Have lunch on us and get ready for more trees!

A peek at the spread from last year's Volunteer Picnic

By Andy Meeks

In less than six weeks, the first shovels will hit the ground, and the first trees will be planted, to begin Friends of Trees‘ 23rd planting season. Over the past 23 years, Friends of Trees staff—and, most importantly, tens of thousands of volunteers—have planted more than 450,000 trees in the Portland-Vancouver metro region (and beginning last year, in the Eugene-Springfield area). That’s an astounding number, and it would not be possible without the dedication of every volunteer that joins Friends of Trees. Whether it’s someone planting for the first time or a crew leader in their 17th season, every moment counts.

On Saturday, September 22, we’d like to say thanks.

No matter how often or seldom you’ve worked with us, we’d love to have you join us at Colonel Summers Park between 11:30 am and 3:00 pm for a tasty and plentiful picnic lunch provided by Nawitka Catering. Plus we’ll have games and raffle prizes galore. Friends and family are always welcome.

Maybe you'll be a lucky raffle prize winner this year?

In the 2011-12 planting season, 3,490 individuals volunteered 35,092 hours of their time to help with all aspects of our operations—from planning to planting to everything in between. That’s the equivalent of more than 17 full-time staff members!

But our work not only doubled with those hours. It increased exponentially. We planted more trees than ever last season and engaged more members of the public than ever before. We held nine training events for key volunteers in our continuing efforts to ‘train the trainers.’ And we look forward to doing it all again this season.

Click HERE for a link to our online calendar showing our 72 planting events planned in the Portland-Vancouver area for this season. This is our Eugene-Springfield calendar, which will be completed in the next few months.

We hope you can join us for the afternoon—or even for an hour—to celebrate our past achievements and get excited for the season to come.  We look forward to working with you again this season!

— Meeks is the Volunteer & Outreach Program Manager for Friends of Trees.