How an Eco-Conscious ‘Roller Disco Fanatic’ Spends Her Sundays

For the past four years, Lynn Bodnar Kelly has been the executive director of the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit that Bette Midler founded in 1995 to help make clean, open, green spaces more accessible. The organization, which owns and operates 52 community gardens, also plants trees, renovates gardens and restores parks in communities.

“Everyone asks if I’m friends with Bette,” said Ms. Bodnar Kelly, 51, who lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Gowanus, Brooklyn, with her Parisian boyfriend, Laurent Fanichet, 53. “She’s the heart of the organization and checks in, but she has a thriving career. I’m checking in and meeting with gardeners, the staff, our communities and donors.”

As a child growing up in Old Town on Staten Island, Ms. Bodnar Kelly would be sent to her family’s backyard to pull weeds when she misbehaved. She said she “loathed” the experience but gained an appreciation for the work it took to maintain a garden.

“Now I’m fascinated by gardens and helping them thrive, and paying it forward for others who don’t have backyards or access to nature,” she said. “I’ve become a fighter for these places.”

EARLY RISE I’m up at 7 a.m. I’m like my father, an earlier riser. It’s a habit I can’t break. I lounge around for several hours because this is my one day not to rush. I buy Starbucks dark roast ice coffee in a big bottle, add two cocktail-size ice cubes and add a splash of half and half. I get back into bed and get on the laptop. I’m a nerd, so I do the boring life things. First, I order from Fresh Direct. They have a great seltzer brand, Adirondack; I love their mandarin flavor.