Help us give our heroes what they need!
We find heroes. That's it. San Jose Parks Foundation finds people who want to make our parks better.
There are over 200 San Jose City Parks and more than 56 miles of Trails. The City's massive budget cuts hit the Department of Parks Recreation & Neighborhood Services very hard. One of the most important community responses was the formation of San Jose Parks Foundation, which works with volunteer groups, neighborhood organizations, individuals and other nonprofits to empower and equip and train and mentor and otherwise provide full support for those who are helping to keep our Parks & Trails in great shape.
Hyde Park and Japantown Neighborhoods got together and creating the Community Mural Pocket Park at 2nd & Hedding. The first photo above is Mural Artist Lacey Bryant standing in front of her uniquely wonderful creation that features the faces of children from the neighborhood. Better still, the site is a landscaped park where once an ugly wall and some weeds once occupied the space.
The second photo above is a group of students from Student Corps who volunteered to help clear trails and pick up refuse in Alum Rock Park. We appreciate the youthful energy and commitment to keeping this park beautiful and healthy. These students represent hundreds of others whose volunteer work throughout the years provides essential service to the community.
Your donation to our End-of-Year Campaign actually will have a profound impact. San Jose Parks & Trails are maintained and managed by a City Staff that does a phenomenal job with limited resources. To preserve our parks & trails requires hundreds of Student Groups, Neighborhood groups, Corporate volunteers and thousands of volunteers each year. Your donation supports recruitment, training, equipping and managing these groups.
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The Japanese Friendship Garden is one of our most important projects. Volunteers in the first photo above periodically come out and do supervised weeding and landscaping, directed by professional staff. The second photo above shows the beauty of this garden, which was a gift from our Sister City – Okayama, Japan. We are working to restore it after the recent flood damaged it. Part of the restoration includes installation of the wrought iron gate with a Koi and Flower Design (third photo above). Your donation helped the long-term process of restoring the Japanese Friendship Garden, keeping the beloved Koi Ponds healthy.
Your support for Thousand Oaks Park helped create a magnificent natural trail in a previously-neglect enclave of the park. The first photo above is Marsey Kahn and Jennifer Roberts, the dynamic duo who spearheaded the project, raising funds, recruiting volunteers, planning the trail and bringing in Dave Guthridge, a professional contractor who did the work at cost. The second photo is a group of neighborhood volunteers helping to build the trail.
San Jose Parks Foundation has many stories like this – of individuals whose vision and passion inspires others to join and where the entire community benefits.
We ask that you make a contribution today of $125 (a little over $10/month) to our End-of-Year Campaign to support our ongoing efforts to find heroes and support them. You may give any amount, but this is the average gift we receive and with enough people giving, we can help support the wonderful people who are willing and able to keep our parks and trails in great health.