In hand with its commitment to revitalize Pigtown, a community in Southwest Baltimore, 500 Ruppert Landscape employees provided 5,000 man-hours and nearly $180,000 worth of landscape renovations to Carroll Park on Oct. 10.
The project included demolition, excavation and grading work along with the installation of pavers, sod, perennials, grasses, groundcover, shrubs and trees.
Carroll Park is 117 acres and was originally part of the Mount Clare estate of Charles Carroll, Barrister, one of the original signers of The Declaration of Independence. Today, Carroll Park boasts an assortment of athletic fields, basketball courts, a neighborhood playground, a field house, a skateboard and bike facility, as well as a nine-hole golf course. The park also includes the original Mount Clare mansion, one of the two existing Federal-style mansions in Baltimore City.
“When we began looking at potential sites, we wanted to pick a park where the need was great and where the community benefit would be great,” CEO Craig Ruppert said. “With so many acres in the park for the city to maintain, there were a number of areas where we thought we could lend additional manpower to help fine-tune the park’s 117 acres. We are happy to using our landscaping skills to benefit such a deserving community.”
Ruppert Landscape paired up with Baltimore City Recreation & Parks and Pigtown Main Street, a nonprofit under the Baltimore Development Corp., to bring the park renovation to fruition in 90 days’ time.
“From our very first encounter, the interest and responsiveness from all parties was overwhelmingly positive,” Ruppert said. “The assistance and collaboration between so many—from city government to Pigtown vendors—really helped make this day a success.”
Ben Hyman, executive director of Pigtown Main Street, added: “We are incredibly grateful to Ruppert Landscape for their generosity in supporting the Pigtown community. For nearly two years, Ruppert Landscape has donated flowers, trees and regular maintenance to Pigtown to support our efforts to beautify our neighborhood. As a result of their commitment and other efforts, we’ve opened eight new businesses, created dozens of jobs and invested hundreds of thousands in our community in the past 12 months. Ruppert Landscape has been ‘whole hog’ behind our efforts and we couldn’t be more proud.”
