Some of our followers might be familiar with Kate Rakowski, one of our talented baristas brewing at our Philadelphia cafes. She runs an organization called Friends of Emerald Park, located at 2312 Emerald Street, between Arizona and Dauphin Streets in the Kensington neighborhood. Kate’s group maintains the park, and organizes events, which encourage the community to get involved. The park serves as a free space and allows locals to get together and take part in activities such as Philly Spring Cleanup, a trash clean up that will take place this Saturday, April 13.
Photo courtesy of philadelphianeighborhoods.com
Last month, Friends of Emerald Park was featured in Philadelphia Neighborhoods (a publication of Temple University) for receiving the “Green Machine” grant from the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. They will use the grant towards continuous improvements to the park through November.
“The grant, in the form of mobile gardening instruction, is more than a one-time assessment. After evaluating the planting beds in the park, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Landscapes Design Team develops a new scheme with the Friends group before installing plants. After the project is completed, a maintenance plan is provided to make the effects last longer than one season,” reports Philadelphia Neighborhoods.
We love seeing environmental action taking place in local communities and spreading connectedness throughout the city, especially when we see the motivation come from one of our own baristas.
Check out the full article on Philadelphia Neighborhoods.
You can also follow Friends of Emerald Park on facebook here.