Community Corner

Macy's 'Heart Your Park' Funder Benefits Essex County Parks

From now until Monday, Macy's customers can donate $1 or more at the register. All of the donations benefit the parks.

Essex County Riker Hill Art Park in Livingston and Essex County Verona Park have been selected for the “Heart Your Park,” a program introduced as part of Macy’s “Secret Garden” campaign. 

Local Macy’s stores chose Riker Hill Park and Verona Park for the campaign, which aims to raise awareness and dollars for local parks across the country. From now until Monday, March 31, Macy’s customers can donate $1 or more at the register, with 100 percent of the donations benefiting the parks, according to a release fromEssex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr.

To further spread the love, Macy’s will match the total customer donation across all stores, dollar for dollar, up to $250,000 in total.

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“We are thrilled to partner with Macy’s and NRPA for ‘Heart Your Park’ this spring,” DiVincenzo said. “Through this wonderful program and donations by Macy’s customers, we are excited about the increased awareness and additional funding for Riker Hill and Verona parks. These facilities are great assets to the community, and we greatly appreciate Macy’s support."

More than 550 parks nationwide will benefit from Macy’s “Heart Your Park” this spring. In partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association, the national non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of community parks, recreation and conservation, Macy’s stores across the country have each selected a local park or green space in their community to support through the program. Donations will go toward making improvements, such as maintaining trails, playgrounds and ball fields, and everything in between. 

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Essex County Riker Hill Art Park was nominated to the program by the Macy’s store in the Livingston Mall. The 42-acre Riker Hill Art Park was a U.S. Army Nike Missile Base in the 1950s. Essex County purchased the property from the federal government in 1974 and converted the buildings that once housed army facilities into studio space for artists. There currently are 38 artists in residence at Riker Hill Art Park.

Essex County Verona Park was nominated to the program by the Macy’s store in the Willowbrook Mall and the Macy’s Route 46 Furniture Store in Wayne. Verona Park is 54.32 acres, making it the fifth largest in the Essex County Park System. The land was acquired in 1920 by the Essex County Park Commission and the Olmsted Brothers were commissioned to design the park. 

“Heart Your Park” is part of Macy’s “Secret Garden” spring campaign that will come to life at Macy’s stores and on macys.com with an infusion of garden-inspired merchandise, special promotions and events. For more information on “Secret Garden,” visit macys.com/secretgarden.


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