Recreation & Parks Month

2010 Report

Great Parks

Make

Great Neighbourhoods!

Recreation & Parks Month 2010 Report

Adopt-a-Park Program

The Adopt-a-Park Program is designed to help keep Hamilton parks attractive and safe with the ultimate goal to engage park users and community groups in creating

and preserving clean and safe parks for everyone.

Park Appreciation Days 2010 Report

Park Appreciation Days “Park Appreciation Days”, are a series of volunteer clean up and beautification events in selected parks during the

month of June by our Adopt-a-Park Groups. Event activities include litter and debris clean-up,

weeding & mulching garden beds and wood chipping around trees. Some groups even hold a celebration

event to coincide with their clean up activities.

Great Parks Make Great Neighbourhoods! Great parks have a vital role in our environment and have a positive impact on our community and on the

quality of life for our residence. Great Parks Make Great Neighbourhoods!

Celebrate

RECREATION & PARKS MONTH

Join the City of Hamilton in celebrating the

benefits and value of Hamilton Parks.

June is Recreation and Parks Month and we

invite you to celebrate with us.

The Public Works Department, Operations & Waste Management Division is celebrating Recreation and Parks

Month by sponsoring “Park Appreciation Days”, a series of volunteer clean up and beautification events in selected

parks during the month of June.

Event activities will include litter and debris clean-up,

weeding & mulching garden beds and wood chipping around trees. These one day events will bring significant

exposure to Recreation and Parks Month. Park

Appreciation Days will be an opportunity for community leaders and Adopt-a-Park groups to pitch in and assist in a

beautification effort at a park in their neighbourhood.

The efforts of the community will bring beauty to our parks,

our neighbourhoods and our City. Join us in the celebrations!

Adopt-a-Park Groups: All Adopt-a-Park groups are encouraged

to participate in Recreation & Parks Month Celebrations. Hold a Park

Appreciation Day Event during June and win some great prizes!

Park Appreciation Days Get your volunteer group together, and plan your Park Appreciation Day Event.

Register your event at www.hamilton.ca/parkevents

Register & Win: Once registered, complete your Park

Appreciation Day Activity and fill out the Improvement & Beautification Report. The report is your opportunity to win

prizes! Don’t forget to send us your photos and success stories.

RECREATION & PARKS MONTH 2010

Celebrating by hosting Park Appreciation Days

June is “Recreation and Parks Month” in Ontario, celebrating the important benefits and value of parks to individuals, families, neighbourhoods and communities. The Operations & Waste Management Division of the Public Works Department was a 2010 Ambassador and with the support of many local partners, was pleased to be leading the Recreation & Parks Month celebration in the City of Hamilton The theme “Live it Everyday” encourages citizens to value and appreciate their local and community parks. Recreation and Parks Months gives us the opportunity in an exciting way to increase the awareness of the value and important benefits of parks to individuals, families and to our community.

What has happened during June….

Park Appreciation Days hosted by our Adopt-a-Park Groups

Read the stories...see the pictures and celebrate the achievements of

Our Neighbourhood Champions!

NEIGHBOURHOOD CHAMPIONS Who are Neighbourhood Champions?

Neighbourhood Champions are enthusiastic volunteers throughout our city that want to help make Hamilton Clean and Green! Neighbourhood Champions are people just like you who want to help clean-up and beautify our neighbourhoods.

What does a Neighbourhood Champion do? Neighbourhood Champions rally volunteers in their neighbourhoods to battle graffiti, remove litter and debris, report vandalism, and beautify their neighbourhood. The Adopt-a-Park program offers many resources, including supplies to do litter and graffiti removal, equipment and our Community Clean Trailer to do park clean up and beautification activities.

Why become a Neighbourhood Champion? There are lots of good reasons why you should become a neighbourhood champion. Through community involvement and engagement, volunteers help reduce litter, remove graffiti and help to beautify our neighbourhoods. Volunteer groups can Adopt-a-Park, sponsor a flowering traffic island, remove graffiti and litter…all the things that can help to maintain and improve your neighbourhood!

You can have a direct hand in getting things in your community fixed, cleaned up, made safer and better.

You can quite literally help make Hamilton’s streets & parks cleaner and safer. Enjoy being part of a team that makes a noticeable difference to the quality of

life for local residents. It's a rewarding feeling to volunteer and do something that benefits the

community.

COMMUNITY CLEAN TRAILER The Success of the trailer!

Over 1500 volunteers collect litter, remove graffiti, and beautify our parks during Recreation & Parks Month . In an effort to keep Hamilton Clean & Green, volunteers participating in Hamilton’s Clean & Green programs needed the tools and equipment to do their work effectively. In late 2009, the Operations & Waste Management Division of Hamilton’s Public Works Department created and introduced an innovative solution to meet the needs of the volunteers...a Community Clean Trailer. The Community Clean Trailer is equipped with landscape tools and supplies for litter & debris clean-up, graffiti removal and beautification projects. The Community Clean Trailer is available for loan to volunteer community groups to remove debris, graffiti and beautify their streets, neighbourhoods, parks and our community. The Community Clean Trailer has…….Rakes, litter pickers, wheelbarrows, shovels, brooms, pruners, hoses, garbage cans, first aid kit, graffiti removal kits, a tent and so much more. There is equipment to prune bushes and shrubs, trim trees, beautify a shrub bed, remove graffiti or pick up litter. All the equipment and supplies in one trailer!

.

THE RESULTS ARE IN....

286 VOLUNTEERS CONTRIBUTING

OVER 1500 HOURS…..

25 YARDS OF WOODCHIPS USED AND 92 YARD WASTE

& RECYCLING BAGS USED…..

AND 297 GRAFFITI TAGS REMOVED!

Recreation & Parks Month Results 2009 2010

Number of Park Appreciation Day Activities 12 21

Number of Adopt-a-park Groups 26 35

Number of Community Clean Trailer Requests 17 25

Number of Volunteers 231 286

Number of Volunteer Hours 801 1,567

Number of Garbage Bags Collected 121 125

Number of Yard Waste and Recycling Bags Collected 62 92

Number of Graffiti Tags/Sites Removed 25 297

Yards of Woodchips Used 22 yrds 25 yrds

Number of Mature Trees Planted in Parks 18 5

Number of Media Hits -Direct 12 15

**RESULTS DO NOT INCLUDE EXTREME PARK MAKEOVER FIGURES FROM 2009.

ADOPT-A-PARK GROUPS……

Parks are often the catalyst that build strong, self sufficient communities. Dedicated volunteers involved in our Adopt-a-Park program participated in the annual Park Appreciation Days during June. Activities included litter clean-up, graffiti removal and beautification activities...here are few of their stories…..

THE SUCCESS STORIES FROM OUR ADOPT-A-PARK GROUPS......

Landsdale Area Neighbourhood Association (LANA) Tweedsmuir Park The Landsdale Area Neighbourhood Association (LANA) continued their ongoing clean up and beautification efforts a Tweedsmuir Park. This park once was the site of Tweedsmuir Middle School has been turned into a beautiful green space for the community. The Adopt-a-Park volunteers continually do litter and graffiti clean ups in the park as well as wood chipping of shrub beds.

Knights of Columbus #10091 Waterdown Memorial Park At Memorial Park in Waterdown, the Knights of Columbus continued to do their part to keep their community clean and green. The small, but determined group picked up several bags of litter and recyclable material from around the park. The Knights also went to work on removing all the offensive graffiti and tags that covered the skate park and buildings in the park. Thanks to this group Memorial Park is looking better than ever!

Strathcona School Victoria Park Butterfly Garden The Butterfly Garden in Victoria Park was created through a partnership with the City of Hamilton and Strathcona School. The Garden supports the Monarchs in the Classroom program, in which students raise and release Monarch Butterflies each September. The Garden acts as an outside classroom and is maintained by volunteers through the school program. During the month of June, volunteers went through the Garden and took out all the weeds. The process took a few gatherings, but by the end of it the Garden was weed free and wood chipped to help prevent further weeds from growing in. On their last beautification event many Monarch Butterflies were present to motivate the hardworking group.

The John Howard Society The Rail Trail The John Howard Society has taken a very active role in the community with a variety youth diversion programs. One such program had several park appreciation days throughout the month of June. The Community Service Order Program involving youth between the ages of 12 – 15, took on the major graffiti problem in Carter Park and the surrounding Rail Trail. During various graffiti removal events the group was able to paint over the entire area and rid the community of over 200 graffiti tags. The John Howard Society has had an enormous impact on not only the youth of our City, but also the beautification of our streets and parks.

North central Community Association North Central Park North Central Park located in the Keith Neighbourhood Hub was the site of celebration during Recreation & Parks Month. Volunteers involved in the Adopt-a-Park group gathered early in the morning to do litter and graffiti removal and placed woodchips around all of the trees in their park. Once the park was clean and beautified, the same volunteers then started to set up for their BBQ in the park. The park was filled with local residence for the BBQ, music and horse and wagon rides. What a way to celebrate and enjoy your park!

Corktown Neighbourhood Association Shamrock Park The Beautification Team of the Corktown Neighbourhood Association continued with their work at Shamrock Park. Each spring the group holds a garage sale in the park. All proceeds from the sale are used to purchase plant material for the shrub beds in the park. The Park Appreciation Day activities include morning refreshments courtesy of Tim Hortons, lunch supplied by Street Meat BBQ and after a hard days work wings at the local Corktown Tavern. The Beatification Team expanded their work this year focusing on the north side of the park. New plant material was added to the shrub beds, weeds removed and woodchips topped each shrub bed area. A few of the volunteers didn’t have a green thumb, but could paint, so they volunteered to remove graffiti and paint over a wall covered with graffiti tags. A full day of work, but there was a constant flow of new volunteers pitching in throughout the day!

GRAFFITI

GRAFFITI IS A CRIME.........

In addition to litter and beautification of our parks, we focused on graffiti removal this year. Each volunteer group had the supplies to remove graffiti in their parks. The Graffiti Wipes used by volunteers can remove tags from signs, benches and other park amenities. Some of the Adopt-a-Park groups removed graffiti on their sun shelters by doing paint over. Graffiti is a crime! Report graffiti in progress to 911 and report all existing graffiti by calling 905-546-CITY (2489) or on our website www.hamilton.cagraffiti

Thank you….. Thank you to the Adopt-a-Park groups who participated in the 2010 Park Appreciation Days during Recreation & Parks Month and to all of our volunteers who help keep our parks Clean & Green all year long!

Park Adopt-a-Park Group Alison Park Allison Park Neighbourhood Assoc. Andrew Warburton Park Homeside Park Committee Bayview Park Air Cadets Birge Park Landsdale Area Neighbourhood Association Bishop's Park Stinson Community Association Carter Park Stinson Community Association Rail Trail John Howard Society Cathedral Park McMaster B.A. Health Science Central Park Central Neighbourhood Association Durand Park Durand Neighbourhood Association Eastmount Park Mountain Kids Club Eastwood Park HMCS STAR Glendale Park Glendale Secondary School Land's Inlet JWRP Hamilton Naturalists' Club Jackie Washington Rotary Park Rotary Club of Hamilton Jack C Beemer Park Brain Injury Services Lucy Day Park PW-Central Fleet Section McLaren Park Notre Dame House Memorial Park Knights of Columbus #10091 Mountview Park St. Teresa of Avila School Myrtle Park PW-Business Services Section North Central Park North Central Community Association Peace Memorial Park Mountain Kids Club Pinky Lewis Parkette Wever Community Hub Shamrock Park Corktown Neighbourhood Association Southam Park Sprout Organic Growing Camp Tweedsmuir Park Landsdale Area Neighbourhood Association T.B. McQuesten Park Enterprise Rent-a-Car Victoria Park Strathcona Community Council Victoria Park Butterfly Garden Strathcona School Warden Park Lake Avenue School Wellington Park Dodsworth & Brown Funeral Home Winona Park 1st Winona Scout Group Winona Park Winona Men's Club Wolverton Park Liberty for Youth Woodlands Park Barton Village BIA

RECREATION & PARKS MONTH 2010

ADOPT-A-PARK PROGRAM......

The Operations & Waste Management Division is pleased to

offer the Adopt-a-Park program. The Adopt-A-Park is a

citywide volunteer program that recruits and trains citizens to

assist in the general care and maintenance of neighbourhood

parks. The Adopt-a-Park Program also educates the public

about creating and preserving clean and safe parks for

everyone. The Adopt-a-Park program is proud to be an

affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. For further information please visit:

www.hamilton.ca/adoptapark