Improve the world around you... Plant Trees. That's just what Melissa does with Friends of Trees.
Melissa, one of our amazing Customer Service birds, has been volunteering her time since November, planting trees around Eugene and Springfield through Friends of Trees. She serves as a crew leader to help both the community and the environment and connect with people in real time.
Whether it’s growing the urban canopy through planting street and yard trees, or restoring sensitive natural areas through planting native trees and shrubs, there is no doubt that the trees planted by Friends of Trees play a vital role in our region’s livability. Given the challenges to our climate and all that we know about the cooling and cleansing effects of trees, it’s easy to see how their work improves our natural environment. But people-power is AWESOME too: the trees are actually planted by thousands of volunteers every season. Friends of Trees greens our region while growing "community".
Friends of Trees was founded in 1989 by Portland resident Richard Seidman. Inspired by a national Global ReLeaf program, Richard wanted to create an organization that both helped the environment and brought people together through the act of planting trees in Portland neighborhoods and natural areas.
Friends of Trees has planted 910,000 trees and native shrubs in 120+ neighborhoods in six counties across two states. They’ve done this through engaging tens of thousands of community members, and while implementing and growing programming that aims to do this work inclusively and equitably. And recently, the Eugene Chapter just received a big grant from EWEB as part of the Greenpower Grant program.
At Hummingbird, we believe in the power of people and community. That is why we built these things into our co-worker benefits plan. Our Volunteer Program is a down-to-earth way we harness this power. In an effort to be of service to our community with our skills, knowledge, and labor, Hummingbird provides stipends for our coworkers to volunteer with many organizations that are forging a path of sustainability for the good of all. So our birds can volunteer with a list of organizations (or work to add a new organization they know about to the list) and contribute in their own way, and Hummingbird reimburses them for their time. Win, Win, Win, Win!