Just for Fun

October is National NeighborWoods month, a celebration of trees in our communities. On October 10th, the NJ Tree Foundation partnered with the Alliance for Community Trees, TD Bank, and the town of Perth Amboy to kick NeighborWoods Month off right! Sixty six new trees were planted along 5 streets and in Francis Street Park, creating a gateway to this community green space. Big thanks to the dedicated and hard working volunteers of TD Bank, and to all our partners for making this project possible!

Do you want to volunteer with the NJ Tree Foundation? Visit our Volunteer Page to find out how you can help make a difference through trees.

September marked the kick off of the Urban Airshed Reforestation Program’s (UARP) fall 2012 tree planting season! Thanks to incredible community partners, dedicated volunteers, and the highest quality trees, we were able to deliver some of our most exciting projects yet.

September 15th: 26 Trees with Fine Fare Supermarket and Residents of N. 21st Street (East Camden)
If you live in Camden, you know about Fine Fare Supermarket — the much-needed grocery store recently built on the corner of N. 21st and Federal Street in East Camden. What you probably don’t know is that one of the owners, Jose Merrano, is a man dedicated to his community. A resident himself, he heard of the opportunity for free trees and was excited to bring this resource to N. 21st Street. “Let’s plant trees along this entire block — it will be so beautiful,” he explained to UARP Director Jessica Franzini in the summer of 2012. After organizing for about two months, Jose had signatures for 26 trees along one block of N. 21st Street, including 10 at his new store.

September 22nd: 23 Trees with Residents of the 400 Block of Raritan Street (East Camden)
This planting was made possible thanks to word of mouth in Camden. Margarita Garcia, a life-long resident of Camden, was incredibly moved by a tree planting project performed in 2010 along the 1200 block of Jackson Street in the Whitman Park neigborhood. After receiving our contact information, she reached out: “I’d like trees for my block, and I already have 20 people interested.” Margarita wasn’t kidding! On September 22nd, we planted 21 beautiful trees in her neighborhood. UARP Director Jessica Franzini called the number of local children and families involved “impressive,” explaining “watching people join together to beautify their own neighborhood is one of the most enjoyable parts of this job, and it’s always rewarding when the kids are involved.”

September 29th: 15 Trees with Residents of the 1200 and 1300 Blocks of Morton Street (Whitman Park)
Family Life Outreach (FLO) Ministries is an organization in Whitman Park dedicated to improving lives for families and youth in their community. In addition to a youth summer camp program, they took an interest in the UARP during spring of 2012, planting their first round of trees in April. “Some may say they are just trees,” explained Reuel Robinson of FLO Ministries in an interview with the Courier Post in April, “but when I look at these trees, I see hope.” Well, the same was true for his many of his neighbors! They were knocking on his door and approaching him on the street asking for more trees. “I’d love to plant more trees in Whitman Park every year. It truly brings people together,” added Reuel of his fall tree planting event. Fifteen new trees now grace his community.

Big THANKS to our sponsors: USDA Forest Service, the William Penn Foundation, Camden SMART, Fran Zinni … and our in-kind donors: MAFCO Worldwide Corporation, United Water Camden, the City of Camden, the Camden Police Department, Fine Fare Supermarket, Residents of the 400 block of Raritan Street, and the Robinson Family 

Thanks to a  $5,000 grant from the national nonprofit Alliance for Community Trees,  Cooper Sprouts Garden in Camden now has 15 new trees — 8 of which are FRUIT TREES! This site is now considered a local People’s Garden, part of the nationwide network of gardens supported by the USDA People’s Garden Initiative.

The Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) People’s Garden Grant Program is a new national initiative launched in 2012 to explore and deepen the connection between trees and urban agriculture. With support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, ACTrees has provided funding to 30 communities in 21 states to plant trees that produce fruit and nuts or provide shelter to community gardens.

“Trees are critical to healthy people and healthy communities,” said ACTrees Executive Director Carrie Gallagher. “We are excited to offer this opportunity to the NJ Tree Foundation to demonstrate locally that trees are an integral part of sustainable community agriculture.”

“Fruit trees are in such high demand in Camden,” explained Jessica Franzini, Program Director for the NJ Tree Foundation in Camden, “with this grant, we can finally begin meeting that need.” In Camden, only one supermarket serves over 70,000 people. “Camden is a food desert,” said Mike Devlin of the Camden City Garden Club.

On Saturday, April 28^th – as the City of Camden’s official Arbor Day Celebration – 40 volunteers from the Cooper Lanning Civic Association, Cooper Hospital, the Camden Aquarium, Center for Family Services, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc, a Champion’s Heart and more dug holes, planted trees, and laid mulch at the Cooper Sprouts Garden. In just three hours, 15 new trees were planted! Photos are posted here.

For more information on ACTrees, please visit www.ACTrees.org, follow them on Twitter @alliance4trees, and like them on Facebook at facebook.com/AllianceforCommunityTrees.