I took time out of the walk to visit another section of the city. I am a member of the New York City Chapter of the Michigan State University Alumni Association and as part of the New York Cares Day in which organizations all over the city do volunteer work to better the city, I joined the Big Ten Coalition to help clean up and repair a park in New York City.
The Michigan State New York Chapter Alumni at work!
I swear it was the gloomiest day when we met at the park and getting to Claremont Park is not the easiest place to go. It is located just off the Grand Concourse off Clay Avenue between Mount Eden Parkway and East 170th Street. I took the D subway train up to the Bronx and because I could not hear the announcements, so I got off at 163rd Street by Yankee Stadium. Because I was already late and wanted to get to the park, I walked the rest of the way. Trust me, it was not the most glamorous walk I have ever taken. I felt safer in Harlem and Bushwick before walking above Yankee Stadium.
We were supposed to paint the benches and gazebo, pick up garbage and weed and rake up leaves but because the weather was so bad and we did not have all the volunteers we were supposed to have shown up, we ended up raking up the leaves in one section of the park and picking up the garbage. The garbage I could understand but the leaves in the woods could have stayed. After all it was compost. No one listened to me and we ended up cleaning up the whole woods.
Claremont Park later that Summer when it was nice out
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/claremont-park
The results were good, and it looked very professional when we were finished. We filled up 99 bags of trash, leaves and compost. We also picked up all the dead branches in the area so that section of the park looked really nice. The northern section of the park had already been seeded and was fenced off so there was not much to do there. There was a lot of painting to do in the park but that was for another day.
It started to pour down rain when we finished and our leader of the group (I know this kid must have been in a sorority at MSU) tried to pep us up to finish. Everyone just went to the bathroom or back to the gazebo and relaxed.
Both the park manager from the NYC Parks System and a local resident thanked me personally for helping out and that made it well worth it. I was glad I was able to give back to the city and that the residents of this area have a better, cleaner park for it. It made the project well worth it. The only problem I had was the massive case of poison ivy I got a few days later. This would last for three months. Not fun!
Anyway, this is my dedication to the Green and White!
Go Spartans!!!
Places to Visit:
Claremont Park
Clay Avenue & 1816
East 178th Street
The Bronx, NY 10457
(212) 639-9675
Open: Sunday-Saturday 6:00am-10:00pm
mywalkinmanhattan 
As a loyal Spartan, it is fun to support NYC. We had a great time this afternoon rain and all but at least the park looked nice and was clean when we left. Even I was impressed by all the work the group did and Claremont Park was better for it.
Go Spartans and Go MSU!!
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This looks like an especially fun day for you, Justin. I’m sure everyone else enjoyed you being there also.
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