Turning trouble into trees – and a chance to help

Plant It Portland - An Argay Resident Turns Trouble Into Trees and a Chance to Help
Kelsee Fernandes' softball team spent a morning planting trees in a Vancouver neighborhood. (Laurie Fernandes)

When Laurie Fernandes received a notice from the city last year saying she needed to replace her broken sidewalk, the Argay resident turned challenge into opportunity.

Replacing the sidewalk was expensive, and Laurie didn’t know how she could afford to plant trees in her yard as well. Until a neighbor told her about Friends of Trees.

Not only could she buy trees from Friends of Trees for only $30 each (only $35 this year), but the trees would be delivered to her home, holes would be dug for them, and Friends of Trees would help her plant them—a value of about $200 per tree.

Laurie didn’t hesitate. She went to FriendsofTrees.org and signed up for five: three Prairifire Crabapples and two Rocky Mountain Glow Maples.

Plant It Portland - An Argay Resident Turns Trouble Into Trees and a Chance to Help
Kadijah Lazada and Bianca Crazybull helped plant trees at the Fernandes home in Argay. (Laurie Fernandes)

Laurie appreciates her new trees, which are growing beautifully. She also appreciated the ease of ordering the trees online and how organized and fun the planting was.

In addition, Laurie found an unexpected opportunity at Friends of Trees: a community service project for her daughter’s softball team. The team’s goal is to build a “complete player” through athletics, academics and community service. A couple of months before their own neighborhood planting, Laurie, her husband Greg (the team’s coach), their daughter Kelsee, and Kelsee’s softball team helped add trees to a Vancouver neighborhood.

“It was a great community service project for the girls,” Laurie said. “They learned how to plant and felt really proud afterward looking at what they planted. And I ended up getting to do two plantings.”

Now their own trees will give back to the Fernandes family—in lower energy bills, a safer neighborhood, and greener, shade-filled streets.

If you live in the Argay, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Russell, or Sumner neighborhoods, you can buy trees for the March 12, 2011 planting for only $35 each. Fun pictures and a video make signing up easy at FriendsofTrees.org/BuyTrees.

Just follow the simple steps to add your name to the growing list of people who want trees.

–TR