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Friends in Green Places

     You may not have heard of them yet, but their work is all around you. Since 1981, the nonprofit Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation has had a hand in nearly every park renovation and park program in the city. Working in tandem with city agencies and community groups, Friends provides fiscal sponsorship and oversight for projects, and also gives grants and scholarships. Everything from football fields at the new 4.4-acre Raimondi Park to life preservers on Lake Merritt have been funded through Friends, and in an era of budget gloom and cuts in city services, the public/private model that Friends has fostered is more crucial than ever.
Friends’ diverse board of directors, and several hundred members, have rallied around the notion that public parks bring together and nurture Oakland’s most precious resources: the land, the community and the children. “We got a donation this year from a woman who only moved here in July,” says executive director Paula Ramsey. “She wrote, ‘We love the parks, and the kids and I saved all the money in our cookie jar.’ ”
     Each year, Friends throws a big party to celebrate accomplishments past and raise money for the future. Called “A Taste of Spring,” this year’s event takes place 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 6 and features wine a
nd food tasting from an array of vendors, music and acrobatics, all taking place within at the gorgeous Rotunda at 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza.
     Tickets are $50 in advance, $65 at the door; proceeds fund Friends’ grants and scholarships.
     Next on the Friends agenda: El Sobrante Park has a gopher hole problem!

To purchase tickets to A Taste of Spring, call (510) 465-1850 or visit oaklandparks.org.