Dear TreesCharlotte Community and Supporters,
TreesCharlotte has now planted or given more than 22,000 trees since our launch in 2012. Equally important is the rising awareness across Charlotte of the incredible value trees bring to our beautiful city. More and more people, including students, know about the importance of actively managing, expanding, and diversifying our urban forest for our health and for our future.
We are making solid strides thanks to strong support from many communities and neighborhoods across Charlotte, and the generous gifts from our donors. This past planting season (July 2014-June 2015) we engaged nearly 2,000 volunteers and raised more than $600,000 for tree programs. These favorable responses reflect the efficiency and effectiveness of our collaborative model. Plus Charlotteans simply love planting and caring for trees – it’s fun and it’s what we do!
While we continue to engage neighborhoods in planting trees, our goals are evolving. We are intensifying our focus on stewardship, that is, the ongoing care and nurturing of the trees we plant. We are also ramping up educational programs for residents on how to care for our aging canopy. And, we are committed to securing sustainable funding to ensure that TreesCharlotte is here for our children and our children’s children.
Continuous improvement is as much a part of our DNA as is collaboration. We would love to hear from you about any suggestions to increase our impact. Please contact Dave Cable, Executive Director, at 704-577-2004 or dave@treescharlotte.org.
We are grateful for your support.
Johnny Harris & Marcia Simon
TreesCharlotte Board Co-Chairs