Timberland completed its second annual urban greening commitment to create and restore outdoor spaces in the U.S. with a transformative community service event in Philadelphia last week.
In partnership with the Center City District and the Center City District Foundation, Timberland and its partners helped restore a portion of abandoned tracks from the Reading Railroad, which will ultimately become a new public green space for the city known as the Rail Park.
Philadelphia is the second city to benefit from the brand’s efforts as part of its five-year urban greening initiative, whereby each year it chooses a city with a Timberland store, and matches or exceeds its retail footprint with the creation or restoration of an equivalent or greater amount of green space.
“At Timberland, we strive to be Earthkeepers in everything we do – and a big part of that is pulling on our boots to serve in our communities. We’re committed to protect and restore the outdoors, but not just the great outdoors; also the city parks, community gardens and green spaces people explore every day,” said Colleen Vien, sustainability director at Timberland. “We believe green spaces truly make neighborhoods stronger, so we are proud to continue our commitment by providing Philadelphia with a vibrant park to enjoy for generations to come.”
On October 13, approximately 100 volunteers transformed roughly 25,000 square feet of landscaping at the Rail Park, which amounts to almost four times the size of Timberland’s Philadelphia-area stores. Volunteers were made up of Timberland employees (including associates from Timberland’s Walnut Street store) and partners from Journeys, KicksUSA and Urban Outfitters, as well as local Philadelphia photo-blogger Conrad Benner of StreetsDept.com. Together they distributed over 65 yards of topsoil and planted over 800 plants and shrubs throughout the space.
“We’re so thankful for Timberland’s partnership to help in our efforts to bring Center City a new green space in the Rail Park,” said Nancy A. Goldenberg, executive director, Center City District Foundation. “Philadelphians are eagerly awaiting the opening of the park, and our service event with Timberland is a huge part of making it a reality. We know that the community is going to be thrilled with this new, beautiful space.”
Timberland’s urban greening commitment began in 2016 with the restoration of the United We Stand Garden in New York City in partnership with local non-profit GrowNYC. Volunteers revitalized 32,000 square feet of space in the Mott Haven neighborhood of South Bronx into a community garden. To date, Timberland’s commitment has resulted in the restoration and renovation of more than 57,000 square feet into green spaces for communities in New York and Philadelphia.
In addition to its urban greening initiatives, Timberland has a global commitment to tree planting and has planted over 9.2 million trees since 2001, with a goal to reach 10 million by 2020. A paper birch tree, the state tree of New Hampshire, was also planted at the Rail Park in commemoration of this effort. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Timberland’s Path of Service volunteer program, through which employees have served over 1.2 million hours to preserve the outdoors and strengthen communities around the globe.
To learn more about Timberland’s commitments to create responsible products, protect the outdoors and support communities around the globe, visit timberland.com/responsibility.
Photo courtesy Timberland
