This spring’s Hands On New York Day (April 24th) was a big hit! More than 5,000 NYC volunteers banded together to help clean & green New York City!

Volunteers planted 20,000 sapling trees in parks across the city’s five boroughs. As a lead non-profit in MillionTreesNYC initiative, NYRP managed three of the planting sites, in conjunction with The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Our staff and volunteers could be found at Ocean Breeze Park in Staten Island, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, and Rockaway Park in Queens.

Click here to see all the fun volunteers had.

New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is proud to announce that our NYC Grows event - held on Sunday, April 25th - truly blossomed into a celebration of all things green in NYC. Despite a few raindrops here and there, thousands of eco-conscious visitors lined up to experience a variety of interactive demonstration booths and exciting eco-inspired activities, all located in the heart of New York City's recently renovated Union Square.

Rooted in urban gardening and sustainable living, the event's main attractions included a life-size community garden model - designed and constructed by NYRP's very own staff - and a pop-up Chelsea Garden Center where attendees were able to purchase plant materials and gardening tools. Participants grooved to live music performances from acclaimed bands, such as Jason Myles Goss, John Oliver and the Distinguished and Amy Crawford, while they treated their taste buds to savory, organic food samples generously provided by Whole Foods Market.

Over at the Organic Gardening magazine booth, New Yorkers previewed product samples designed to assist them on their path to an eco-friendly existence, as well tips for living a greener lifestyle.

For those green thumbs interested in learning about environmental initiatives, The Living Green in NYC pavilion showcased best practices in urban sustainability, including a green roof, solar and wind power demonstrations and an green-friendly marketplace. NYRP staff were on site to provide NYC Grows attendees with information on MillionTreesNYC, as well as supply their expertise on how to properly plant and care for trees in New York City through a series of hands-on tree planting and care demonstrations.

Visitors to the Farm to Fork Organic Cooking pavilion  were treated to samples of yogurt and granola in the Organic Valley, Nature’s Path and Stonyfield Farm outdoor café. Executive Chef Scott Campbell from NYRP’s New Leaf Restaurant & Bar and chefs from restaurants, such as Rouge Tomate, presented cooking demonstrations and tastings in the Bosch outdoor test kitchen.

Designed as a family-friendly event, the day proved to have something for all green New Yorkers, both young and old. Fun activities for children included interactive nature games, potting activities and live animals.



The day concluded with several New Yorkers, who signed up to become an NYRP member during the NYC Grows festival, receiving Woolly Pockets. These modular gardening containers were made out of recycled plastic bottles and given to new NYRP members as a “thank you” for their support. At the conclusion of the NYC Grows festival, Woolly Pocket and NYRP donated more than 100 of the Woolly Pockets from the "Living Green Wall" - a 40’ x 8’ vertical garden created with live, lush plants - to local schools. Additionally, The Livng Green Wall served as an entrance to the event.

Thank you to all of the New Yorkers who joined us for NYRP's outdoor festival of the season!

The Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill and FAB Alliance Tree Giveaway took place on Saturday, April 17th at the Putnam Triangle in Brooklyn. The incredible turnout produced a line down the street an hour before the event began. More than 200 new leafy neighbors found homes with local residents as a result of the tree-mendous event.

In another part of the city, one of NYRP's community-based partners, The Bowne House, also gave away 200 trees to families and community members in Flushing, Queens.

Click here to learn about our upcoming MillionTreesNYC tree giveaways, held city-wide.

Today, marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. To kick-off this momentous green celebration, NYRP staff began their morning in Union Square constructing a “Living Green Wall” – a 40’ x 8’ vertical garden where more than 400 lush plants will live and thrive for the next four days. Generously provided by Woolly Pocket, these “pockets” of trees and flowers will grow in modular gardening containers made out of recycled plastic bottles. This blossoming wall will serve as a welcoming entrance to New York City residents attending NYRP’s NYC Grows outdoor festival, held on Sunday, April 25th.



Later in the day, NYRP staff joined corporate volunteers from across the city to plant hundreds of street trees and green Northern Manhattan, as part of our second annual Root for NY Corporate Challenge. Corporate partners for the event included Bank of America, American Express, Deutsche Bank, CA, Fred Alger Management, Legg Manson and Training The Street. Congrats to the Bank of America team -- this year's winner of the Root for NY Corporate Challenge.

To top off all of our green festivities, NYRP education staff also visited schools citywide to educate students on how to be green in their lives and future careers.

NYRP wishes all New Yorkers a Happy Earth Day! And we call on all residents to join us as we continue to clean and green New York City – ensuring every day is Earth Day!

NYRP is proud to announce that our very own Kaity Tsui, NYRP's AmeriCorp MillionTreesNYC Education & Tree Care Coordinator, has won the title of "Greenest New Yorker".

The first ever Greenest New Yorker contest was organized by the New York State Economic Development, Empire State Development Corporation and Escapemaker.com. Kaity was feted at a special award ceremony in NYC for the presentation of the “Greenest New Yorker” award.

Read below for Kaity's winning submission to the "I love NY Contest."

"My passion is to transform NYC into a greener, greater, and more beautiful place, and this makes me the “Greenest New Yorker.” I’m currently the MillionTreesNYC Education & Tree Care Coordinator with the New York Restoration Project through the AmeriCorps program. When I’m not planting trees or composting, I serve as Co-Chair of Steering Committee at NYU Green Alumni Network. I’m also on the Board of Directors as Secretary with the Green City Challenge and a writer for One Earth Network, Inc. I volunteer whenever I can with the following organizations: Green Drinks NYC, Just Food, New York Cares, NYC’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education, Trees New York, and Teens Turning Green. I’m working on my Master Composter Certificate and Citizen Pruner Certificate. I’ve worked with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, City Parks Foundation, New Yorkers for Parks, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Through these experiences, I’ve made a commitment to myself and to my City to be the best environmentally-conscious citizen I can be – being a pescatarian, shopping at thrift stores, donating old clothes and sneakers, drinking NYC tap water from my own Klean Kanteen water bottle, buying local and/or organic food whenever I can, cooking, and speaking at career panels on the green industry. I am dedicated to gaining knowledge and experience in the fields of urban environmentalism, higher education, and wellness. I want to catalyze positive change and social responsibility in business, government, education, and individual people's lives that will sustain our earth."

Join New York Restoration Project (NYRP) as we say goodbye to winter and hello to spring at NYRP's Spring Festival!

Date: Saturday, May 1st
Time: 11 am to 4 pm
Place: Anne Loftus Playground, Upper Manhattan

This past Saturday, NYRP and JetBlue joined forces for our "Do One Thing That's Green" day in St. Albans, Queens. More than 340 New York City volunteers showed up to plant more than 175 trees in homeowners' yards.

NYRP would like to thank all of the volunteers and homeowners that helped make NYRP's first tree-planting event of the season a success. We have been receiving calls and e-mails from volunteers telling us that they cannot wait to take part in future tree-planting activities. And, most importantly, there were homeowners who were so very grateful for the gift that we were extending. By the end of the day, homes throughout Jamaica were made beautiful by the addition of new trees, where there once were none.

Weren't able to participate in this past volunteer day? Don't worry, there will be plenty more to come. Click here for a complete list all of NYRP's upcoming volunteer events and community programming.

Want a free tree or two this spring? 

From April to June, more than 2,300 trees will be given away to New York City residents at MillionTreesNYC Tree Giveaways across the city.  All events are first-come, first-serve with several different species to choose from.  All you need is a place to plant, a shovel and access to water.  Enjoy the energy savings, health benefits and beauty that a new tree can provide!

See below for a list of upcoming giveaways.

Click here for more information on how to get your free tree!

It was a beautiful Wednesday evening in NYRP's Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Garden.  A perfect night for the first of NYRP's recently re-imagined Neighborhood Gardening Workshop series! 

More than 30 gardeners turned out for our Garden Planning 101 workshop. Just Food Trainer, Solita Stephens. led a wonderful and detailed discussion identifying differences in garden locations, size of planting beds, amount of sunlight, seasonal planting and companion planting.

Participants left the workshop with a fresh outlook on gardening, an urban planting calendar and planting guide, a hand trowel, set of gloves, cold weather seeds, and of course, a sheet of blank graph paper to map out their own green spaces. The group couldn't stop talking about their gardens. Stories continued on well past sundown, with gardeners growing ever-more excited to plan and dig in.

Stay tuned for the next Garden Planning workshop tomorrow at the Target Bronx Community Garden!

Click here for more information on NYRP's Gardening Institute.

NYRP wants to give a big thank you to all of the New Yorkers that showed their support for NYRP by shopping at Whole Foods Market yesterday for their 5% day. NYRP staff were present at all six stores to talk to thousands of New Yorkers about how they can get involved locally in the cleaning and greening of their communities. Countless people made pledges to do their small part to make the Big Apple even greener!

For every purchase made yesterday at any of New York City’s six Whole Foods locations, five percent of the net proceeds will be donated to NYRP – with all donations supporting the restoration and maintenance of NYC community gardens and parks citywide. NYRP is also proud to announce that Whole Foods will serve as the main stage sponsor at NYRP’s NYC Grows. As this year’s premiere gardening event, NYC Grows is an outdoor festival held in Union Square that celebrates all things green in NYC!

To learn more about NYRP and NYC Grows, visit www.nyrp.org.