Volunteers Needed To Plant Garden, Paint Mural In Bergen County

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Want to beautify a block with plants and paint on one special day?

The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation is seeking volunteers to install a community rain garden and paint a community mural at Boost the Block Goes Green on Saturday, June 1.

The event takes place at Hackensack High School, located at 135 First St. in Hackensack.

Volunteers can come from anywhere in the county. Children under age 14 are welcome to volunteer, but must be accompanied by an older guardian.

Volunteers are needed to help with the following activities:

• Work with landscape artist Dave Chalek, owner of Sprout Farms and Gardens, to plant or move plants. No gardening experience is needed.
• Provide information about green infrastructure or environmental justice. Volunteers will be provided with the details to disseminate to the public.
• Assist artist Amrisa Niranjan with painting a mural.
• Support other volunteers.
• Take photos.

The installation of the rain garden will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the painting of the mural will run from 11-3.

Volunteers may sign up here, https://tinyurl.com/4kfuesc8, to participate in the installation of the rain garden and/or to paint the mural.

The rain garden is produced by the NNJCF and the Hackensack Public Schools. Boost the Block Goes Green is produced by Greater Bergen Community Action, in partnership with the NNJCF.

For further information about the rain garden installation and the painting of the mural, contact Leonardo Vazquez at leo@nnjcf.org or 201-568-5608, x2.

The rain date will be June 8.

Below is some information from the organization's release:

Green Infrastructure for Environmental Justice

The development and installation of the rain garden are a part of the NNJCF's Green Infrastructure for Environmental Justice program. The program seeks to reduce flooding and improve environmental conditions for residents in central Hackensack and other parts of the city affected by flooding. More information about this program may be found at http://tinyurl.com/GreenInfrastructureJustice.

The NNJCF seeks the public’s support to create and install the rain garden. To date, sponsors of the rain garden include Champion Sponsor Suburban Consulting Engineers and Booster Sponsor The Jefferson/Garden Communities. Funders and supporters of the project include TD Charitable Foundation, M&T Charitable Foundation, The Funders Network, PSE&G, Columbia Bank Foundation and individual donors.

Donations of any size may be made online at http://tinyurl.com/SupportGreenInfrastructure. Contributions may also be sent by check and made out to 'The Northern N.J. Community Foundation', with ‘Hackensack Schools Rain Garden’ entered in the memo line. Send checks to the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, 1 University Plaza, Suite 128, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601. For further information about the NNJCF, call 201-568-5608 or send an e-mail to nnjcf@nnjcf.org.

Founded in 1998, The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 organization based in Hackensack, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023.

The NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups to improve community life. Through collaborative partnerships, regional problems are identified and resolved. Opportunities are discovered and explored by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources. The Foundation's primary areas of work are the environment, arts and culture, public health, education, civic engagement, and philanthropy. For more information, visit www.nnjcf.org, send an email to nnjcf@nnjcf.org, or call 201-568-5608.