ATLANTA -- Staff members of the Blank Family of Businesses and Park Pride will huddle outside the Georgia Dome on Friday morning, May 29, before shifting to a spread offense that will see more than 100 volunteers move to three area parks for a day of community service. Throughout the morning, the volunteers will provide a helping hand to revitalize and beautify nearby Vine City Park, Washington Park and Cleopas Johnson Park.
Members of the Blank Family of Businesses, which includes the Atlanta Falcons, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Atlanta Falcons Physical Therapy Centers and AMB Group, partnered with Park Pride – a Blank Family Foundation non-profit partner – to organize a collective day of giving back to the community in a key focus area of the Blank Family Foundation: parks and green space in Atlanta.
“One of the core values of all of our businesses is giving back to the community,” Falcons Owner and CEO Arthur Blank said. “I’m particularly proud that our associates decided to join forces today to have a meaningful impact in parks surrounding the Georgia Dome.”
Among the volunteers, Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith and President Rich McKay will lead their team in renovations to Cleopas Johnson Park (Fair St. and Northside Dr.), and Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff will apply his elbow grease at Washington Park (Ollie St. at Lena St. NW). The renovation projects at all three parks will begin at 9:15 a.m. and end at approximately 12:30 p.m.
A highlight of the day includes the grand opening of Vine City Park, a community-designed new park largely funded through grants by the Blank Family Foundation. A ceremony commemorating the opening of the park will take place at 9:30 a.m. Mayor Shirley Franklin, Arthur and Stephanie Blank, Councilman Ivory Young and others will be in attendance to commemorate the remarkable milestone of opening the park in this under-served community.
After years of planning and land acquisition, Phase I development of the Vine City neighborhood park (on Magnolia St. between Graves and Walnut), which began in September 2008, is complete. The new park includes an outdoor classroom, plaza, playground, event lawn, pathways, picnic pavilion and formal gardens. The Blank Family Foundation provided significant support for this park, including a $125,000 grant for land acquisition and a $550,000 grant for restoration and amenities.
“Today’s opening of Vine City Park is special to us, because it celebrates a journey of active involvement by the Vine City community, along with the collaboration of numerous partners that are passionate about green space and community gathering areas,” Blank noted.
“Vine City is one of the most under-parked communities in the most under-parked major city in America. Park Pride is grateful for the opportunity to work with the Blank Foundation, the City of Atlanta, the community and others to make Vine City Park a reality,” Park Pride Executive Director George Dusenbury said.
Design for Vine City Park was developed through Park Pride’s Park Visioning program, which is led by award-winning landscape architect Walt Ray, who engages neighborhoods to create a park design with community input. Other funding for the park came from the Atlanta Development Authority’s Westside Tax Allocation District (TAD) Neighborhood Funds and by ACORA (Atlanta Renewal Community) funds.
About Park Pride
Park Pride, founded in 1989, is the only organization that works with communities all over Atlanta to improve their parks. In 2007, Park Pride coordinated more than 20,000 hours of volunteer work in Atlanta parks, developed new conceptual park plans for seven parks and helped start more than a dozen “Friends of the Park” groups. Park Pride is able to engage and serve the community by generating Friends of the Park groups, focusing on advocacy efforts as well as promoting participation in its Adopt-a-Park, Park Visioning, Volunteer, Fiscal Partners and Micro Grant programs. Park Pride continues to work with local organizations and community members to support the creation of the Atlanta BeltLine, which promises to create more than 1,000 acres of new parks and 33 miles of trails. The organization’s annual Parks & Greenspace Conference serves as the signature event in our work to create a world class park system in Atlanta.
About the Blank Family of Businesses
The Blank Family of Businesses is comprised of the Atlanta Falcons, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Atlanta Falcons Physical Therapy Centers, AMB Group, and Mountain Sky Guest Ranch and the Pop Stand – a guest ranch and diner, respectively, in Montana. The mission of all of the Blank Family of Businesses’ for-profit companies is to grow the financial value of the Blank estate to provide more resources for his philanthropy through the Blank Family Foundation. Through Blank’s generosity, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, along with Blank and his wife’s personal giving, has granted more than $250 million to various non-profit organizations, largely in the Atlanta area.
