Throw Down for the Town: Clean Up One of Oakland's Littlest Parks

In Wood Park we’ve been organizing volunteers and partnering with local schools and community groups to clean up this hidden gem of Oakland. Through our monthly cleanup workdays we’ve removed tons of invasive plant species, revealing groves of redwoods and baby oaks beginning to sprout. We’ve been able to clear space for garden beds that local pre-school kids are growing vegetables in. We’ve had high school and college students come learn about the local ecology and plant native California and Bay Area plants. Most importantly we’ve been able to transform a space that was closed off and a site for illegal trash dumping into a place where people can come and walk their dog and picnic.

 

Little of this would have been possible if not for the amazing volunteers who have come month after month to help beautify this sliver of Oakland. The impacts we’ve had on the park and the youth who have come out and been able to see their own neighborhood transform for the better has been an enlivening experience. That’s why we at the Friends of Wood Park are proud to be a part of this year’s Throw Down for the Town.

 

Because we can only focus on our little slice of Oakland at the moment, we’re happy to be able to partner with the Ella Baker Center for this citywide service day. People all over the city will be able to step up and do a little bit of good for their own neighborhood and see how nice it feels to work with your neighbors, your friends to do some good for those of us who call this city home.

 

So if you’re in the Lower Dimond area, sign up for Throw Down and join us in making this little park something all of us can be proud of. We’re tucked behind Fruitvale Ave. at the end of School St. just below the 580 freeway. And if you can’t make Throw Down for some unfortunate reason you can always swing by the park every third Saturday morning for our monthly gardening parties.