Delivering “green” benefits was the goal of the the renovation of Sanderford Road Park in Raleigh, NC, performed by Project EverGreen, a national non-profit, and its partners. The renovation took place in late March, with more than 40 volunteers lending their time and talent to update and improve the park’s green spaces and make it an area destination.
Through its GreenCare for Communities initiative, Project EverGreen works with communities to renovate, maintain, and create more accessible parks, athletic fields, and public green spaces. Since 2008, ProjectEverGreen has completed more than 100 park, athletic field, and green space renovation projects, restoring more than 200 million square feet of healthy turf and plants across the country.
Joining Project EverGreen in the Sanderford Road Park effort were: the City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department; Ruppert Landscape; Professional Grounds Management Society; students from North Carolina State; and local corporate and community volunteers. “A single group or individual cannot make these park transformations a reality. Project EverGreen builds coalitions of businesses and individuals to bring needed change to public green spaces,” said Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen.
The Sanderford Road Park project included:
Prepping landscape beds – digging new beds, adding top dressing of 50/50 compost-top soil mix – in front of the community center and in island located on the entry pathway to the park.
Excavating soil for new landscape beds around the baseball field.
Installing new native meadows for perennial and annual plantings to attract pollinators.
Plant more than 1,000 perennial and annual flowers, ferns, and grasses in key areas of the park.
Limb up low hanging tree branches for safety and improved sightlines.
Giving the gift of healthy green spaces to communities is meaningful to volunteer partners, such as Drew Dummann, region manager for Ruppert’s North Carolina region. “When we look for community service projects, we are looking for a project where we can utilize our landscaping skills and company resources to better our community and our environment,” said Dummann. “One of our company’s values is giving back to our community, so partnering with Project EverGreen to enhance the appeal of this community park really resonated with us.”
Project Evergreen is always looking for landscape companies willing to volunteer with Greencare for Communities. Sign up here.