Dear Diary,

I showed up early to the Vancouver planting event last week. Like, really early, almost two hours before all the planting volunteers showed up! The sun had barely come up when I got to the church where the event was being staged. There were just a handful of Friends of Trees staff and a few staging volunteers in the parking lot, moving tools to parking spaces for each planting crew.

Then I met Adam. Adam was about to make my day. He’s a special volunteer, a “superstager.” When general volunteers show up on a Saturday morning, trees are already sorted by crew, ready to be loaded into a pickup truck and make their FINAL journey to their forever home. Adam knows this process like the back of his hand.

It turns out that sorting those trees is quite a task. You start with 80 trees, all sorts of different species. We were setting up for a dozen crews, and each one would plant about 7-10 trees at different homes in their assigned area. Of course, treecipients signed up to get a particular tree, so we had to make sure that the right trees went out with the right crews.

I’d ask Adam, “Where does this Golden rain tree belong?” “Crew J,” he’d respond after checking his clipboard. “J as in Joyful.”

“A is in Awesome.” “H as in Hippo.” “D as in Donut.” And on and on he went. Every time, Adam would come up with another random word. I started to try to come up with words too. It’s the perfect game for 7:30 A.M.

Rolling these trees to their dedicated parking spaces had me thinking about all the work that goes into preparing for an event. Outreach to community members about signing up for a tree, sourcing those trees from a local nursery, partner coordination, volunteer recruitment and communication, crew leader training. Even hole digging! And then there’s the physical logistics of getting all the tools, vehicles, trees, canopies, snacks, and most importantly, coffee—all to the same place at the same time. Wowee, it’s a lot!

When you think about it, it’s a bit of a miracle that we bring it all together. But it’s what Friends of Trees does best. We do it dozens of times a year. And it’s not a miracle when you think about all the people power behind the scenes that make it happen. So that when 100 volunteers show up at 8:45 A.M., it’s not long before they’re planting trees in the community. And after just a few hours, 80 new trees are in their new home soil.

Adela, the Neighborhood Trees Specialist leading this Central-South Vancouver event and famous from our social feeds, was all smiles as she welcomed the volunteers to the parking lot we prepared. “How many of you are here for your first ever Friends of Trees event?” she asked the crowd. About half the people cheered. I love to hear it.

We do it for the people who are joining us for the first time or the fiftieth time. For the people getting their first tree or their fifth. Saturday morning events don’t always run perfectly—how could they, with so many moving parts?—but they’re always meaningful and impactful

After we finished staging, I asked Adam over a donut and a coffee if he was headed home after he got such an early start.

“I’m going planting!” he said joyfully. “Me too!” I said.

Tree-mendously yours,

Garry

P.S. There are a bunch of different ways to volunteer besides planting! Stager, crew leader, summer inspector, and more. Learn more here.

P.P.S. You can support these good vibes and good trees by donating!

FEEL GOOD. DO GOOD. PLANT TREES.