Celebrate the legacy of Dr. King with Friends of Trees

By Andy Meeks

Friends of Trees is organizing four plantings in the Portland-Vancouver area and two plantings in the Eugene-Springfield area during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend of Service Jan. 19-21. We’d love to have you join us! Last year, more than 550 volunteers joined us and planted almost 2,000 trees that weekend. Help honor and preserve Dr. King’s legacy of service and community building by joining us on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 19, or Monday, Jan. 21. Please arrive at the staging site by 8:45 am to be assigned to a planting crew and to enjoy hot coffee and breakfast treats to get you started.

No experience is necessary, and there is no need to register in advance. All you need to do is show up! We’ll provide gloves, tools and trained guidance as well as breakfast treats and coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Find details about these events in this story, or check our online calendar for a complete listing of our 70+ planting events this season!

We’d love to have as many students, groups, families and other individuals join us as possible for these events. Please pass this information along to others in your network and bring a friend (or three) with you to the planting! Please note our youth waiver requirements if you are under 18 years old. You can find more information about volunteering with us HERE.

We hope you can join us for this special Weekend of Service! Please see more details for the plantings on our Eugene-Springfield calendar or below.

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Saturday, Jan. 19—Events begin promptly at 9:00 a.m.

Creston-Kenilworth, Foster-Powell, S Tabor, Reed neighborhood planting (SE Portland)
We’ll plant 250 large street and yard trees at this event. We need volunteer planters, but if you also have a pickup truck you can drive, that would be great, too!

Staging site location:  St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 5415 SE Powell Blvd (map)

Laurelhurst, Kerns, Sunnyside, N Tabor neighborhood planting (SE Portland)
We’ll be planting about 100 large street and yard trees at this event. Help plant the next generation of trees among the existing beautiful giants in these neighborhoods! We’ll also be running at least one planting crew entirely on bicycles for this event. If you’d like to Plant By Bike!, please sign up HERE.

Staging site location:  Sunnyside United Methodist Church, 3520 SE Yamhill St (map)

Monday, Jan. 21—Events begin promptly at 9:00 a.m.

Atfalati Park restoration planting (Tualatin)
This park is named after the Native American Kalapuyan tribe that historically occupied the Tualatin River watershed. We will plant about 1,400 native riparian tree and plant species in and around the 8.5-acre Saum Creek wetland area.

Staging site location: 6600 SW Sagert St in Tualatin (map)

I-205 Multi-Use Path planting & tree care (SE Portland)
We are in the last year of a multi-year project to grow a new forest along the I-205 Multi-Use Path. We’ve planted thousands of trees already, and we have just a few plantings left. Join us to be part of this legacy. It’s not often you can plant a new forest in the middle of a city!

Staging site location:  Intersection of SE Bush St & SE 94th Ave (map)

–Meeks is Volunteer & Outreach Manager for Friends of Trees.