​RECRUITING  EARTH DAY SITE CAPTAINS AND VOLUNTEERS (updated 3/18/2025)

2025 marks the 40th anniversary of Friends of the Parks’ citywide Earth Day cleanups! For four decades, we have partnered with the Chicago Park District to gather Chicagoans all over the city each spring to clean and green our beloved parks. On Saturday, April 26, we are aiming to make this our biggest Earth Day yet, reaching more parks than ever before.

Although we have opened up volunteer registration to join cleanup teams, we are still recruiting site captains to be the lead organizer for a park.

Check the map or this list to register to volunteer at a park that already has a lead organizer. 

If your favorite park hasn't been claimed, we encourage you to sign up to be a site captain! See below to learn what that entails. If you are open to leading a clean-up but are not sure which park to sign up for, please contact [email protected] and we will help make the match. 

For corporate or larger groups of 5 or more individuals interested in volunteering, we encourage you to sign up using this link. This will allow us to notify the site captain in advance to ensure that they can accommodate for your group.
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We hope you will join us in making a difference in your community! ​​For further inquiries, email Egna Setiawan at [email protected]

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What will be YOUR role as a Site Captain?

• Making a commitment to organize a cleanup crew on April 26 at a park.
• Connecting and coordinating with the park’s supervisor and Park Advisory Council (PAC), if it exists. Park supervisors can assist with planning and may have access to tools or other materials. PACs are familiar with a park’s specific needs and might be able to help with organizing, promotion and recruitment.

• Promoting the volunteer signup page (provided by FOTP) through avenues such as social media, individual outreach, and posting flyers in the park, library and local businesses.

• Setting up a meeting site for Earth Day and communicating with volunteers regarding the location.

• Coordinating with FOTP staff to receive gloves and trash bags for the cleanup.

• Hosting Earth Day Clean up! Remember to take lots of photos.

​To view more details click here
Site Captains are the backbones of our Earth Day Celebration! Friends of the Parks is here to support you along the way.

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Earth Day Background

For 40 years, Friends of the Parks has coordinated park clean ups across Chicago as part of our annual Earth Day Celebration in partnership with the Chicago Park District and Forest Preserves of Cook County. This year's event is Saturday, April 26, 2025. As usual, we will be supporting Park Advisory Councils (PACs), park partner organizations and other volunteer groups by providing them with gloves and garbage bags as well as an online event sign-up. In addition, we are accepting requests for mulch, woodchips and fibar, which we will direct to the Park District. 

Last year's first "emerging from the pandemic" Earth Day was a great success with thousands of volunteers spread out across nearly 100 parks in spite of a classic Chicago spring mix of sleet, cutting wind--and some peeks of sunshine. We look forward to even bigger numbers this year!

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Special thank you to our partners and sponsors for their support! Our annual Earth Day Celebration and Clean-up is a team effort and would not have been possible without them.