How to help clean up Philly’s parks during Love Your Park Weekend in 2024

Chris and Samantha Moore volunteered at Cliveden Park in East Mount Airy over the years, slowly growing into their leadership roles, helping with French fries, Easter hunts, Halloween candy giveaways, and movie nights.

Chris eventually became president Friends of Cliveden Park in 2014, and he and Samantha learned to appreciate the important role the group’s volunteers play in maintaining the park and its stone community building. Like Cliveden, most parks in Philadelphia are underutilized and suffer from littering, lack of maintenance, and other problems. They depend on volunteers.

It’s time, the Moores say, for fall TLC — and a few more volunteers.

Organizers of the future I love my park The autumn weekend of November 8, 9 and 10 is looking for hundreds of volunteers to clean up, collect leaves and other maintenance tasks at any of the city’s 100 parks.

“Cleaning is important,” said Chris Moore, “because there are so many parks in the city and there’s not enough staff to clean the parks as often as they need to. So we, volunteers, keep the park clean, collect leaves in autumn, plant trees and flowers in spring. Cleaning up keeps the park looking good and makes it safe, so when the kids come out to play you don’t have to worry about limbs falling and dog poo all over the park.”

The organizers are asking for volunteers register online in advance.

Love Your Park, a program organized by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and a non-profit organization Fairmount The Park Conservancy is hosting a weekend cleanup in partnership with the Park Friends Network.

The program is designed to support local unstaffed parks, community gardens and catchment parks. The network has 140 volunteer groups that help maintain home parks. The groups are registered with the city and help organize cleanups, fundraise and advocate for the parks.

Love Your Park hosts two citywide park events each year — on the second Saturday in May and November — to raise resources and awareness for Philly’s green spaces.

The fall event spans the entire weekend and helps prepare the parks not only for winter, but also for next spring. Volunteers plant and tend trees, rake leaves, clean flower beds and perform other tasks aimed at preparing the parks for winter.

“Love Your Park Fall Weekend is an opportunity for each of us to show how much we care about our communities and the green spaces that unite us. Philadelphia’s parks thrive because of dedicated volunteers who give their time and energy to keep them clean, safe and beautiful,” said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson. “Whether you’re planting trees, raking leaves or picking up trash, your efforts will make a difference that lasts all year.”

Kevin Roche, chief of staff for the Fairmount Park Conservancy, said 95 percent of the city’s residents live less than 10 minutes from a park and help is needed to “maintain and celebrate these shared community treasures.”