A fun, sunny day thanking volunteers

by Chelsea Schuyler

You can see by the pictures in this slideshow that a better day could not have been chosen for the annual Volunteer Appreciation Picnic last Saturday at Colonel Summers Park. Our sometimes flaky guest, the sun, showed up early and shut the place down, making the perfect weather for badminton, cornhole, frisbee, and of course, impromptu hula hooping. You know, what all Friends of Trees people do in our spare time. 

Edible fanfare courtesy of Russell Street Bar-B-Que (mmm, grilled tofu deliciousness) made a great spread, and hungry folks dished up to the tune of a lively ukulele played by volunteer Brian Symes. 

Lucky volunteers won all kinds of rockin’ raffle prizes, including REI gift cards and BPA free, recycled travel mugs (thanks to REI for their generous donation!), free tickets to the Pacific Tree Climbing Institute event this weekend, and always fashionable Friends of Trees T-shirts and tote bags.

It was great to see some of the old and new faces. Longtime volunteer Karen Williams got some nostalgia cheers wearing a classic Friends of Trees T-shirt from 1997. I asked her how she got involved, and she responded simply that her house needed a tree. 

Karen bought a Norway Maple (this tree is an invasive species and is no longer available—just shows us how far we’ve come) and soon after heard the call for sorely needed crew leaders. She jumped on board and reports, “I enjoyed it enough that I kept it up for 15 years.”

Thanks Karen! And thanks to the rest of you for your generous time and effort over the year(s). Planting season is just around the corner, we hope to see you there!

And thanks FOT crew for hosting such a swell shindig. 

–This is the first in an ongoing series of blog posts by new FOT blogger, Chelsea Schuyler.