May 15, 2010, Jamaica, New York, It was a remarkably beautiful day for the yearly 'It's My Park Day' event which took place last Saturday on May 15th (coincidentally it was the same day as my Father's birthday). OUR park is Goosepond Park or Captain Tilly Memorial Park. It is a beautiful little gem located in Jamaica, Queens complete with a little lake, big trees, a playground and some hills.

Though the work offically started at 11:00 AM some of us were already out there at 8:00 AM planting flowers into planters and strapping them to the sides of the playground.

At 11:00 more people came and we started raking up leaves and garbage with great enthusiasm along with a great group of students from Jamaica High School who were helping out as part of their Biology lab for the first hour or so.

There were at least 20 people helping throughout the day including many community members who lived in the area. It was a great way to get to know each other a little better. Many stayed the whole time from 11AM to 5PM. We even received a visit from and took pictures with our local assemblyman and two of his children.

For almost the whole day we were accompanied by a big Parks garbage truck into which we dumped the big piles of leaves that we collected on to tarps. After the truck left we continued collecting the leaves and garbage into trash bags and left them lined up neatly along the path edges.

Others were busy planting flowers around the edges of the playground. It was really great getting exercise and breathing fresh air (minus the leaf dust) all day - and on such a beautiful, sunny day. Everyone left feeling satisfied with a good day's work.

View more photos of the park cleanup at the United States Sri Chinmoy Centre photo albums.