Do your classrooms need a new coat of paint? Could your hallways use some colorful murals? Does your library desperately need to be reorganized? Does your playground need livening up?

Complete the New York Cares Day School Application by Friday, May 14, and your school could be one of the 100+ schools that we’ll send thousands of volunteers to revitalize on our fall day of service.

New York Cares Day takes place on Saturday, October 23, 2010. The event is free for participating schools. Apply now!

For Heather, volunteering is more than something nice to do in her free time – it’s her career.

As a member of the corporate philanthropy team at HSBC Bank, Heather works with New York Cares to mobilize her employees on revitalization projects in public parks throughout the city, including Hands On New York Day, for which HSBC is the presenting sponsor.

Heather started volunteering with New York Cares as a Site Captain in 2003, and she’s continued to work with us ever since, through her company and on her own. Read more about why Heather volunteers.

Thank you for making Hands On New York Day such a great day of service. 5,000 volunteers spread out all across the city to take advantage of the beautiful weather and work towards a great cause.

Together we weeded, pruned, planted, mulched, painted, and cleaned our way to a greener New York City, revitalizing 69 public spaces and improving the quality of life for millions of residents this spring and summer.

Check out more photos from the day on Facebook as we add to our Hands On New York Day 2010 album.

The Mission Continues team, an organization honoring veterans, spruced up the grounds around the World War I Memorial in Astoria Park to round off their public service activities for National Volunteer Week.

Volunteers digging a new pathway through Hands and Heart Garden in East New York, Brooklyn, under a gorgeous blue sky in preparation for the summer’s crops.

This year for Hands On New York Day we partnered with the NYC Department of Transportation and the Urban Art Program to beautify the city’s streetscapes by painting temporary art installations on Jersey Barriers. In record time, 125 volunteers completed murals along a bike path in Williamsburg that passing cyclists said looked awesome.

Employees of HSBC Bank, Presenting Sponsor of Hands On New York Day, got started at Inwood Hill Park this morning digging irrigation channels and painting the park’s retaining walls to control erosion.

HSBC President and CEO Irene Dorner and NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, and New York Cares Executive Director Gary Bagley came out to kick the day off. NY1′s Ruschell Boone even stopped by to get the scoop on the work being done today.

We ordered 822 gallons of paint for Hands On New York Day 2010 (enough to cover more than 80,000 square feet of benches, fences, and park houses with a fresh coat!), and volunteers at Tompkins Square Park are doing their part by painting three miles of fence today.

Volunteers strapped on their life vests and waders to remove trash and distribute organic algae growth-inhibiting packs in the lake at Crotona Park in the Bronx.

Ebonie, a New York Cares Junior Committee member, was thrilled to be placed at William Harris Garden today. She grew up just four blocks away and played there as a child, so she’s been looking forward all week to returning to her in her old home turf to volunteer. This is what Hands On New York Day is about: bringing communities together.