Davey Tree Flipbooks

May/June 2014 | 19 T he 'R' in DRG now has a secondary meaning, thanks to Nate Lewis, a consulting utility forester working in the Los Padres region of California. Lewis turned the Davey Resource Group into the Davey "Rescue" Group while performing a routine survey for a client. While inspecting the trees on the landscape, Lewis heard a woman shouting someone's name. At first, Lewis says he didn't think much of it, but then she shouted again—this time yelling for help. Lewis ran in the direction of her screams toward the main house and found the homeowner hanging up to her arms from the floorboards of the stairs leading up to the second story deck. "First, I asked if she was OK," Lewis explains. "I was concerned she was seriously hurt, but she said she was fine, so I ran up the stairs and found what appeared to be solid footing and pulled her up." The woman was flustered, but relieved to be on solid ground again. About two weeks after the incident, Lewis received a letter from the homeowner thanking him for rescuing her. Although the woman walked away from the incident, she later learned she had sprained her ankle due to the fall, and said she was grateful that was the extent of her injuries, thanks to Lewis. Lewis has been a Davey employee for over a year and says his training helped him react swiftly and calmly. As Lewis says, "We're taught to be on our toes and be aware of our surroundings, so that's what I did." S hel Silverstein's book, "The Giving Tree," has inspired a lot of people over the years. The book's central message, told through a story of a boy and his tree, is about remember- ing to be thankful for one another. As a result, people have created family handprint trees or fingerprint trees to represent their bond. Now, this lasting book has inspired another creative project: a wooden bench, created from the wood of a tree that was removed for charity. Recently, five crewmembers from Maier Tree & Lawn, a newly acquired Davey company, removed a large American elm tree to make room for The Place For Everyone, a facility that now houses the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester and the Child Care Resource and Referral group. With the help of Marcy and Steve Wolfe of the local Panera Bread, Daryl Nigon of Nigon Woodworks and Nick Manahan of Manahan's Machine Shop, Maier turned the leftover wood into a bench for A Chair Affair, an annual char- ity gala that auctions artisan-created chairs to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester. The bench's theme came from "The Giving Tree." Engraved on the bench is a quote from the book, space for two copies of the book and a planter in which a new tree can grow. So, in a sense, the removed tree became a giving tree itself, says Jay Maier, founder of Maier Tree & Lawn. "The book addresses all aspects of the importance of trees," Maier explains. "It's not all about saving tress that makes them so good, but it is also about how useful they can be once they are gone." Maier says he also uses "The Giving Tree" as inspiration elsewhere. To celebrate Arbor Day every year, he reads the book to kindergarten classes in the area and talks with grade school students about the importance of trees. "Seeing what this project did for the Boys and Girls Club still makes me smile," Maier says. "The project helped validate how important our jobs and trees are." Bench Strength

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