Prospect Park Honors Super-Volunteers

Prospect Park honored its most active volunteers at a brunch on Saturday at the Picnic House.

Last year, 270 park lovers logged 10 hours of volunteer work or more. At least 100 of them showed up on Saturday for the park's 23rd annual brunch in honor of park volunteers.

Brooklyn Park Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey and other parks staff were also there to honor the guests, as well as area politicians including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilmember Brad Lander, Councilmember Stephen Levin and Assemblymember James Brennan.

Special awards were given out at the brunch to the volunteers who gave the most time to the park.

Michele Dreger, Dr. Joan Goldberg, Tom Russell and Gillian Fischbein received “Administrator’s Awards” for giving more than 500 hours of service over the years.

Gregory Klosek, Ann Tracy and Michael King received the “Mary Cregg Award” for giving more than 250 hours to the park in a single year.

In addition, about 50 people who volunteered more than 50 hours in the past year were honored with certificates of appreciation, including special certificates for Ryan Gellis and Michael King for their work with the landscape management office and Vicky Zhai for her work with the development office.

Volunteers do everything from weeding and painting benches, to helping out at children’s events and the Tennis Center’s Special Aces Program, to doing office work.

And their efforts have made a big difference over the decades, said Eugene Patron, the park’s spokesman.

“It’s really what has changed the park and helped it come back,” he said.

Last year nearly 2,700 people volunteered at Prospect Park as well as 52 community groups, 22 school groups, 18 college groups, 15 corporate groups and five religious groups. 

If you’re interested in volunteering at the park to learn about upcoming sessions (the next one is Wednesday, March 16) and one-day volunteer events.