Throughout the year, Madison Square Park will be highlighting some of our amazing Associate Board Members. Their contributions and work as park ambassadors help to ensure that the park remains clean, green, beautiful, and appreciated all year long.

Today we are featuring Jude Gorman, a frequent patron of Madison Square Park and an Associate Board Member since 2019. Here’s some more about Jude, in his own words:

Madison Square Park has been a central part of my life since we moved to the neighborhood in 2007. My family and I have attended many events at the park, and I have worked near the park for over five years. We have spent untold hours in the playground since our daughter was born almost seven years ago—rain, shine, or snow! My kids think of it as “their park” and, truthfully, so do I.

So it was a no-brainer for me to join the Associate Board in 2019. I’ve been the chair of the Corporate Committee for the last year or so, connecting the various businesses around the park—and their employees—with the thousands of people who use the park every day.

To me the park is a marvel, if not a miracle. It’s a place of beauty and peace that is a refuge from—and a vital piece of—New York City. That was never clearer than it has been over the past two years. As the pandemic locked everything down, I went to the park almost every day, seeking that beauty and peace in the midst of so much sadness.

When the world finally reopened and many said that New York was dead, I walked to the park to find out if that was true. I found just the opposite: there were lots of people there, grabbing their own moments of peace, grabbing time with loved ones—and even just grabbing burgers at Shake Shack.

It’s going to be okay, we all said to each other. So long as we have places like Madison Square Park, New York City isn’t going anywhere.

To learn more about how to contribute to Madison Square Park, and how to become an Associate Board Member like Jude, visit our Support page!