What better way to celebrate The 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service and its theme of “It’s Up to YOU” than by engaging in service?

Over the next few days leading up to conference, more than 1,000 community members, corporate volunteers and attendees are taking part in service projects across the New York metropolitan area. All the projects focus on environmental sustainability.

Volunteers at the Euclid 500 project on June 26 will build a greenhouse, planter boxes and trellises on a lot acquired by Euclid Garden, a nonprofit in East New York. The fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the Euclid Garden will supply a local food bank.

At the JetBlue Cool Roofs project in Queens, volunteers earlier this week coated the roof of the Community Environmental Center. This effort is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s promise to coat rooftops white to help meet the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

In upper Manhattan at Inwood Hill Park, the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan, JPMorgan Chase employees and community volunteers will be weeding, cleaning, and planting new ground cover on June 27.

All the projects are supported by New York Cares, which is our HandsOn action center in the city; by the NYC Parks Department, and by the NYC Housing Authority.

Sponsors for the overall projects include Pfizer, The Coca-Cola Company, JetBlue Airways and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, with JPMorgan Chase, Repair the World, and Con Edison sponsoring specific projects.

For a full list of service events, please click here.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn
CEO, Points of Light Institute