{"id":20632,"date":"2019-03-28T08:27:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T12:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=20632"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:54:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:54:58","slug":"outdoor-volunteer-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/20632\/outdoor-volunteer-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Force of Human Nature: The Best Spring Volunteer Activities Outdoors Around NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note: this post was originally published in 2011 and updated annually to reflect the newest volunteer opportunities available.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spring is here. It\u2019s time to put those winter sweaters back into storage and dust off your flip flops. As the seasons change, so do the volunteer opportunities; there are gardens to be planted, parks to be prepped for the onslaught of visitors, and other outdoor projects that are most enjoyable in the cool sunshine of Spring. Below are some ideas for outdoor volunteer projects and activities around New York City that you can sign up for right now.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<h2><strong>Pick A Day, Any Day<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are you too busy for a big time commitment? Sign up for these one-day volunteer events:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycgovparks.org\/events\/its_my_park_day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018It\u2019s My Park\u2019<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Series is an ongoing event taking place this spring from February to May You don\u2019t even have to register: just find a participating park and go! <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.milliontreesnyc.org\/html\/plant\/plant.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Million Trees Planting Event<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The city\u2019s Million Trees Initiative has an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City\u2019s five boroughs over the next decade. Throughout the spring, you can help them reach that goal by joining them in parks in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and volunteer to help plant trees in your community.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2><strong>Runs Don&#8217;t Run Themselves<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York City plays host to a slew of fundraising 5K\u2019s and walks, and all of them need volunteers to help ensure the day goes smoothly. You can help by handing out water along the route, checking in participants, cleaning up after the race, or even cheering! Here are some upcoming runs and contact info:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AIDS Walk New York:<\/span><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May 17th. Sign up on the website or contact Volunteer Coordinator Shaun Sheppard with any questions at <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shauns@aidswalk.net<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or (212) 807-WALK (9255).<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NYCRUNS<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyrr.org\/run\/events-calendar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> On April 18th, benefit Camba by running a 5K or 10K in Prospect Park. &nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\r\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Going Green for the Season<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<div><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many organizations that are dedicated to community gardening and environmental education all year long. Now that Spring has arrived, they\u2019ll need help for the busy planting season. Check out these groups for ongoing volunteer opportunities with varying commitment levels:<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Cares Day Spring:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Join New York Cares and 5,000 other volunteers to work on an environmental project to make our city\u2019s parks and gardens cleaner, greener, and ready for summer.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ioby.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ioby<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (which stands for \u2018in our backyards\u2019) connects donors and volunteers to environmental projects in their neighborhoods to inspire earth awareness and action in New York City. Check out their sponsored projects, which are always in need of volunteers to plant veggies, build gardens and educate the public; visit their website for more information. <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Botanical Gardens: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/support_the_garden\/volunteer\/opportunities.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York Botanical Garden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbg.org\/get_involved\/volunteer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brooklyn Botanic Garden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.queensbotanical.org\/support\/143968?o121454=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Queens Botanical Garden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/snug-harbor.org\/compost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Snug Harbor Botanical Garden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Staten Island all offer a variety of opportunities, from greeting visitors to garden maintenance. It may require an application and even interview depending on which position you\u2019re looking to fill, but it\u2019s worth the effort to gain access to these beautiful gardens in any borough.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Cares<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the all-encompassing, citywide mecca for volunteers. Just sign up online and attend a 45-minute orientation and you\u2019ll be able to access their database of 1,000\u2019s of projects that take place all over the city, from Pelham Bay Park to Gregory\u2019s community garden in Brooklyn and almost everything in between. You can volunteer once, weekly, monthly; whatever you schedule, NY Cares has something for everyone.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slowfoodnyc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slow Food NYC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the New York City chapter of Slow Food, a non-profit, member-supported organization founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life. From time to time, they need volunteers to staff events or to help with outreach programs. Contact them at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:info@slowfoodnyc.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">info@slowfoodnyc.org<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or check the calendar for upcoming workshops and events like the Just Food Conference. <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><em>Do you have other local organizations you love? Comment below! For more environmentally-helpful volunteer projects, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/giveandgetnyc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">giveandgetnyc.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><em>Photo: Daniel Avila <\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor&#8217;s note: this post was originally published in 2011 and updated annually to reflect the newest volunteer opportunities available. Spring is here. It\u2019s time to put those winter sweaters back into storage and dust off your flip flops. As the seasons change, so do the volunteer opportunities; there are gardens to be planted, parks to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":64698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[315,725,327,320,754,325,326,337],"tags":[239,254,616,133,577,615,624,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-20632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-day-trips","8":"category-best-of","9":"category-bronx-outer-boroughs-destination","10":"category-brooklyn-outer-boroughs-destination","11":"category-manhattan-2","12":"category-new-york","13":"category-queens-outer-boroughs-destination","14":"category-staten-island-new-york-destination","15":"tag-botanical-gardens","16":"tag-free","17":"tag-marathon","18":"tag-outdoors","19":"tag-parks","20":"tag-slow-food","21":"tag-spring-fling","22":"tag-volunteer"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":64698,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Gardening-in-Spring-Unsplash-350x197.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}