It's My Park Day Photos

YWC Inwood joined Volunteers for Isham Park last Saturday, May 15. The parents picked up glass and large tree branches while the kids worked hard to pull up the garlic mustard that was taking over the south side of Isham Park. Check out our photos below:

Yes We Can Inwood! in the Manhattan Times

Our group has been mentioned in Manhattan Times. Click here to check it out.

THANK YOU for helping beautify Inwood Hill's Payson Avenue edge on May 1st!

Thanks to all 25 of you who came out to help beautify Inwood Hill Park at the Payson/Beak Street entrance yesterday.


It was a big success that you helped make possible.


We hope its the first of many improvements along the Payson perimeter of Inwood Hill Park.



Sincerely,
Jennifer M. Hoppa


Administrator
Northern Manhattan Parks
NYC Parks & Recreation
Fort Tryon Park Cottage

Yes We Can Inwood makes it to the New York Times!

Check out the New York Times blurb about our March 27 Clean Up Day. Click here.

Flowers of our labor:

Check out photos of the daffodils we planted last November.




























Photos taken on 3/31/2010

Thank you letter from Manila:

Dear Members of Yes We Can Inwood,

Thank you so much for sending us your books. With your help we were able to establish a reading program for the victims of the flood and also in another nearby poor community -- Kaingin 1, Bgy. Pansol, Quezon City, Philippines. So far, 60 kids have been pre-tested and 40 have qualified for the program (meaning those who scored lowest, and thus have the greatest need for it).

We have also trained the volunteer teachers, who are women in the community who passionately believe in the value of education. The 6 month program shall start on April 12. For the other 20 children who did not qualify, there will be storytelling hour for them everyday at the chapel which shall house the library.

Thank you again. Your generosity continues to go a long way.

Sincerely,

Dondon and Margaux Atayde
Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines

Millon Trees NYC Thanks Yes We Can Inwood!

Below is a letter from the Parks Commisioner:

Dear volunteers,

On behalf of Mayor Bloomberg, thank you for coming out to Van Cortlandt Park to plant trees in support of MillionTreesNYC and It’s My Park day! This citywide effort would not be possible without your dedication and hard work. We had hundreds of volunteers come out and plant over 20,000 trees! We are now over a quarter of a million trees strong because of your help.

We hope that this is just the beginning of your involvement with MillionTreesNYC. We offer many opportunities to perform public service and learn how to care for trees. In fact, we will be hosting stewardship (tree care) events on an on-going basis including a more comprehensive training. Feel free to contact Ellen.Arnstein@parks.nyc.gov if this is something that interests you. We hope that you are well on your way to becoming an official member of the MillionTrees Stewardship Corps, our blossoming community of people who commit to taking care of trees.

Let your story be an inspiration for others to dig in and get involved with MillionTreesNYC. And as always, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org for our calendar for more events and classes.

Thanks a million,
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and the MillionTreesNYC Team



Photos from the Van Cortlandt Park:

Yes We Can Celebrate - July 25, 2009

Dear Yes We Can Inwood families,

We hope you are enjoying your summer and the beautiful weather.

Tricia and I are very excited to tell you about 2 great things that we have been working on and want to share with you. The first is the creation of a new website for Yes We Can Inwood. It was designed by Tricia and contains photos and summaries of all the service projects we have completed since we started last December. Please check it out and feel free to leave comments at http://www.yeswecaninwood.com .

We would also like to invite you to an Ice Cream Party which will take place on Saturday, July 25 in Isham Park at 2 p.m. The event is partly meant to thank all the families who came out to our service projects but also to give us all an opportunity to gather and celebrate in one of our favorite parks. If you have been unable to make any of our service projects so far, please don't feel bad about coming to enjoy some ice cream. And if you still feel bad, you can volunteer to be an ice cream scooper.

Kidding aside, we expect to have enough Edy's Ice Cream for 100 people. We will need 10 adults to serve as scoopers and set-up and clean up crew. We could also use 1 or 2folding tables. Most importantly, though, we need scoopers so please e-mail argaret Peeler if you can commit to being at Isham about a half hour before the party.

Thanks everyone and hope to see you in the park!

Margaret & Tricia

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Below is the winning essay by Margaret regarding Inwood:

(Edy's awarded Margaret, the winning essayist, first prize and ice cream for 100!)

Inwood is an urban neighborhood located at the Northern tip of Manhattan. While only minutes from from the high rises and office buildings of midtown Manhattan, Inwood offers peace and tranquility for the thousands of families from diverse backgrounds who call it home.

Since we are all apartment dwellers without front or backyards, we gather in our local parks for sledding, trick or treating, picnics, hiking, climbing, bird watching, and playing.

One of our neighborhood traditions is gathering "up on the hill" at Isham Park every Thursday night from April to November where children run, play and climb trees and the grown ups set up blankets and share home cooked meals or just order a pizza. We exchange clothes and books our children have outgrown, celebrate our childrens' milestones, offer encouragement to a family who might be struggling, and most importantly we laugh.

I have lived and worked in neighborhoods throughout New York City all my life, but I have never experienced such a genuine community spirit as the one I have found in Inwood. Thank you for letting me share our neighborhood with you.

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More photos from the ice cream party: