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Day 12: So where do all these trees come from?
It was early March and I was meeting with KIB to discuss my employer, Crowe Horwath, participating in a day of service. The meeting was wrapping up and I was pretty excited, things were being put in place for us to plant 150 trees to help KIB get to the goal of 2012 trees planted on the near eastside as a part of the Super Bowl Legacy Project. Since we were about done, I throughout a couple of simple question to the group. Here is how the conversation went:
Me: Do you remember last summer when I spent a month as a locavore and blogged about it on KIB's website?
Linda (KIB): Yes
Me: Well I've been trying to come up with something new and this may seem a bit extreme, but what if I planted a tree a day for a month. My only issue is I don't know how get 30 trees.
Andrew (KIB: If you can find 30 places that want trees and agree to take care of them we will give you the trees.
I was pretty blown away by the conversation. The first was Andrew's instantaneous reaction. I'm not sure I had even finished my sentence, and he was saying lets go for it! It was really that simple. I wanted to get involved with an organization I was passionate about, I had an idea, and so I asked. It really is that easy to get involved. If there is something you are passionate about, find an organization whose mission aligned with your passion and give them a call. There are not for profits across this city looking for people to get involved and engaged with their mission.
Obviously, I didn't just walk in off the street and say lets do this. I had spent about around eighteen months getting to know the organization and letting them get to know me. I did this by joining a group called SOLAR, KIB's young professional network (YPN). There are tons of YPNs across the city to allow you to get to know an organization. There is even a YPN that helps you learn about all the YPNs, it is Indy Hub. The mission of Indy Hub is to get young people in Indy plugged in and involved with things that match their passions. Of course even if the organization you are passionate about doesn't have YPN, they could always use a volunteer. Get their phone number, call them and say, "I want to get involved." It really is that simple.
Back to the trees. All 30 trees have been given to me by KIB. Though the trees may grow from other trees, the money that pays for them certainly doesn't. KIB purchases their trees from a handful of nurseries in the Midwest. After helping me identify the proper species for each location, Andrew Hart (Director of Urban Forestry Initiatives) has ordered all of trees for me. The average tree costs KIB around $100. I have had a few people ask me how they could help support me / KIB in this project. If you would like to help, please use this link.
So what tree was today? It was a Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). It was placed right next to the Red Maple that I had planted in the 2100 block of New Jersey Street. Please drive by and check them out, they look great!
