Our Mission Statement​

Verona Park Conservancy came into being in January, 1996.  It was one of many park conservancies that were formed at the time as a way of getting community input.  New Jersey State had decided at the time to award a large grant that would enable the County to upgrade several badly eroded county parks.  The purpose of the conservancies was to provide a liaison between the county and communities surrounding the parks in order to make the best possible use of the grant money available.  The long term goal was to have a community volunteer group that would take responsibility for maintaining the gardens in the park and notifying the County Parks Department of any issues that arose.  Now, 30 years later, Verona Park has become one of the jewels of the Essex County Park system.

 

The Conservancy’s mission is to take care of the park gardens, adding annual and perennial plants each spring, and experimenting with new arrangements to keep the gardens fresh and vibrant.  Over time the mission has expanded to planting trees throughout the park that replace old or dying trees, tending Verona Lake by removing trash and tangled fishing line along the banks, and identifying and combating invasive plant species, both land-based and aquatic.

 

The Conservancy has a robust membership that contributes several thousand dollars each year to the upkeep of the Park.  We organize several events throughout the year to provide a way for members and their families to take part, including fall and spring cleanup days, organized gardening days, and participation in the annual Art In the Park and Fair in the Square events.  What stands out, however, is the remarkable level of enthusiastic volunteering efforts of all types from Verona and even from surrounding communities as far away as Newark.  People take part in planting days, seasonal weeding and pruning, park cleanup, watering, or even “adopting” a patch in one of the gardens during growing season.  We also encourage members to come to our monthly meetings and take part in the administration and decision-making processes of running the Conservancy. 

 

The promise that was felt when the Conservancy came into being 30 years ago has really taken root.  Verona Park has become the heart of the community that surrounds it, and that community has become the heart of Verona Park, and an essential part of what makes the Verona Park Conservancy so effective as a caretaker.

​

​

Leadership Team

​

Karen Bernard

Ed Filippazzo

Charles Heyer

Chris Lawrence

Sandra Mahoney

David Needle

Scott Osborne

Lauren Perry

Barbara Priest

Val Ryan

Kim Thomson

Scott Weston