Northeast Horticultural Services honored Arbor Day, April 27, 2018 by planting a ceremonial tree at the Read School in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Joined by Mayor Ganim, Principal Smith, teachers, staff and the National Junior Honor Society students from Read School, the team at Northeast Horticultural Services presented an Eastern Redbud for a tree planting ceremony in recognition of Arbor Day. As part of the tree donation, Stacey Marcell, owner of Northeast Horticultural Services presented Principle Smith with a donation of $1,000 for the school.
In preparation of the tree planting ceremony, Stacey and her team, worked with 7th and 8thgrade students at Read School to clean out, rake, mulch, spread topsoil and seed several gardens along the back end of the school property. They selected a location for the tree and helped the students dig the hole and prepare the area. As she planted the tree, Stacey explained the proper method for tree planting to the audience of students, faculty and city officials.
“I can’t think of a better way of celebrating Arbor Day than sharing my passion for trees with these kids. You can talk to them about the importance of trees, but it is when you get them involved you see the excitement build in them. It warms my heart to see them picking up the shovels and really seeing it all come together. We were all proud of a job well done and now they will have pride in knowing they helped make the school grounds look beautiful,” says Marcell.
At the tree ceremony, the Arbor Day Foundation awarded the City of Bridgeport with its 10th annual achievement and distinction as a Tree City USA honoree. Tree City USA is a program that recognizes towns who continuously make efforts to meet four core standards of urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.
Arbor Day is a nationally celebrated observance, established in 1872, that encourages tree planting and care. It is celebrated every year by states and cities at different parts of the year according to the region’s best tree-planting times.