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Lending a Helping Hand
After hearing that a storm downed several trees in the yard of a local retiree, Gilbert
Plamondon, field manager on the EPCOR Utilities account in Beaumont, Alberta, rallied a
Davey Tree crew to help. Plamondon saw photos of the destruction caused by the fallen
trees on Facebook and called Mark Pickup—retired and wheelchair-dependent for more
than 20 years—to let him know a Davey Tree crew would be at his house within half an
hour to clear away the debris at no cost. The crew, including Plamondon, laborer Cody
McNeil and foreman Kyle Milberry, worked a full day to clear away the three downed
trees and remove two other trees on Pickup's property that posed future risk.
" I cannot find words to express my deep appreciation to you and to Davey for coming
to my rescue. Your kindness will be remembered. Every once in a while, something
happens that completely restores my faith in people and corporations."
MARK PICKUP, BEAUMONT, ALBERTA, RESIDENT
Bringing Nature to the Classroom
Allison Bond, executive director of the Brown Memorial Weekday School in
Baltimore, Maryland, believes many children do not get enough exposure to nature.
For that reason, she incorporated a nature component into the school's curriculum,
and promoted Alice Wetzel, formerly an assistant teacher, to fourth grade teacher
and the school's nature coordinator. Explaining that many parents often believe it is
too dangerous to play outside, Brown Memorial believes it is their "responsibility to
get children outside and reconnect them with nature."
The school decided to bring nature to their students by creating a nature-themed play
area. With a grant from Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., the school reinvented its aging
playground with revamped play areas, including tree branch climbing structures,
vegetable and native plant gardens, a certified monarch butterfly way station and
other outdoor play areas.
Davey Tree's South Baltimore residential and commercial office was eager to help
in the construction of the new play area through the donation of logs and removal of
unwanted trees from the surrounding neighborhood. Along with school employees
and the parents of the school's students, Davey Tree volunteers placed logs for the
tree climbing structure, balanced logs and built a mud kitchen equipped with a stump
table and chairs.
" The playground gives you a connection to nature that we feel so many children are
missing out on. It's getting children to look at the things around them."
ALLISON BOND, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BROWN MEMORIAL WEEKDAY SCHOOL
