From Volunteers to Stewards: The People Who Fell in Love with Central Park

“I guess I was always in love with Central Park," Serena says, standing among the Ramble’s swaying greenery, where a few leaves above her head are just beginning to turn from green to orange and gold.

Hailing from outside Milan, Italy, Serena Candiani first visited the Park as an 18-year-old—and it was love at first sight. “It was a very vibrant place,” she remembers. “I saw so many people biking and playing basketball, enjoying this incredible greenspace in the middle of the City. I really, really loved it.”

Little did she know, then, that she’d be back—as a tourist, then as a New Yorker, then as a Central Park Conservancy volunteer. And she certainly didn’t know she’d wind up as someone whose job would be bound to its landscapes.

When she first relocated to New York, the first thing Serena wanted to do was volunteer in the Park. On her very first day in the City, she found herself raking leaves in the North Meadow.

And three months later, after 445 hours of volunteering—mostly in horticulture, drawing upon her years of experience as a gardener and landscaper—Serena’s supervisor told her she’d love to hire her.

Now, as the Conservancy’s Manager of Volunteer Engagement and a staff member of over 10 years, Serena describes her journey with Central Park as an adventure that has become her entire life. For the past decade, Serena has shaped the volunteer experience for thousands of people—and has even seen several volunteers follow in her footsteps by becoming staff members.

Where Wonder Took Root

Take Lisa Timmel—now a Natural Areas Technician with a zone in the North Woods—who began volunteering on a whim during the pandemic.

According to Lisa, her only knowledge of native plants back then came from her mother. “She loved Lady Bird Johnson and the whole wildflower thing,” Lisa recalls. She remembers, as a child, how the two of them would pull over to the side of the road to pick cattails.

Years later, when she arrived as a volunteer at the Dene Slope, a 1.25-acre native meadow in Central Park, “I was awestruck,” she says. The moment she stepped into the landscape, its textures alive with color and movement, she felt a kind of jolt. “This was something completely new to me. I just loved every minute being there.”

This curiosity quickly became devotion. Before long, Lisa was learning everything she could about New York’s native plants, taking classes at the New York Botanical Garden and earning both a gardening and urban naturalist certificate. So when a job opened on the Natural Areas team, Conservancy staff encouraged Lisa to apply.

Looking for a change from her career in the theater industry, Lisa says she thought, “Hey, why not?”

Two years later, Lisa now puts her new knowledge and skills to use in Central Park’s natural areas every day, caring for landscapes like the Dene Slope, the Ramble, the Hallett Nature Sanctuary, and the North Woods.

A New View of the Park

Just like Serena and Lisa, Bryan Oettel had no idea where his volunteering journey would lead. Bryan's son had interned for the Conservancy one summer—so when Bryan was transitioning to a freelance career in 2019 and found himself with extra time on his hands, his son nudged him toward the opportunity. “You know, they have a volunteer program at Central Park,” he said. “You're in the Park so much. Why don't you contribute back to it?”

All in all, Bryan spent over 130 hours caring for the Park—cleaning landscapes, pulling weeds, shoveling snow, painting benches, and more. As a longtime New Yorker and Central Park visitor, Bryan began to see the Park in a whole new light.

“I was here in New York in the ‘80s and had seen the impact of what the Conservancy was doing,” Bryan remembers. “But even as somebody who's lived around the Park for most of my life here, I really didn't understand what it took to make the Park look the way it does—and also the professionalism of the volunteer service—and that was eye opening."

That insight became a decision. Seeing so many people come together to care for this space they all loved inspired Bryan—so much so that he applied for a full-time position as Manager of E-Commerce & Retail Advancement. Now, he marries decades of previous work experience and his passion for the Park.

How Caring Creates Connection

For Bryan, Lisa, and Serena, the transition from volunteer to staff was about a deepening of a relationship. They all agree that they had been reaping the benefits of caring for the Park when they were volunteers, long before they earned a paycheck.

“In a way,” says Serena, “volunteering became a mutual relationship, where I took care of the space, and the space gave me back peace and tranquility.”

But more than anything, it was the people who made it all worth it.

When Lisa arrived at the Dene Slope for her first day of volunteering, she learned she’d been assigned to a crew that had been together since the establishment of the landscape. “They called themselves the Fellowship of the Dene,” she says, smiling. “They were just a wonderful group of people.”

They said goodbye to one volunteer when he moved to be closer to family—and they grieved together when another member of their group passed away. This group taught her, welcomed her, and pulled her in.

“They were a really, really special group of people who introduced me to what it was to be a volunteer here. They were very opinionated and very dedicated, and I really miss them,” Lisa said.

But her connections only continue to grow the longer she’s part of the Conservancy. “The best thing about being part of this community is my coworkers, who are intelligent, fantastic, generous, kind people. Every time a new person joins, it just feels like they slot right in,” Lisa says.

And it's these types of connections that made New York feel like home for Serena.

“I'm an immigrant and a foreigner here,” Serena says. “So when I arrived to the City and decided to volunteer, I developed a whole lot of connections with people who have my same passion and interests, and got to develop friendships with volunteers in the Park who’d been doing this for a number of years. I learned from them, and—being a gardener and landscaper—I also taught them something. It was a really beautiful synergy, and it’s been a door to more friendships.”

A Space Where Magic Lingers

At the core of those friendships is a shared love of Central Park—this communal backyard that has offered its greenery, its fresh air, and its open space for so many memories.

For Lisa, those memories include 15 years of quiet mornings with her dog at his favorite lawn, just inside the 93rd Street entrance. “I would sit on that bench, and he’d sit on the lawn and watch for squirrels,” she remembers. “It was sort of a shared morning meditation with my goofy, dumb, wonderful dog."

Bryan finds these cherished moments on long runs—looking up and seeing fiery fall foliage along the Reservoir—or on morning walks into the office while the Park is still quiet. On a recent stroll, he watched a red-tailed hawk bouncing around on a lawn. On another, a coyote leapt over the fence by Sheep Meadow as casually as a commuter catching a train.

“It's those little magical moments,” he says. “They make this place so unusual and noteworthy and memorable.”

And for Serena, there's no better place to spend a weekend than the Park.

“On a beautiful Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, in fall or spring, I will just leave the house with my wife Martha and head to the Park,” she says.

“People say, ‘What are you doing? It's your day off!’ I say, ‘Yes, exactly. And I'm in the space that I love the most. This is where I want to be. This is where you will find me.’”

And that won’t be changing anytime soon, according to Serena. “One day, I will retire from this position,” she says, a small smile spreading across her face. “The next day, I will come to the Park and volunteer.”

Jenny Schulte is the Senior Marketing Writer & Editor at the Central Park Conservancy.