From a Special Education Teacher

Thank You Friends of Brook Park for an extraordinary learning experience for my 8th grade class from MS 331. For our culminating end of the year project we addressed "How can a small group make change in the world?" Year long we looked at individuals in our lives and communities and through out history that have dedicated their lives to social change. Bringing students to Brook Park, where individuals are making a difference to create community gardens and preserve indigenous heritage we had the rare opportunity to be a part of that experience right in our own back yard of the Bronx.

Our class came together as a group to put up the park's tipi. It was a special experience to see students support each other and work together as we chopped wood, and organized to put up the tipi. In the unique outdoor experience that our classroom became, students that often have social and behavioral challenges were able to take time to themselves and reflect quietly next to a tree. The next day I noticed a shift in certain students attitudes and I directly related this to our team building experience at Brook Park.

Thank you to the staff for your talent in leading and communicating harmony and team practices with young people. My class truly learned a lot from you and respected the process and really enjoyed the outcome that came from our time At Brook Park. I look forward to continually bringing my class for more educational experiences through Friends of Brook Park.

Anna McHugh
Special Education Teacher
MS 331
Bronx School of Science and Inquiry

Here come the berries!

Blackberries from the bushes and mulberries from the trees!

Friends of Brook Park JOIN BOROUGH PRESIDENT CARRION & COUNCIL MEMBERS TO ENDORSE PLANYC

Friends of Brook Park JOIN BOROUGH PRESIDENT CARRION & COUNCIL MEMBERS TO ENDORSE PLANYC

The List of Environmental Organizations Endorsing PlanNYC2030 to Create A Greener Greater New York Continues to Grow

Friends of Brook Park joined Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Borough President Adolfo Carrion today as they endorsed PlaNYC with a growing list of elected officials, labor, business, civic, health advocacy and environmental organizations supporting the 127 Initiatives that Mayor Bloomberg laid out on Earth Day.

"Congestion Pricing will mean cleaner air for the City, and that means less asthma for all of us", said Harry J. Bubbins, Director of Friends of Brook Park. "It is clear that the next Mayor of New York will have to exhibit this kind of leadership for our environment and economic development." he added, while holding up the "South Bronx Says Si" sign that served as the backdrop for the press conference held on the green roof of Bronx Borough Hall.

“PlaNYC will benefit people in the Bronx and throughout our City and the entire region. Working with our Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Borough President has already installed a green roof here at the courthouse, which is an example of the type of conservation measures that our plan envisions,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The Borough President and the Assembly Members and all of the officials here today, are doing what’s right for the people that they represent by endorsing this plan and working to get it enacted and I’m proud to stand here with them today and have their support.”

“After taking time to carefully analyze the Mayor’s PlaNYC proposal, I am proud to announce my support for the congestion pricing plan,” said Bronx Borough President Carrion. “From reducing traffic and asthma-inducing pollution and improving public transportation options throughout the five boroughs, the mayor’s plan will put New York City on a path to an even greener and greater future.”

Last December, Mayor Bloomberg challenged New Yorkers to generate ideas for achieving ten key goals for the City’s sustainable future. New Yorkers in all five boroughs responded, and the result was PlaNYC, 127 initiatives focusing on the five key dimensions of the City’s environment – land, air, water, energy and transportation. PlaNYC proposals run from the relatively easy to achieve, like the already-underway replacement of thousands of traditional incandescent light bulbs in City buildings with compact fluorescent lights, to proposals that have never before been tried by a major American city, like planting mollusks in polluted waterways to naturally clean them. Together, these initiatives will help meet the challenges faced by New York City as its population continues to grow, with an expected 1 million more people arriving between now and 2030, while at the same time reducing the City's greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

Included in PlaNYC is a proposed pilot program to charge drivers a fee to enter the central business district in Manhattan. Revenue generated from the fee would be earmarked for much-needed transit improvements. More than $30 billion in regional transportation infrastructure improvements would be made possible through congestion pricing revenue.

In addition to the 140 environmental, health, civic, business and labor organizations that are supporting PlaNYC , there is also Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito.

Before PlaNYC2030...

Dear Friends!

Summer Solstice is coming upon us and we have been productive in so many ways. More than a decade before PlaNYC2030 was announced, we have been engaged in numerous initiatives to make our city more green and livable. You know know how important our work is, so please give today.

Tell your family members and friends who are fortunate enough to be able to give that you are with us. Contact me if you want our assistance to introduce your network to our efforts and check out the convenient click links below.

Spring has been flowerful and we are already eating greens and radishes! We have accomplished much in a very short time:

* Working with youth, we have all ages in garden, the only exposure to Nature for them in the area
http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog/2007/05/from-kindergarten-teacher.html

* Our Green Team members were featured on radio and in a TimeOut magazine
http://www.tonykids.com/Details.do?page=&xyurl=xyl://KIDSWebArticles1/18/city_living/field_of_schemes.xml

* We met nationally known author of The End Of Nature, Bill McKibben
http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog/2007/04/step-it-up-paddle-rally-and-bike-ride.html

* Won a national photo contest by American Rivers
http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog/2007/05/fobp-wins-national-photo-contest.html

* Had our Director featured as an awarded community planner through MAS
http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog/2007/03/director-of-fobp-receives-community.html

* Presented at Columbia University, local high schools and more

* Host ongoing educational and holistic indigenous cultural events

* Moving forward with developing a park on the Harlem River
http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-harlem0511,0,732270.story?coll=am-topheadlnes

* Were awarded a grant to plant almost 100 trees in the area

* Leading the effort to protect Randall’s Island

* Expanded our eco paddles on our local rivers.
http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/impressions/ecotoursandpaddles

Thanks to your support, from volunteering, to emailing our elected officials, we have been doing our part. Now, we need you at this time to make a generous contribution.

Send to:
Friends of Brook Park
PO Box 801
The Bronx, NY 10454

Thank you for your investment in our efforts. Thank you for your contribution today.

After School Project

The MS224 garden club is a group of about eight kids who I bring to Brook garden for an hour after school Wednesdays and Thursdays. In May, the kids prepared two garden beds before planting their crops: tomatos, green beans, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, basil and collard greens. We are all amazed at how fast everything is growing! When the kids are not weeding and watering, they are playing in the park, climbing the trees and relaxing on logs in the shade. It's been a great way to relax and have fun outdoors at the end of a long school day. In one short month the kids have come across all kinds of cool worms and bugs, and have learned to identify different kinds of vegetables, flowers and herbs. Fresh mint, for example, grows abundantly in the garden. We look forward to working in the park over the summer and eventually harvesting our crops.

This is Libby Hemming (I bring the garden club kids over from MS224 after school..). I wanted to share my photos with you and send you a little blurb about what we do in the garden: More photos are forthcoming....

Canoe Group Paddle Testimonial

Looking over my shoulder and watching a nearly full moon rise over the East River was one of many special moments I experienced when myself and nine other friends from The Indypendent newspaper went on a late-Saturday afternoon canoe ride. It was also a great experience for us collectively as well-- being able to step out of our normal newspaper producing drive and share the beauty and the camaraderie of the canoe ride. Kudos again to Friends of Brook Park for making this all possible. I would recommend it to anybody with the slightest interest in the outdoors

John Tarleton, NYC Indymedia
______
Seeing the city from the East River was a trip. It's so easy to forget
we're surrounded by water in this city. FoBP managed to get our motley
crew to work together to make this great adventure happen. How many
people can say they've wheeled a canoe through the Bronx? Riding back
on the glassy water at dusk, a freight train on the tracks next to us,
and a sunset view of the city was a sight I never thought I'd see. I'm
always amazed how resourceful and creative New Yorkers can be, and this
just clinched it. It was a blast, and I kept thinking, this is really
special, all the while with a big grin on my face. Thanks FoBP!

Ryan