Saturday, January 7
Sunday, January 8, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Bring your holiday tree to Brook Park, where we’ll turn it into mulch for healthy ground cover. Watch your tree go into the chipper and become environment-friendly mulch. Plus, you can take some home for your own yard or garden! Please remove all decorations from the trees.

Volunteer!
Help assist people who bring their trees in for recycling by removing ornaments and distributing mulch.

Join Friends of Brook Park,

Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito,

NYC Department of Transportation,

Community Ribbing Cutting for the Speed Bump

Community Board #1 and your neighbors to mark the successful advocacy campaign we led and that our Council Member responded to and implementation of the new

SPEED BUMP ON 140th Street!

Thanks to all who signed our petition of over 500 signatures!
Thanks also to our allies on the block: Casa Atabex Ache, Freedom Community Center and St. Peter’s Church.

The speed bump will help to protect our children and elders crossing the street.
Learn more about traffic calming measures here.

East 140th Street near Brook Avenue, in front of Brook Park
Thursday December 22nd, 2011

Speed Bump event: 1:20PM to 2PM
But come hang out in Brook Park!

Classes that come out can work in the garden too before or after, with a campfire and marshmallows!

RSVP

Thanks!

Speed Bump Being Installed

Joe Perez, Director of Freedom Community Center, Cedric Loftin, District Manager of Community Board #1, Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, Dawn Cherry, Friends of Brook Park parent, Diana Ayala of Council Member Viverito's staff. August 2010

Pass this on to all who are interested.
Previous post here.

Friends of Brook Park needs your help.

While we are proud to bring you our environmental programs, we need your support to keep us going. Whether you’ve just met us, known us for a season or our ten plus years, now is a great time to help us out with a generous end-of-year donation. Donate today.

Your contribution is fully tax-deductible and will go directly to offering nature education activities, making New York a greener, healthier place to live.

In the words of a ninth grader:

Today I visited Brook Park and I loved being there feeling the air on my face and tasting nutrients that are fresh and clean and from mother nature herself. Places like this are important because they let people stop and think and breathe in the good nature air and take a step back to what we have to do to keep our planet healthy and clean. Brook Park is called Brook Park because there was/is a body of water under all… that there is right now. What I loved about this experience was that I did a lot of things I never thought I would be able to do. All that was new to me, and I’d love for someone else to have an experience with places like Brook Park.

Make your 2011 tax deductible contribution by December 31!
Donate today!

Click here to read more about our recent accomplishments.

Click the image to enlarge.

On Dec. 3rd, 2011, buildOn teen volunteers performed outstanding tree maintenance work. Meeting at Brook Park for an orientation and tool pick-up, we then dividing into three teams consisting of 5 students and an adult supervisor. Each group attended to a share of the 47 trees in our street tree planting project. We picked up trash, aerated the soil, tightened arbor ties, and planted bulbs at the perimeter of the tree pits. Adult facilitators Kimmy Kunkle, Lille Smallwood, and Carol Zakaluk–thanks for helping! This was just part of the students’ important volunteer work that day.

For more about our Mott Haven Tree Planting project, click here.

Carol Zakaluk is guiding this unique effort. Email Carol

Wednesday NYC Hearing 11-30-11

DEC Public Hearing on Fracking: New York, NY

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released
a ludicrous draft environmental impact –
statement and issued draft regulations for fracking. News article with us denouncing the false study. They want to
start right away, but WE WON’T LET THEM.

DEC will hold four public hearings on these drafts. Each hearing will
have an afternoon session from 1pm to 4pm and an evening session from
6pm to 9pm. They will accept comments in written and oral format at
the hearings. Feel free to take the stage to speak at any time, or
from the audience, or outside, or inside.

It is extremely necessary that we flood these hearings with
supporters like you who are fighting for a BAN on fracking. Carry
Ban signs and reject talk about safe fracking or
“regulations”, a moratorium, a divide and conquer strategy or the
false promise of jobs.

Event LocationTribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007

Get involved!

See the March and Rally video coverage by Channel 5 News here.

This Saturday, November 19th at 1pm the Congress is having a Poverty & Violence March and Rally.
 
All organizations and community members should meet us in front of St. Pius Church located at 414 E. 145th St. between Willis and Brook Avenues at 1pm.
 
Organizations are encouraged to bring banners, posters and  informational flyers that can highlight these issues as well as other issues that our respective organizations are working on.
 
 
We will be marching to Brook Park (E. 141St. & Brook Ave.) where we will have a huge Rally and raffle off a turkey or two for the community!
 
 
For any donations to help purchase one of the turkeys or any other questions please contact Maxi at (347) 645-7604 .
 
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
La Marcha sobre la Pobreza y Violencia es manana sabado, 19 de noviembre a la 1pm.
Reunase con nosotros al frente de la Iglesia St. Pius localizada en el 414 de la calle E. 145 St. entre avenidas Willis y Brook.
 
Vamos a marchar hasta Brook Park localizado en la calle E. 141 St. y Brook Avenue.
 
Todas las organizaciones y miembros de la comunidad estan envitados.
 
En el Parque Brook  todas las organizaciones y communidad van ha poder hablar sobre qualquier tema y tambien vamos a rifar algunos pavos para la comunidad.
 
 
Para mas informacion llame a Maxi al (347) 645-7604.
 
 
Attached is a copy of the flyer.
Incluido esta el flyer.
 
 
Qualquiel informacion sobre el Congreso por favor mandemelo a este nuevo correo electronico: ecolon718@gmail.com.

We sure had a lot of marigolds in the garden, thanks Flores!
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1–2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed

From our friends Rebel Diaz inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

2nd Annual Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference

Growing Wealth, Health and Justice
Keynote address by
K. Rashid Nuri
Founder of Truly Living Well Center for
Natural Urban Agriculture in Atlanta, Georgia

October 14 – 16, 2011
Garden Tour 10-15 Inclues Brook Park

The Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference connects growers, eaters and organizations across the country to nurture the health and well being of Black America and the environment as a whole. Attendees explore issues of race, class, health and food through panel discussions, workshops, films and conversations. Resources are exchanged. Ideas are pollinated. Solutions are born.

The second annual conference will be held from October 15th, 2011 9am to 5pm at Hostos Community College in Bronx, New York. Registration: $25
Oct 14th kickoff Fundraiser at Kiosk Restaurant 80 East 116th in Harlem from 6pm to 9pm.
October 16th, Farm and Garden Tour in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Newark. The Bronx Farm Tour will be during lunch on October 15th. Includes Brook Park!
Register here.
The Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference is organized by Black Urban Growers (BUGs), an organization committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, we nurture collective black leadership to ensure we have a seat at the table.