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The Asbury Park Environmental Shade and Tree Commission has launched a ‘Friends of’ 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm to help with the funding of their city-wide greening projects.

“This has come about to continue the Asbury Park Environmental Shade Tree Commission’s [ESTC] commitment to further the beauty and health of our city,” chair Tom Pivinski said in a written statement. “Thanks to the City Manager and City Council, the ESTC has a budget but it’s limited and the new ‘Friends of APESTC’ will be able to further its greening of the city through tax deductible donations.”

Similar ‘Friends of’ groups have been created to support the library, Wesley Lake Commission, and most recently, the Sunset Lake Commission.

The ESTC’s small group of volunteers are known for their [March through October] Saturday morning garden plantings, weeding, cleanups, small tree trimming and pruning projects at public green spaces across the city.  

They created and continue to oversee the signature welcome to Asbury Rain Garden at the Transportation Center on Main Street; Merchants Park, located at Main Street and Cookman Avenue; and was instrumental during the Pulse Memorial Grove planting, located at Library Square Park at Grand Avenue between Asbury and First avenues.

They continue to oversee the Memorial Grove and aforementioned, as well as the Community Garden, located at Memorial Drive and Bangs Avenue; the Footbridge Garden, located at Emory Street and Lake Avenue; Press Plaza green space, located at Cookman and Mattison avenues; the Civil War Garden on Cookman and Grand Avenues; Trolley Triangle, located at Emory Street and Eighth Avenue; Pollinator Garden on Heck Street and Lake Avenue; the AP Rose Garden on Emory Street and Lake Avenue; Veterans Plaza on 5th Avenue in Sunset Lake; and the Boat Launch green space, located at Main Street and Seventh Avenue.

They also work in conjunction with the Deal, Sunset and Wesley Lake commissions, and were fundamental in the creation of the city’s parklet, new westside located Art Park, and St. Johns Island rehab.

“The most important recognition belongs to the volunteers who come together every Wednesday, and on Saturdays from April through November, to create, plant, weed, and maintain all eleven of our city gardens,” Pivinski said.

He credited the City’s Department of Public Works for lending to their success.

“Without their support and readiness to assist the ESTC, several of the recent garden projects would likely not have been initiated, much less achieved,” he said.

Pivinski also credited the following residents and business:

– Without Watermark, there would be no Community Garden on Bangs Avenue next to City Hall.

– Without the business owners on Cookman Avenue, there would be no Merchants Park on      Cookman Avenue and Main Street.

– Without Brando’s restaurant’s water source, there would be no way to irrigate Merchants Park.

– Without the generosity of the friends of Jayne Mackta, and her desire to rehabilitate the Civil War Memorial with a new rose and perennial garden, there would be no funds to create it.

Saturday’s greening project will focus on filling up the newly built raised vegetable beds with 50 yards of organic soil at the Community Garden on Bangs Avenue. Pivinski said wheelbarrows are needed for 9 to 11 a.m. volunteer project and they will pick up the wheelbarrows if needed.

To make a financial donation to the Asbury Park Environmental Shade and Tree Commission projects, make checks out to the “Friends of APESTC” and send them to Friends of APESTC at 1607 Emory Street, Asbury Park, NJ 07712.

To sign on as a volunteer, email iksnivip@aol.com, and for more about the group, click here, or visit their Facebook page.  

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