Give 5: Patch digs in at the park

Sure it was a bit nippy this morning, but being outside in the crisp, fresh air sure beat being slumped in front of the computer as I normally do eight or nine days a week. It was truly a great morning to “Give 5.”

Give 5 is Patch’s ongoing volunteering initiative and a part of Patch's mission to give back to communities in a variety of ways, one of which of course is informing it with strong reporting through one of our more than 850 sites.

You can’t truly serve a community unless you provide the help it needs most, which is why giving back is so important to us. We do it as part of our coverage — in a dedicated space that lets local charities and volunteers find each other — and with “Give 5,” through which we donate free advertising space to charitable organizations and contribute our own time as volunteers.

Many Midtown residents give back year round. How do you give back to the Midtown community?

So Thursday morning, there I was in beautiful Piedmont Park helping plant trees with other Piedmont Park Conservancy workers and volunteers. The Conservancy has done a wonderful job the past two-plus decades transforming the once dilapidated park into the most visited in green space in Atlanta. The Conservancy currently manages more than 90 percent of the park’s daily maintenance care and security.

It was a pleasure meeting President/CEO Yvette Bowden and some of her staff today. It didn’t take long for Volunteer Manager Eli Dickerson to stick a shovel in my hand and get me to work.

“We had a local tree company recently donate about $20,000 worth of trees to put in the park,’’ Dickerson told me. ”Some of them are three-to-five-inch caliper. We have about five fulltime landscapers and with 211 acres, obviously we could use the help on the grounds. We need a lot of volunteers to help put these trees in.”

If you’d like to get involved, see here for more volunteer opportunities with the Conservancy. And don’t forget the Conservancy's March 15 "Park After Dark" event, which will financially benefit the security and maintenance of an expanded Piedmont Park.

The event brings Atlanta’s young professionals together at scenic Greystone, as they enjoy an evening in Atlanta’s largest green space with great food and cocktails. There will also be a raffle with great prizes, a silent auction, and entertainment by Soul Track Mind. Get more information here.