Tag: Diane kunze

Posted on by

Overington Love Your Park Day

The weather was sunny and beautiful during our Love Your Park event this past Saturday May 14th.  We held our Perennial plant sale and topped our previous  years sales total.

overington3

Our Friends donated over 150 plants. Master gardeners were on hand to give information about the plants that were available for sale, or to answer any garden questions.

Parks and Recreation, Garden Wagon, came with an interactive display of plant material, fun engaging games, and a smile to brighten any day.

We planted 6 crates of Cannas around the park, mulched tree pits, and flower beds.

overington2

Our thanks goes out to everyone who supported Overington Park this weekend by lending a hand or buying a plant. As always Frankford Garden Club, Frankford High School’s JR ROTC, neighbors, State Representative Jason Dawkins, Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, Parks and Recreation, Fairmount Park Conservancy, and FOOP members constant support is what makes great things happen in Overington Park. Thanks!

overington1

Our June is heating up with two events! Saturday, June 4th, from 9 till 1, flea market along the park. Come out and join us!
Saturday, June 11th, from 12 till 3, Meet and Greet the Friends of Overington Park! We hold a pot luck picnic in the park and a salsa contest. Come out and get to know the FOOP Scoop!
Check us out on facebook @ friends of overington park
Diane Kunze
Posted on by

Overington Park June Picnic

It was a beautiful day in Overington Park this past Saturday, June 15th. We had a pot luck picnic for green volunteers and Friends of Overington Park.

Pat White and Marty played music while we chatted and consumed our picnic fare . Our third annual Salsa contest was won by Jason Dawkins, second place Nona Bloom and third place our SMA Lisa Handy.

Thanks goes out to everyone who brought something to share and stopped by to have a good time. We were a small group, about 20, but it was nice to get together in our park. Every Thursday we gather for a work day from 9 till noon, so sitting around relaxing was a new experience.

If you like what you see in our park come out and join our efforts to make and keep Overington a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

Diane Kunze and the Friends of Overington Park

Posted on by

Love Your Park Plant Sale at Overington Park

On May 18th we held our second annual perennial plant sale in our park as a fund raiser, and we planted our new flower bed around the shed. We had a small turnout but we made more money from our plant sale then last year! All of the plants came from 4 FOOP (Friends of Overington Park) member’s gardens. The rain held off until we were done. The JR ROTC came out to help as well as members of the Frankford Garden Club. Our thanks goes out to all the neighbors who came out to support our efforts in the park by buying a plant or two.

The new bed around the shed looks beautiful, but we have already had people pulling out what we put into the bed. It surprises us that the work we put into the park can be undone by a few bad people. Over the weekend someone came into the park and dug up a beautiful Hydrangea from our shade bed. How special for them to steal form everyone for their own enrichment. The Friends of Overington Park would like to hope that if anyone sees the destruction of our park, that they will step up and tell them to stop. We can only do so much to make this park a better place.   We need everyone who enjoys the improvements in our park to make a stand about doing the right thing and protecting what we have planted for everyone to enjoy.
If you would like to do some good in our park come out and join us on our park work day Thursday’s from 9 till noon, we would love to see you there.

Diane Kunze, president, Friends Of Overington Park

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Friends of Overington Build the Park

Diane Kunze spent 11 years looking out her front door over at the park across the street and thought somebody should really do something about that mess.  Overington Park, located at the corner of Leiper and Orthodox Streets in Frankford, didn’t seem to be maintained by the city and it’s most committed users were drug dealers, prostitutes, vagrants and school students playing hooky.  People were bringing mattresses into it.  It was not an inviting place to be and therefore, the only people using the park were the ones up to mischief.  It had a spiraling effect that as fewer people used the park, more and more mischief took place in it.

friends-of-overington-park-look-at-tool-shed-location

Friends of Overington Park scout future shed locaton

“It’s such a Philadelphia thing to do.  Look out your front door and say ‘The city should really do something about that.” Kunze says.  But that was 10 years ago and the park’s turn around has been hard fought, but a success.  There is a presence there now.  Her group, the Friends of Overington Park, make every effort to let people know, who are looking for a place to hide, that this park is not going to be it.

They keep the ground free of debris with weekly cleaning days, and make it a mission to  keep the place inviting to neighboring schools, so they’ll bring the kids over.   For years, the park has been host to carolling at Christmas time, participated in every city service day, held multiple movie nights and annual Fall Festivals.

Continue reading Friends of Overington Build the Park