Category: Business Support
Friends of Trees Selected for NW Natural’s Programs of Focus Partnership
Friends of Trees is excited to have been selected as one of NW Natural’s Programs of Focus. This new partnership is an extension of over a decade of support from NW Natural for Friends of Trees based on our aligned values of caring, service and environmental stewardship. NW Natural employees can often be found volunteering at Friends of Trees planting events.
“We’re proud to support Friends of Trees because they’re a partner who exemplifies what caring can look like—bringing together volunteers to plant trees that will have a long-lasting impact for our communities.”
– Sama Shagaga, community affairs at NW Natural
Programs of Focus is a special three-year collaboration. Five different community partners receive philanthropic funding, in-kind resources, and volunteer support from NW Natural. NW Natural also facilitates knowledge and resource sharing among the cohort of programs.
“NW Natural’s continued support is so important to making sure we can continue bringing people together to plant trees,” says Yashar Vasef, executive director at Friends of Trees. “And we’re excited to explore the opportunities to collaborate with the rest of the cohort.”
Other Programs in the cohort:
ABC House works to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect, supporting children as they find their voice and helping children and families heal and thrive in Linn and Benton counties.
Council for the Homeless provides community leadership, compelling advocacy, and practical solutions to prevent and end homelessness in Clark County, WA.
ReFIT – Remodeling for Independence Together empowers people with disabilities and limited income to live safely, independently, and with dignity by providing essential home modifications at no cost.
Youth Villages helps youth and families live successfully in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
Get To Know Honl Tree Care
A tree care company from a former Friends of Trees staff member!
Why is Honl Tree Care one of our favorite arborist partners? We go way back! Its founder, Chad Honl, was a Friends of Trees volunteer, then a Friends of Trees staff member managing our Neighborhood Trees program from 2000-2005. In fact, Chad was the very first ISA Certified Arborist on staff (now we have seven!).
“Friends of Trees really set me up,” Chad says. “I received so much guidance, and I’m thankful for all the volunteers that educated me.”
Chad’s contributions at Friends of Trees certainly helped us reach our 1,000,000 tree and native shrub milestone. The team was planting over 2000 trees each season while he was there. But his legacy goes beyond numbers. He also helped increase survival rates and worked with Portland Urban Forestry to expand the approved street tree list.
Chad left Friends of Trees to pursue a teaching career, but he found his way back to trees. What started as Chad doing tree care work with his wife’s pickup truck turned into Honl Tree Care in 2009. Now, Chad has a staff of nine certified arborists specializing in care and pruning. Quality tree care is so important for the health of our community forest, especially with environmental challenges like climate change and ice storms.
“Friends of Trees has created so many connections that have helped me grow my business,” Chad says. “And I could have grown more, but decided to focus on quality over quantity.”
“Chad has such an incredible legacy at Friends of Trees, and he continues to be an important part of the tree care community in Portland,” says Friends of Trees Executive Director Yashar Vasef. “We’re so grateful for his support and to call him a friend.”
Chad remains connected to Friends of Trees, and supported our Millionth Tree campaign as one of our partners. He loves trees, and he loves the connections people make while planting them.
“Friends of trees had made such a great impact,” Chad says. “You’ll find such good people and so much inspiration.”
Partner Spotlight: NW Natural
NW Natural’s partnership helped Friends of Trees reach and celebrate 1,000,000 trees & native plants
NW Natural has partnered with Friends of Trees for over a decade, so it made perfect sense for them to collaborate with us for our millionth tree season. They sponsored 10 community tree planting events, bringing together hundreds of people to plant thousands of trees and native plants.
Two of NW Natural’s core values are environmental stewardship and caring, both of which they find in the partnership with Friends of Trees.
We’re proud to support Friends of Trees because they’re a partner who exemplifies what caring can look like—bringing together volunteers to plant trees that will have a long-lasting impact for our communities.”
– Sama Shagaga, community affairs at NW Natural
NW Natural also organized a day for its employees to volunteer at a Friend of Trees event this spring, connecting employees who don’t often get to work with each other. They joined Friends of Trees at Bagley Park in downtown Hillsboro for an awesome day of planting.
“When employees go out to projects they get to accomplish something as a team,” Sama says. “They get to walk away knowing they’ve made an impact.”
Our millionth tree celebration and planting event could not have been as successful without the support of NW Natural, who provided tenting and catering for the 200 attendees at the party at our office in Portland. It was a quintessentially Friends of Trees event, a perfect marker for this milestone for the organization, our partners, and the community.
Get To Know Straightaway Cocktails
Our friends at Straightaway Cocktails have been raising money for trees + community through the sale of the canned cocktail, Cascade Spritz. We’re so grateful to them for their partnership, their time volunteering at a Friends of Trees event, and for spreading the word about trees with a tasty beverage! We just took a moment with them to reflect on the partnership.
Why did Straightaway want to partner with Friends of Trees?
Our new cocktail, Cascade Spritz, that was released back in February was created in partnership with Wieden + Kennedy for their campaign ‘Portland Is What We Make It’. The campaign focuses on investing back into culture, community, and the city to celebrate all the things that make Portland so special. We saw a true connection between this campaign, our PNW wine spritz, and Friends of Trees. Friends of Trees not only works to plant trees in our communities but does so with a focus on equitable tree planting in neighborhoods that need it the most.
This mission was a perfect cohesion for this cocktail + our community to showcase the amazing work that Friends of Trees does in Portland. In tandem with the giveback program on the can, we were able to feature Friends of Trees as our quarterly Cocktails for a Cause campaign to further raise money and awareness of Friends of Trees!
How would you describe the success of the partnership?
Outside of the incredible feedback we’ve received from customers, our local retailers were very excited to feature Cascade Spritz on shelf. New Seasons featured Cascade Spritz in all Portland stores and invited us to do samplings at 8 locations to showcase the cocktail and our partnership with Friends of Trees and the “Portland Is What We Make It” campaign! This cocktail is special to us because it was a chance to take on a truly regional approach to our wine spritz line and utilize our incredible local terroir of lavender, chamomile, etc. in our cocktail.
What was it like to volunteer at a Friends of Trees event?
A chance to get out of the office and production facility to get our hands dirty and plant some trees?? Sign us up! Our volunteer day was so fun and collaborative for our team to be involved in! As part of our employee benefits program, our employees receive 2 paid-volunteer days per year. This was a special volunteer day because we were able to come together as a team and give back directly to our community while also supporting the release of our Cascade Spritz. We may have had a little too much fun digging up pretend holes filled with cans of Cascade Spritz but we had to have some fun with it!
Learn more about Straightaway Cocktails and purchase a Cascade Spritz!
Get To Know Laughing Planet Cafe
Laughing Planet is donating $1 for every kids smoothie sold to trees + community
When Laughing Planet CEO Franz Spielvogel decided to partner with a local organization, he quickly thought of Friends of Trees. For an entire year, Laughing Planet are donating $1 for every kids smoothie sold in the Portland region to Friends of Trees.
“Keeping it local was a big impetus for this partnership. We asked ourselves: Who’s local? Who does good things?” Franz says. “How could you not love Friends of Trees?”
Having first volunteered for us over 20 years ago, and having planted five trees in his own yard, he knows first hand the impact that trees can have on a community. He even volunteered as a summer inspector.
“I’ve turned a little bit into a tree nut,” Franz says. “When you walk down a street without trees, it’s shocking. It can sound a bit cheesy on a bumper sticker, but trees are the answer.”
Because Friends of Trees’ mission aligns with the values of Laughing Planet, Franz is excited that the partnership can expose more people to the benefits of planting trees, especially young people, which is why kids’ smoothies are at the center of the partnership.
“I witnessed a mother and daughter in the cafe talking about the importance of trees. When you teach the kids while they’re young, they’ll care about trees for life.”
“Planting trees is super awesome!” Franz says. “I remember all the trees I’ve planted and I love to go back to see how they’re doing.”