Whole Foods Community Giving Day 11/2
Nov 1, 2016 3:11 pm
To celebrate its 5% Community Giving Day on November 2, Whole Foods is joining forces with the Friends of Governors Island and three other neighborhood parks: Friends of Hudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and Marcus Garvey Park. These organizations will share 5% of the day’s collective net sales from all 10 Whole Foods stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Governors Island’s share of funding will be used to support the development of our “Green Zone.”
Past 5% Days have raised more than $100,000 for partnering organizations.
What’s a green zone and why do we need one?
Governors Island is a verdant oasis and it’s growing! In 2016, we opened the newest section of award-winning park, 40 acres of rolling hills and forest that will reach peak maturity in 2100. Designed to anticipate climate changes and sea level rise for the next hundred years, the new park serves as a model for sustainable and resilient design.
Keeping our landscapes in world-class condition while applying the highest environmental standards requires both a robust workforce and extensive back-of-house capacity. Each year, thousands of volunteers provide the human power we need to care for the 172-acre Island. Our new “Green Zone” will increase their capacity and enable us to keep the Island’s landscapes healthy and sustainable. An outdoor complex, volunteer hub and educational resource, the “Green Zone” unites existing Island-wide environmental initiatives such as urban farming and composting together with horticultural stewardship.
The “Green Zone” is essential to advancing our goal to create a closed-loop organic cycle by returning waste to the landscape, bringing us closer to being a “Zero Waste Island.” Centrally located near Liggett Terrace and the Play Area, the Zone is envisioned to include:
- A horticultural lab and “kitchen” for creating liquid biological amendments and compost tea
- A gardening operations and training center
- Plant propagation nurseries
- Soil blending test beds
- Sapling bootcamps to grow stronger new trees
- The volunteer hub and tool storage
- A new pollinator garden to attract more butterflies, bees and other pollinating insects to the Island
The zone forms a critical link between these existing Island programs located on the Urban Farm:
- The Teaching Garden, run by GrowNYC
- The Compost Learning Center and organic waste recycling, run by the NYC Compost Project and hosted by Earth Matter
- Shell Recycling Center, run by Earth Matter and Billion Oyster Project
Come out on Wednesday, November 2, to support Governors Island and help us build our Green Zone! While every Whole Foods in NYC and Brooklyn is participating, Governors Island staff will be greeting shoppers at the Bowery and Union Square stores from 11am-9pm, so stop by and say hi! 15 lucky shoppers will win free a Governors Island tote bag.
Read the Whole Foods press release here.