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Home > Parks Commissioner Honors Penny Harvest Students
February 9, 2007
Students from Murry Bergtraum High School were honored January 31st by the Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe at the Partnerships for Parks Award Luncheon for their efforts in improving James Madison Plaza in lower Manhattan.
In 2004 Murry Bergtraum’s Penny Harvest students earned a $1,000 Philanthropy Roundtable, which they named “Communities United.” After studying community problems and determining which organizations could best alleviate those problems, the students chose to make $900 in grants to local community organizations, as well as complete a $100 Neighborhood Service project.
For their service project, the students partnered with Partnerships for Parks - a joint program of City Parks Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation that works to strengthen community involvement - and planted ivy, perennials and sweet potato vines at James Madison Plaza. This initial project spurred an on-going relationship between the students, James Madison Plaza and Partnerships for Parks that has included participation in the Partnerships’ biannual volunteer event, It’s My Park Day, cleaning up litter, watering trees and plants, and even lobbying Council Member Alan J. Gerson for funds to renovate the park.
The students’ Neighborhood Service project showcases how, given the right tools, young people can facilitate positive change within their communities. In addition to their work with James Madison Plaza, the students gave $300 to the Chinese-American Planning Council, $200 to St. Margaret’s House, $300 to Legal Outreach and $100 the Global Relief Fund for Hurricane Katrina.
Photo courtesy City of New York, Parks and Recreation
From left: David Rivel, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation; Adrain Benepe, Parks Dept. Commissioner; students Zhanna Digilova, Jeffrey Ng, Rico Setyo, Judly Lei; and teacher Patricia Baskin-Bey
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