Rego Park , Queens Edible Green Wall Is Ready

After three months our green wall is almost ready to be hosted by BamboMoves . Thank you P.S. 139, P.S. 174, the Rego Park Community, and Yale University for hosting and growing plants. Thank you Suzuyo for creating such a lovely insect habitat design on the wood frame. And, thank you Yvonne for managing the green wall program from beginning to end. It is the Rego Park Green Alliance's goal to have other companies host green walls all around Queens. Remember the apple's and cows that were hosted in Manhattan?. Why not have Queens have the green wall series. The green walls are edible, environmentally sustainable, artistic, and involve the entire community.

For more information or to learn more about hosting a wall, growing the plants in your school or community, or designing a frame please contact Yvonne Shortt at 917 597 3089.

Rego Park Green Alliance PSA Commercial Available Online

In July Rebecca, Clara, and Yvonne, from the Rego Park Green Alliance, were selected to be in a public service announcement on volunteering. To shoot the commercial, Yvonne worked with Shana, Eve, NYC Service, and P.S. 139.

Over 40 residents of the community showed up to help paint the 2500 square foot mural.

Thank you to all who put in their time to help make Rego Park beautiful!

To view the commercial click here

RPGA Will Be Working With Lawyers Alliance

Thank you Avie for finding us two great lawyers to help us file for our 501c3 status. We are incredibly lucky to have you guys agree to take on our organization and find us help navigating the murky waters of filing for 501c3 status.

Thank you also to those who have agreed to be on our advisory board for a fiscal sponsor until we have our own non profit status.

Advisery Board
Rachel Beadle
Elby Schneidman
Elsie Chapman
Richard West

P.S. 174 Plant Pickup

P.S. 174 did a great job nurturing the plants for our first green wall. The student council did a great job educating the kids about the project and the importance of green walls in the community. The kids were also able to put one of the plants they nurtured in a green wall panel.

Thank you P.S. 174 for all of your help with the green wall project!

63rd Drive Cleanup Finished

Because of the rain, we were unable to start the first phase of our educational park design. However, we did use that time to cleanup all of the garbage and trash that was sitting under the LIRR. Although we are not responsible for the cleanup under the railroad I have learned an incredibly important lesson. If the garbage bothers you don't wait for others to do it, do it yourself.

It's our community and we must be responsible when others aren't.

Thank you everyone for coming and helping to make a difference. What a fabulous event!

Thank you R&M Supermarket for dumping the trash bags for us :)

Rego Park Green Alliance Documentary

The Rego Park Green Alliance will be documenting all of the work the community is doing on the green wall. We will also use this as a time to showcase some of our past achievements. Here is a preview Click Here

RPGA Developes Pocket Part At Our Saviour

The Rego Park Green Alliance is working with Our Savior to create a lovely park on the side of their property for use by the community.

How did the idea come about?
While sitting at a jazz concert on Our Saviour's property several months ago, I saw a 400 square foot space sandwiched between Our Saviour Church and another building. In an area with no green space anything green is an opportunity. I spoke with Pastor Neil and asked if the Rego Park Green Alliance could create a park that could be used by the community. Pastor Neil and the congregation agreed.

What is the design?
If you look at the design, you'll see that with Colta Ives help we have created a quiet space for people to go to read and talk. Right outside of the garden is Honey Suckle that will evetually climb the fence. When you enter on the left will be some trumpet vines. On the right will be two raised beds, Further back, a clumping birch tree. At the rear, three kinds of evergreens. For ground cover, bark mulch. However, in some areas will have have a little rock to give the park some texture.

How can you help?
On November 14th we will start the transformation so if your available come down and help.

Host A Green Wall Series

The Rego Park Green Alliance will be hosting four green walls in various commercial/school locations over the next couple of months. The walls are 2’ X 4’ and will contain mints,basil, choi, oregano, lettuce, and several other herbs and vegetables. We will also be hosting a residential wall for homes.

Our first wall will be hosted by Bamboo Moves ( http://www.bamboomovesnyc.com/index.php/forest-hills) . A fabulous yoga studio with great people and a lovely ambiance. They serve Rego Park, Kew Gardens, and Forest Hills.

Goal
Teach people why green walls are great for the environment and our health. Inspire youth to be catalysts of change
Get the community involved

Needs
Plant Love
We need people to host a plant( Rego Park Green Alliance will provide the plant) for three weeks providing it with love, care, and water. After you return the plant we will put it in a panel that will be mounted on a green wall and delivered to Bamboo Moves for three months.

Artist(s)
We also need an artist to paint/design the green wall which is currently a cedar wood. Perhaps it could be painted green with lovely leaves. Just an idea. Please see wall image4 included below.

Committee
People to communicate via email and perhaps a meeting or two to discuss other potential host sites for a green wall.

Residential hosts
We also have a 1X1 green wall unit that we would like to host in homes for one month. The host site will have to have some light. Each green wall will also include a journal in which we hope you will enter 1 or two recipes in which you use herbs from the green wall. The unit only needs two screws to be mounted to a wall. I have included a picture of one unit hosted in my home – image 2. We have used the herbs from our wall to create tea and a lovely pasta sauce.

This is an incredible project and we hope you will join us on this incredible adventure.

For additional questions please contact Yvonne at 917 597 3089.

Real Good Jazz At Dusk In Rego Park

What an amazing concert we had on Saturday, September 19. The concert started at 6:00 and went until 7:30. Just long enough for the sun to set. This was the first concert in Rego Park in a long time and it was a joint venture between Our Saviour and the Rego Park Green Alliance. The organizer, Adam, did a fantastic job bringing it all together. Thank you to all who opened their minds and made this happen!

Edible Green Walls In Rego Park

Green Walls are a great way to turn a community with no parks or public gardens into an oasis of flowers and vegetables. Green walls can be mounted to a wall or free standing. They are great for insulation, cooling retention, decreasing Co2, ecological encouragement, and more. The Rego Park Green Alliance is in the process of installing green walls on several sites in Rego Park. Imagine Rego Park with lush walls filled with strawberries, lettuce, and flowers.

If you wish to learn more about this project email us. We not only want to make an environmental contribiion to Rego Park but we wish to increase community involvement and train people in green jobs.

Rebecca (age 11)
Rego Park Green Alliance Youth Service

Rego Park Green Alliance Invited To Yale University

Several members of the RPGA were invited to The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. What an incredible opportunity to learn about geothermal energy, solar technology, and more.

The shades in the picture are useful and beautiful. They keep the sun out allowing the building to stay cooler on sunny days.

Rego Park Green Alliance Wins Love Your NYC Block Contest

Last week the Rego Park Green Alliance learned they were the winners of the Dress Up Your NYC Block Contest. "All of our hard work paid off," said Shortt. Mrs. Shortt is referring to a 2500 foot mural they painted on a wall owned by the LIRR. In the future the group will be using part of the money for a Jazz Concert they are working on, green roof education, and if they can manage it a green wall under the LIRR underpass.

Mailbox Setup For Rego Park Green Alliance Jazz Concert

Co-Founder Richard West and his two kids placed a mailbox filled with Rego Park jazz concert flyers on the corner fence of the Lutheran Church. The goal, let people know about the jazz concert. It's RPGA's goal to get as many people together as possible to celebrate Rego Park and what makes it special.

Real Good Jazz In Rego Park

Presenting 

Markus Schwartz & the Lakou Brooklyn Quartet

Where

On the Lawn at

Our Saviour Lutheran Church

63^rd Drive & Wetherole

When

Saturday, September 12^th

(Rain Date: September 19^th)

 Time

6:00-7:30 p.m.

What To Do

Relax On The Grass

Enjoy The Music & Meet Your Neighbors

Bring A Blanket & Picnic Basket

(No Alcohol)

 R.S.V.P to yvonne@kidstechlabs.com 

Adam Hinz l Rego Park Green Alliance lOur Saviour Lutheran Church 

P.S. 139 Space Mural

The mural at P.S. 139 was painted yesterday, August 12. It looks fabulous. Everyone came out in full force, including the filming crew. Rego Park Green Alliance members should be very happy with how the mural looks. Many stayed and painted while the rain came pouring down.Today many kids were back in the park playing handball or basketball on the back courts. It was great to see the kids playing with the lovely bright mural in the background.

Rego Park has one dedicated group of volunteers, that's for sure!

Space Mural Update

Some members of RPGA went over to look at the space garden mural as it was being primed by Shana and friends. It looks great- what a rich color. The artists decided to do the priming themselves so they could sketch, we have aggressive time constraints. Tomorrow fellow RPGA members will help prime and paint several additional sections of the wall.

Rego Park Green Alliance Members At The New Haven Library

Did you know RPGA wrote a book called A New York City Public School Goes Green? Several members who also illustrated the book were invited to give five copies to the New Haven Library. The book will be available in the main library and in several branches around New Haven. This is a picture of several members and the head of childrens' services at the main branch in New Haven.

Click Here To View Book Online In New Haven

Space Garden At P.S. 139

NYC Service selected the Rego Park Green Alliance to be a spokes group for volunteering in their community. What does this mean fo Rego Park? It means we are getting another mural compliments of NYC.

Eve Biddle and Shana Siegel are designing our mural and I must say I think it looks fantastic. Of course those who know me know I teach robotics and hydroponics so any mural that fuses the two has my undying support.

What Would You Like To Do Next In Rego Park?

Dear Rego Park Green Alliance Members,

We would like to determine the next community project for our membership. In order to do this we need your input. Past projects have included tree and daffodil planting, mural on 63rd Drive, hydroponics workshops, and book publication. Future projects should promote sustainability, education, beautification, and community involvement. Projects may be small or large. Please email me your thoughts and I will look to setup a meeting for us in the next couple of weeks at the library.

If you know of others who might be interested in being active in the community, please forward this email or send them to www.regoparkgreenalliance.org . We have made great strides working together in our community and I know that we can do even more.

We have also raised an additional 100 dollars in proceeds from the publishing of A New York City Public School Goes Green. The book can be purchased at Amazon


Thank You
Yvonne Shortt
Rego Park Green Alliance
917 597 3089

Volunteer Casting Call

As it turns out, the Mayor's Office is casting a commercial on volunteering in one's community. Several Rego Park Green Alliance members trucked down to the casting agency to see if they might have a chance of being in the commercial. The best part, if they are chosen the casting agency might pay us a little to help with whatever project they shoot for the commercial. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Cracked Pavement Fixed

Thanks in part to Tony's Pizza for helping get the sidewalk under the mural paved. Thank you for taking the plants and replanting them in lovely pots. Also, we love the new plants and the trellis. Together we are making a difference, person by person, company by company, day by day.

Mural Fixed

Last week someone put a little graffiti on the wall. Thank you Peter Beadle for cleaning and repainting the wall. It looks great. I think that, as a community, we are coming together in ways that some of us never thought possible.

Rego Park Green Alliance Honored By Citizens Committee

In early June Richard and Yvonne, co-founders of the Rego Park Green Alliance, were honored for their group's service to the community. The event was held at the Municipal Society in the Helmsley Hotel, where wine and cheese were served and the guests had a chance to schmooze and learn about other like -minded groups.

P.S. 139 Tree Update

In October the P.S. 139 school community came together to plant 5 trees in the schoolyard. The trees are doing well however, they need a little soil to cover one exposed root. This week the Rego Park Green Alliance went to Home Depot and purchased soil and mulch. We will work with the school community to mulch and weed over the next two weeks.

Rego Park Hand Print Mural Designed By Yvonne Shortt & Richard West

What is the significance of the hand print mural & who designed it? Yvonne Shortt and Richard West of Rego Park decided to create a design that incorporated something of each participant into the wall. What better than the hand indelibly imprinted. Parents and kids joining together to press their hand on a wall, marking a certain period of celebration in their life. Yvonne & Richard also decided to plant succulents which are known to be drought tolerant in a recycled container on the design site.

Rego Park 'Real Good' Mural

The day arrived and it was perfect. Everyone showed up ready to work and have fun. It was amazing. Many say they want change but few are willing to take the time to make it happen. Thank you to all who did!

Click here to see some great pictures

Rego Park Green Alliance Volunteer Puts Up Signs

With any great event, it relies on the people who volunteer their time.  Yesterday a Rego Park Green Alliance volunteer went around the community putting up signs to let the community know there would be no parking on Saturday June 6th under the overpass.  We are very exited and wishing that after three days the rain will indeed stop and give us great weather tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

South Wall Priming By Alliance Members

One is never too young to get involved in their community. Clara age 6 and Rebecca age 11, came out early Sunday morning to support their community by prepping the wall for next Saturday's hand painting by the Rego Park Community. Rebecca & Clara worked with their parents who are also members of the Rego Park Green Alliance. The best way to get your kids involved in the community is to lead by example.

Eve Biddle & Joshua Frankel Design 'Real Good' Mural

I thought I would use this forum to explain why Eve & Joshua incorporated Real Good into the mural. For information about the hand print mural please see the hand print blog entry.

"REAL GOOD"
Rego Park derives its name from the Real Good Construction Company which began operating in the neighborhood in the 1920's. This mural,
REAL GOOD, reanimates the optimism encoded in the name Rego to illuminate the 63rd Drive underpass. REAL and GOOD are the
neighborhood's genetic makeup and the expressed attributes of its present. Rego Park's ancestral association with construction suggests potential for future creation. The metamorphosis of the wall from dusty gray to vivid color reminds passers-by of possibility. We can control the image of the place in which we dwell through positive action.

Two New Garbage Cans for Alderton and 63rd

The Rego Park Green Alliance was able to get two new garbage cans on the corner of 63rd and Alderton. For years we had nasty old garbage cans with trash hanging everywhere. However, last week the Department of Sanitation and The office of Melinda Katz pulled through with two brand new garbage cans. Now, we have to let people know that there are several other garbage cans on 63rd so if their garbage doesn't fit throw it in another garbage can and not on the floor.

Real Good Spirit

Elby, a Rego Park Board member, went around to several stores on her way home from the dentist and asked them if they would show their REAL GOOD spirit and put signs up around the neighborhood. Talking about fitting a little time in to do some great community work.

Later that day, Rebecca and Clara, went around the neighborhood and took pictures in front of every store that had the sign taped up in their window. Some stores had the sign inside so we didnt get to take a picture with them.

Below is a list of several stores that took the flyer.
Card News Store (next to Natural ID)
Columbia Chicken
Dalk Cleaners
Dr. Gangian
Dr. Kalman ( His manager blew me away--she placed it in a really nice frame and placed it on their entrance table.)
Duane Read
HSBC
Lady Care Beauty Salon
McDonalds
Met Supermarket
Moskov
New Lux Nails
Park Cleaners
Rego Park Café
Rego Park Dental Clinic
Treasure Hunt
Valley National Bank

63rd Drive Businesses Support The Mural Project

Today Jay, a member of the Rego Park Green Alliance, went around to many businesses on 63rd Drive and the surrounding area to ask for their support with the mural project.

As you walk along 63rd this week, look around and see which vendors supported the project by placing s flyer in ther window. And, don't forget to give them your business.

Tony's Pizza Place is one of many stores along 63rd that agreed to post the sign in their window.


Below is a list of stores that agreed to place a flyer in the window.
Rego Park Cafe
KeyFood
F.C. Discount Liquors & Wines NY Inc.
K.S. Pharmacy
OlgaR
Cheburechnaya
Focus Academy
Shalimar Diner
Gotham Home Decor
ENail
Larisa's Bagels
Davidoff Optical Center
Red Apple Development center
Zuni Trading
Tony's Pizza
Columbia Chicken Restaurant

Thank You

R&M (Store on West Side of 63rd, Next to the LIRR Underpass) Helps The Community

Mike, the owner of R&M, fixed his sidewalk in front of his store on Sunday, May 31st. R&M also worked with Royalty Waste Management to have their garbage picked up everyday instead of every three days.

What does this mean to our community? It means that now when kids walk to school they will hopefully no longer have to step over lettuce and other vegetables.

Thank You Mike!

(Mike poses with Elby, Rego Park Green Alliance Board Member)

The Rego Park Green Alliance Writes A Book

A NYC Public School Goes Green

Robin is a student at PS139Q and wants to make a difference in her community. This is the story of how she finds her way.

A New York City Public School Goes Green is a fictionalized account of the accomplishments of the PS139Q Rego Park Green Committee. It was written to inspire schools and neighborhoods to form their own green committees to promote sustainability and beautification in Queens, New York City, and the world.

Purchase Book

Recycle And Reuse

Looking for a fun activity to do this summer?

Recycle a 30 gallon drum and turn it into a planter. First, we went to Home Depot and purchased primer for plastic and fun colored paints. Next, we primed the container and waited two weeks. Then we had some finger fun. Stay tuned for some great pictures of vegetables we plant this summer.

Rego Park Green Alliance Teaches Hydroponic Planting

Today was fabulous. The weather was great and everyone was ready to have fun, learn, and do something really cool; learn how to grow vegetables hydroponically.

Thanks to Rebecca West for her efforts on her science project (Growing Beans using Hydroponics) we were able to get a grant from United Healthcare to do workshops for the school.

It was fun to see all the kids working together and then eating some of the lettuce that Rebecca and her team grew in the school's greenhouse

Rego Park Green Alliance Receives Another Grant Based On One of P.S. 139’s Very Own Science Projects By Rebecca West

Goal: Demonstrate through hands on education how soil-less (hydroponics) growth of herbs and vegetables is possible & can lead to a healthy lifestyle

Plan: Students will learn how to grow herbs and vegetables such as lettuce and Pak Choi without using soil; this same method is used by NASA on space shuttles and in Antarctica by research teams.

Date: April 2; Thursday

Time: 2:45

Length: 35 minutes

Place: School Yard

What We Will Do:
• Learn how to grow plants using only water, nutrients, hydroton, and seeds
• Understand how acidity and alkalinity affect plants
• Learn how to track your plants growth at www.regoparkgreencommittee.org
• Meet back in the schoolyard on April 23rd to see how your plant has progressed. Take one home, depending on availability

Please email Yvonne@kidstechlabs.com to register for this event.

NY1 Highlights Rego Park Green Alliance Work

The Rego Park Green Alliance worked with TreesNY and P.S. 139 to get trees planted in the schoolyard and get the kids educated about tree maintenance. Their work was featured on NY1. Congratulations to all the kids in robotics class who worked to make this possible.

Go Green Alliance!

Rego Park Green Alliance Wins Dress Up Your School Award For P.S.139

The Rego Park Green Alliance won the dress up your school award. This award was for 1500.00 dollars. A portion of the money was spent on growing lettuce, carrots, basil, oregano, peppermint, and lettuce in the school's greenhouse.

Two months later, the plants were given to 12 classes so the kids could watch them grow. My youngest daughter took home some basil, how cute.

The grant will also be used to write and illustrate a 32 page book about the work that the Green Alliance has done in P.S. 139. The book will look to demonstrate how any school short on money but big on volunteer commitment can make a difference in their community. The Green Committee will send the book to other elementary schools in Queens, our city council officials, and other legislative officials to help promote the Green Alliance's projects in the future.

Another portion of the money will be used to plant additional bulbs in the school yard and around the school itself.