Project EverGreen spearheaded a service project in Raleigh, N.C.'s Sanderford Road Park on March 18 and conducted a board meeting on March 19.
The renovation took place March 18-20, 2024, with more than 40 volunteers lending their time and talent to update and improve the park’s green spaces and to make it an area destination. Other participating entities included City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department, Ruppert Landscape, Professional Grounds Management Society, students from North Carolina State and local corporate and community volunteers.
“A single group or individual cannot make these park transformations a reality. Project EverGreen builds coalitions of businesses and individuals to bring needed change to public green spaces,” said Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen. “Cities with healthy and well-maintained play areas and recreation spaces improves the social fabric of a community by connecting people to green spaces that are beneficial to the environment and physical and mental well-being.”
The Sanderford Road Park project included:
- Digging new beds, adding topdressing of 50/50 compost-top soil mix in front of the community center and in island located on the entry pathway to the park
- Excavating soil for new landscape beds around the baseball field
- Installing new native meadows for perennial and annual plantings to attract pollinators
- Planting more than 1,000 perennial and annual flowers, ferns and grasses in key areas of the park
- Limbing up low hanging tree branches for safety and improved sightlines
Clean Air Calculator
Project EverGreen hosted a board meeting the following day on March 19, zeroing in on the Clean Air Calculator.
The Clean Air Calculator measures the amount of grass, trees and shrubs on a property, calculates the amount of carbon sequestered and then produces the amount of oxygen the property produces, contributing to the mitigation of climate change via carbon sequestration and production of clean air.
“The calculator is a game changer. This tool will provide the metrics that the lawn and landscape industry needs to quantify the overall work and benefit of its services and products which in turn contribute to the overall health of communities and individuals,” said Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen. “ The Clean Air Calculator is a tool, but it’s also an engaging way to share the benefits of plants and build a community of users who daily participate in protecting and growing healthy green spaces for the benefit of our planet.”
The tool’s methodology has been peer reviewed by scientists from around the world.
