from:

$2,500 from Citizens Committee for NYC (will be sent to ioby once fiscal sponsorship is established)

$150 private donation (will be sent to ioby once fiscal sponsorship is established)

updates

Before photos!

One of our amazing volunteers has started marking out and clearing the plots in the park where we will be putting in the new planting areas later this month! Later this month these plots will be filled with welcoming plants!

 

 

Aug. 27th Photos!

On August 27th Friends of Corlears Hook Park partnered with CITYarts, volunteers from BlackRock, youth from Henry Street Settlement Expanded Horizons College Success Program and the Chinatown YMCA at Two Bridges Community Center, as well as local community volunteers, to refurbish and paint the retaining wall in the park's playground and paint some mini murals that will hang in the local community centers. Thank you to all who came out. 

Event Flyer - You're Invited on Sept. 19th!

See Our Garden Rendering

This rendering, done by our resident gardener Ted, shows what the entryways will look like once we are done with this beatification project.

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • BlackRock Matching Gift Program
  • Marcus and Lauri Artigliere
  • BlackRock Matching Gift Program
  • Nicole B.
  • Anonymous
  • Star guerra
  • vicky jackson
  • Jackson Family
  • Mark Blaustein
  • David J. Zink
  • Frank
  • Eugene Patron
  • John & Geo
  • Matt & Dominick
  • Citizens Committee for New York City
  • Neal Young - Halstead Properties