Project EverGreen completed its latest “Healthy Turf. Healthy Kids.” project at West End Park in San Antonio, Texas. The park’s baseball and soccer fields were given a needed facelift to provide neighborhood children and families with a safe place to play and exercise.
“Our mission is to preserve and enhance green spaces where we live, work and play,” says Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen. “Parks, sports fields and recreational play areas are vital to healthy, thriving communities. One of the ways we demonstrate our commitment is by mobilizing generous local landscape industry contractor volunteers to donate their time and talents to make these projects possible.”
Working in partnership with the San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department, the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association and Texas Water Smart Foundation, Project EverGreen and industry volunteers provided the materials and labor to restore more than 34,000 sq. ft. of the park’s playing surfaces and entryways.
Green industry volunteers ValleyCrest, Billy Long Enterprises, Keller Material and New Earth Compost donated the organic materials, fertilizer, plant material, hardscape products, equipment and labor to complete the project.
The initiative included soil aeration and fertilization, application of soil top dressing, excavating and grading the infield surface to the baseball and soccer fields, and installation of two new entrance way planting beds and hardscape materials. The fields were rehabilitated using Texas Water Smart water conservation techniques to ensure the green spaces are water efficient now and in the future, the organization said.
Project EverGreen’s “Healthy Turf. Healthy Kids.” is a nationwide initiative to renovate and revitalize parks and athletic fields to ensure children have access to safe green spaces on which to play and exercise. Yards, parks and athletic fields not only promote a healthier lifestyle but also contribute to economic growth, community development and benefit the environment, according to Project EverGreen.
In 2015, renovation projects have been completed or scheduled in numerous cities across the U.S., including Fort Worth and Round Rock, Texas; Atlanta; Cleveland; Chicago; Minneapolis; Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro, N.C.; Milwaukee; and Portland, Ore.
Photo: Project EverGreen
