NEW YORK - On a frigid Saturday recently volunteers were busy beautifying the landscape around the Joan of Arc statue in Riverside Park.

"We plant shrubs, we prunes, we rake leaves we pick up trash. whatever we need to do," said Randy Hugill, a volunteer who leads the Joan of Arc Statue Committee.

The committee has raised half a million dollars to pave the walkways, repair the plaza and make the entrances safer. That work has just been completed. Now these volunteers hope to raise another $50,000 to repair the stairs and seating area. 

"These stones were brought from France, these are from the castle Rouen and Reims cathedral where she was held captive and burned at the stake," Hugill explained.

Joan of Arc led France's army in key battles against England during the Hundred Years War. She later was canonized as a saint. France's ambassador attended the memorial's dedication in 1915 - the first statue of a nonfictional woman in the city, and the first statue by a woman artist. For many years it was a draw for dignitaries, tourists, and the faithful until it fell into a state of disrepair in the 1960s. Amanda Lairrick then led a group of her neighbors to fix and maintain it. 

"She had a passion not only for giving back but also recruiting and it’s contagious," Hugill said.

Hugill joined the statue committee 22 years ago and worked with Larrick until she died two years ago. Now he works to enlist volunteers.

"I come here really to be out in nature and with these people," said one volunteer.

Members of the Joan of Arc committee are among some 6,000 volunteers working throughout the 330-acre park.

"They are taking a piece of this extraordinary park and they're having ownership of it," said Riverside Park Conservancy President and CEO Daniel Garodnick.

If you'd like to become a volunteer, go to riversideparknyc.org.