West Harlem at the corner of W. 138th Street and Riverside Drive was officially co-named in honor of Jenny Benitez.
A beloved West Harlem activist who spent more than 40 years transforming a neglected stretch of Riverside Park into a cherished community garden.
Born in Puerto Rico, Jenny moved to Riverside Drive and raised four children across the street from a section of the park that was filled with abandoned cars, trash, and debris. In the late 1970s, she and her husband, Victor Benitez, began clearing the land by hand so that neighborhood children would have a safe place to play.
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What started as a one-woman effort grew into the Riverside Valley Community Garden, later renamed Jenny’s Garden by the volunteers she inspired. Over the decades, she grew vegetables and fruit trees that she donated to a local church food pantry, built a butterfly garden for neighborhood children, and organized generations of volunteers to care for the space.
In 2017, the Parks Department recognized Jenny with a lifetime achievement award for her work.
Jenny lived on Riverside Drive for nearly six decades. She passed away as one of West Harlem’s most cherished neighbors, and this co-naming further enshrines her legacy in the neighborhood she loved dearly.
Majority Leader Abreu said, “Jenny Benitez saw a forgotten piece of land and turned it into something beautiful for her neighborhood. She spent decades pouring her love into this community, and I am honored to help dedicate this corner in her name. Jenny’s legacy lives on in the countless lives she touched and the land she helped care for.”
Photo credit: Office of New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu.
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