The Institute’s Community HealthCorps® Program Wins #INSTALUM Contest

The Community HealthCorps® program at the Institute for Family Health was one of the winners of the Community HealthCorps® #INSTALUM Contest. Our members, along with other volunteers, spent MLK Day cleaning up Spring Creek Park in Queens with NYC Parks Natural Areas Volunteers. They removed all sorts of interesting things from the park: bottles and cans, plastic bags, old chairs, mattresses, candles, car parts, an old sofa, and tires galore.

Spring Creek is a part of Jamaica Bay, and during Hurricane Sandy, this area was severely flooded. With sea levels rising, these marshes will be an important way to protect the neighborhood in coming years. Considerable effort has been made to preserve the salt marsh for birds and other wildlife, although for years it has been used as an informal dumping ground. Piles of tires can be found in the marshes, and years worth of trash.

For more information, visit the National Community Health Corps website or the Institute’s HealthCorps blog.

The Community HealthCorps® #INSTALUM Contest was launched to recognize Community HealthCorps® alums “still getting things done”!