About Us
Friends of Bleecker Playground is a volunteer group dedicated to making Bleecker Playground and the adjoining plaza a clean, green, and safe center of community life for the families and residents of the West Village. Our core group of volunteers is made up of West Village families who want to create and maintain a sense of community with Bleecker Playground at the heart of it.
Jillian McIntyre is the current President of Friends of Bleecker Playground and Joshua Siegel is the Treasurer. We are always appreciative of volunteers. Our contact email is info@bleeckerplayground.org.
Thanks to the community's generous support, as well as the support of the parks department, our many accomplishments include:
- Securing $1.55MM for refurbishment of the Park from Corey Johnson's office
- West Village Children's Halloween Festival (one weekend prior to official Halloween)
- West Village Tree Lighting Ceremony (1st Thursday of December)
- Easter Egg Hunt
- Raising private funds to completely refurbish the garden area around the sand box, including topsoil, small fence, irrigation system, rodent control and plantings (see photos at right)
- Replacing the sand in the sand box on a regular basis
- Securing $400,000 from Speaker Christine Quinn's office for restroom refurbishment. Full refurbishment completed in 2013
- Receiving $40,000 from Borough President Scott Stringer's office for all new safety padding and swings, completed winter 2011
- Organizing an annual Holiday Tree Lighting
- Establishing a Spring Family Day
- Organizing numerous free performances in the playground
- Sponsoring biannual New Parent Breakfasts
- Adding additional trash cans and trash pick ups
- Adding additional safety signage and a community bulletin board
- Advocating for and participating in a complete refurbishment of the plaza area!
More than any other accomplishment we are most proud of the relationships we have developed, not only connecting families to each other, but partnering with local merchants, the parks department and other organizations to foster a sense community around our common green space.
Please join us in continuing these efforts. Together we make a difference.
Fiscal Partnership
Friends of Bleecker Playground is possible thanks to Open Space Institute.
Friends of Bleecker Playground is fiscally sponsored by the Open Space Institute, Inc. (www.osiny.org), as part of its Citizen Action Project (www.osiny.org/citizenaction). The Open Space Institute, Inc. is a non-profit organization that works to protect open space and sustain community character, as part of its Citizen Action Program.
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