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Politics & Government

Clean Sweep

Volunteers help Prospect Park recover from Hurricane Irene.

Hurricane Irene may have not hit New York City nearly as hard as was anticipated this past weekend, but that doesn't mean she didn't leave us some serious cleaning up to do – especially in Prospect Park.

On Tuesday, the Prospect Park Alliance and about 150 young volunteers from the New York University Stern School of Business gathered at Grand Army Plaza to help with post-Hurricane Irene cleanup in Prospect Park. Irene left Prospect Park full of debris, broken branches and more than 100 fallen trees in her wake.

Thankfully, there were no serious injuries or deaths reported in New York City due to Hurricane Irene. But, city trees did get the brunt of the attack.

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"What was so horrific about this storm was its widespread damage," said Eric Landau, vice president of Government and Community affairs at Prospect Park Alliance. "We have over a hundred downed trees, as well as about three dozen or more large limbs that came down – and lots of debris."

Volunteers helped pick up trash along various paths and along Flatbush Avenue, wearing gloves and using rakes and occasionally posing for photographs.

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The volunteers are part of a program built into NYU's Stern School of Business orientation program, where students hit the streets and participate in community service events. It's a well-established program at Prospect Park and is in its second year. Students volunteer for school credit and, of course, for personal gratification.

Ryan Liu had just arrived to New York from Singapore, where he had never witnessed a hurricane before. He was enthusiastic about lending a helping hand.

"This is kind of fun and something that I think will have some meaningful impact on the community," he said while smiling and holding a rake.

Eugene Patron, the press director for the Prospect Park Alliance, stressed the importance of keeping the parks clean, especially at such a crucial time. They've already got a rigorous clean-up program in place – the Volunteer Corps, which includes students as well as corporate volunteers, folks with special skills and other citizens, contributing to park cleanup several times a week – but post-Irene, it is especially important that as many people as possible keep the park and its services in tip-top shape.

The volunteers leave the dangerous work, like moving trees and limbs, to arborists and other professionals. But, "there's still so much to be done," said Patron.

"I we don't clean up the edges of these paths and things...and we get more rain, they would clog the drains and everything would back up," he said.

Maintaining a huge city park is no easy task, especially after Mother Nature throws some sass our way– but clearly, Brooklyn is up to the challenge.

Every year 3,500 volunteers from all age groups, socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities and professions participate in the Volunteer Corps and contribute 24,000 hours of help, including clearing litter, spreading mulch and painting benches, according to Landau. 

"Our volunteers sort of run the gamut... everything from high school students looking to get credit for colleges, to college students, to freelancers or consultants, to retirees," said Landau.

"It truly is a Brooklyn activity," he added.

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