From the Director: Help Preserve Green Space for Everyone on MLK Day

Conservation // January 10, 2017

Service work in Wissahickon Valley Park is fundamentally connected to environmental justice, a concept that is in keeping with the legacy of Martin Luther King, which we will be celebrating on January 16.

Philadelphia is a city that struggles with many issues, such as poverty and an under-funded school system. But our public parks—land held in the public trust for all citizens—allow us to enrich every Philadelphian’s life. A person volunteering in one of our parks reaches out and helps another person in a fairly direct way.

At FOW we are proud to partner with the other nonprofits and agencies, such as the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership and the Philadelphia Water Department, that are committed to creating egalitarian access to green space, clean water, and clean air. Every park in Philadelphia deserves to be cared for and maintained for the benefit of everyone.

Volunteering with FOW is not only a way to help improve air and water quality, but helps preserve a place of refuge from the stresses of urban life that is available to all citizens. FOW hopes you will join us on January 16, as we remove invasive plants on the public land surrounding the Thomas Mansion in Germantown. Learn more here.

by Maura McCarthy, Executive Director