A big city like New York can be intimidating. With all the hustle and bustle, it’s easy to feel like a tiny fish in a massive ocean. But for longtime neighbor, Conservancy donor, and Community Arts Grants  Committee Member Lydia that isn’t a problem, because she has a place to call home base.

Lydia, loving life in Washington Square Park

“I use Washington Square Park as my connection. I work from home a lot so when I go out it’s my first point, a tether to what people are doing and what’s going on today,” says Lydia. She’s lived in the neighborhood for 21 years, and loves Washington Square Park more with each passing year. “It’s a unique place, you can use it for repose or you can use it for action. Sometimes I’m out with my family for a jog, sometimes I come with a book and find a quiet spot. Whatever I need, I can find it here.”

Lydia recalls the first time she learned about the Washington Square Park Conservancy, completely by accident. “It was a beautiful spring day and my daughter and I were walking through the Park,” she says. “We saw this group of people planting in one of the garden beds. We stopped to say hello and ended up chatting with them.” Those people planting were Conservancy volunteers, who told Lydia a bit about the work being done. “It was a peek behind the curtain, and after that my daughter and some of her friends were inspired to volunteer at one of the spring plantings! How many other places in the city can a kid do that?”

At the end of the day, Lydia says she donates to the Conservancy because, “we all have the same interest: keeping Washington Square Park beautiful and well-maintained. It’s absolutely vital to our neighborhood. Having that type of community space, that natural hub, really makes a neighborhood richer. I look at it as an investment in my neighborhood, in my own well-being. I feel like the Park belongs to us all, and we all should play an active role in nurturing and maintaining it.”

If you’d like to join Lydia in supporting your community Park, make a donation to the Washington Square Park Conservancy today. With your help, we can keep the Park clean, safe and beautiful.