Tree-mendous day held in Kissena Park

Ming, 8, and John, 6, Tse, Cub Scouts from Pack 255, marked the trees that they planted by laying a circle of rocks around the tiny trunks.
“This tree I planted when I was younger,” Ming said, excitedly pointing to a budding baby tree, one of an estimated 3,000 planted at Kissena Corridor Park on Saturday, October 21.
Meanwhile eight-year-old Marissa Cheffo, a Girl Scout with troop 4861 in Bayside, said she would earn a merit badge for lending a helping hand to the massive volunteer effort.
Her father Michael and four-year-old sister, Catie, tagged along.
“We heard about it through the Girl Scouts and we wanted to help,” Michael said.
Volunteers from the Holly Civic Organization, the Queensborough Hill Civic Association, the New York Restoration Project, Councilmember John Liu’s Youth Action Committee, Kissena Corridor West Conservancy, Wild Metro, John Bowne High School, I.S. 237, East West School of International Studies, Wally Realty, Boy Scouts of America, Kissena Park Civic Association, Holy Family Confirmation, and Future Life also pitched in.
Whatever the motivation or the way word of the event was spread, more than 300 volunteers packed Kissena Park as part of the semi-annual “It’s My Park Day!” In addition to planting two-foot-tall red and white oak, sassafras, and tulip poplar trees, the group raked and cleaned the park, located at 142nd Street and 53rd Avenue.
An estimated 6,000 volunteers in total participated in the event, co-organized by the City’s Parks Department and the City Parks Foundation (CPF) and including 178 parks citywide. In total, volunteers planted 10,000 trees throughout the five boroughs, in support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Million Trees NYC - aimed at planting one million trees in the next decade.
“Thanks to the hard work of It’s My Park Day! Volunteers across the city, in just one day we are 10,000 trees closer to our goal of one million,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
CPF Executive Director David Rivel also spoke at the Kissena Park event, telling volunteers, “Whether you care about your neighborhood, your environment or your health, It’s My Park Day! and other volunteer opportunities in city parks are a great way to make a difference.