diversity |

The Spring It’s My Park Day event took place on May 18th at Astoria Heights Playground. Over eighty volunteers came out to help our park. It was a beautiful day, mainly because so many people came out to express their support. Yes, the benches look better freshly painted. Yes, the tree beds look great with fresh mulch. That said, by far the best thing about the day has been the way our community comes together to help our cherished park.

People love parks. This truth is what drives us all to spend so much time in the park and out of the confines of the urban environment. Especially in the city, where we tend to lose ourselves in the concrete jungle, our parks mean even more to our sanity. Parks make for healthier communities. Parks allow us to find peace and beauty, calm and relaxation, inspiration, fitness and fun, and connection with our neighbors. At parks, we connect to nature and we connect to others. We find our truer selves in nature and we find ourselves in connection with others, too.

It’s My Park Day, and all of the events that Friends of Astoria Heights Park has hosted since last Fall, have been attempts at drawing our community together through our shared love of our park. A stronger community lifts up our Park, and an improved Park helps bring all of us closer together. At the recent It’s My Park Day event, it was truly inspiring to see young and old from so many diverse cultures working together on a common goal.

One Astoria Heights Park goer recently told me that the park is where she feels she has family. In her experience, coming from another country and leaving behind her family, living here in Astoria was isolating initially. The relationships she’s developed at our park have allowed her to discover a sense of family again.

This idea extends to the larger park culture now. We’re becoming a real community now. Sharing our ideas, talents and energies, celebrating our differences and our commonalities, we’re becoming part of the identity of our own neighborhood, and this is genuinely empowering. Look at the momentum we have, the changes we’re bringing about by joining forces together.

Seeing people of all ages hauling cement bricks on It’s My Park day was really exciting and moving. The train of cement bricks being passed from hand to hand to the pick up truck was meant a great deal to me— everyone was in sync and it was truly magical to witness just how much can get done so easily and even joyfully when people work together.

Another great moment for me was painting together with Senator Gianaris and Councilman Costantinides.

The Friends of Astoria Heights Park is blessed to have tremendous grass roots momentum and meaningful support from our elected officials.

Astoria Heights Park is experiencing the first stage of a renaissance. The pacing of change can be challenging at times and the progress might seem slow, but there are genuine improvements happening after decades of stasis. We have real momentum now.

I remember growing up with easy access to beautiful outdoor spaces and my need to have that in my life and for my son motivates me. My strong connection to nature pushes me to want a greener park for our community. I am grateful to be part of a community that has such strength, passion and creativity. We can truly make this and any park amazing with that kind of energy and commitment. I have met people in the park and through advocating for the park who I never thought I would meet. The experience of getting to know others and spending time together, especially around a common goal so meaningful to me, has been very rewarding. To witness all the volunteers, particularly the children getting involved, demonstrates that people are starting to take ownership of Astoria Heights Park, and this will make all of our progress in the park more sustainable over time.