We Love Brust Park!
Come join us! We are the Stewards of Brust Park, an all-volunteer organization committed to caring for a very special New York City neighborhood park located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
We think a beautiful neighborhood park and garden is something special for all to enjoy. A nature place full of trees, plants, flowers, and wildlife provides important respite from the brick and concrete of our City.
Brust Park has a delightful hilly aspect and is split by Greystone Avenue, which defines a "lower" section and "upper" section of the Park. Although relatively small, Brust Park offers groomed garden spots, a section of native forest, a jungle-gym playground area, and even a trickle of a stream and a small pond during a rainy season.
The Stewards work closely with the NYC Parks Department and the Partnership for Parks to keep Brust Park beautiful. We regularly garden, mow, seed, plant, weed, scrape and paint, gathering together a vibrant community of volunteers from among our neighbors, students, local schools and organizations. The Stewards are actively engaged in building community engagement, collaboration with local government representatives and fundraising—all for the benefit of Brust Park. With a strong community coalition supporting our efforts, we can provide for and advocate for long-overdue capital improvements and sustainable maintenance of our park. Together we can make Brust Park all it can be for everyone's delight and safe enjoyment.
Given the richness of Brust Park's several natural eco-systems, our mission also embraces creating opportunities for kids and adults to learn about the plants, birds and animals thriving in the park and aspects of urban park ecology and to encourage awareness and stewardship of parklands and the neighborhood environment in general.
Our Story & What We Do
Working with the New York City Park's Department, we have been engaged in annual basic clean-up and maintenance for about ten years in the lower section of the Brust Park. In the summer of 2018, we happily connected with a separate community group interested in focusing on the upper section of the Park. Now, these two volunteer groups coordinate efforts to benefit both the upper and lower sections of Brust Park.
In the past two years, we have taken advantage of supportive initiatives through the Partnership for Parks. Partnerships for Parks is a unique public-private partnership between City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks that supports and champions neighborhood volunteers by giving them the tools they need to advocate and care for their neighborhood parks and green spaces.
The Stewards of Brust Park began in 2017 by applying for a City Parks Foundation to rehabilitate the garden area of the lower section of the Park. The grant monies were put to good use in the Spring of 2018 with the design and planting of a lush perennial season-to-season garden.
The garden effort has already brought together a growing group of neighbors inspired by the delightful garden improvement, which actually led to the additional community support needed to also focus on the upper section of the Park.
Our longer-term goals for both sections of the Park will focus on creating a sustainable park maintenance routine, further enhancing the park plantings, collaborating with various City departments to bring about needed capital improvements, and creating fun and appropriate park-based community events.
If you're interested in joining in the brain-storming, planning and leadership of the Stewards of Brust Park, please contact us.
"It's My Park" Days
"It's My Park" Days
"It's My Park" Days
The City Parks Department works with us at least twice a year to hold "It's My Park" dates where we all come together to do whatever needs to be done in general clean-up, maintenance, weeding and gardening. It's always a lot of fun! Check out the events calendar at the NY Parks Department website to see what Brust Park activities are upcoming.
Subscribe to our list so we can keep you informed of what we're doing in Brust Park.
Become a Park
Steward
Volunteer!
The maintenance and care of Brust Park plantings and hardscape is up to us.
One weekend each month is the bare minimum we need to take care of the gardening, weeding, painting and other basic maintenance tasks.
If organizing, fundraising and outreach is your forte, we need your help in those areas too.
Let us know how you can help.
Community Service Credit
We've had such fun with young people joining us on "It's My Park Days". Kids get credit for community service. They can even meet new friends and learn about plants and more in the meantime.
There's lots going on to maintain our garden and park. Just let us know your interest and we can find ways to work together.
Our contact information
WHERE IS BRUST PARK?
We are located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, along Manhattan College Parkway
Thank you and see you in the Park!