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Community spirit grows in Trees for Tempe
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Tempe lost more than 400 city-owned trees during the 2008 monsoon, and a newly revitalized program is looking to replace them.
The storms caused an estimated total of $1.2 million worth of damage, and Trees for Tempe aims to replant the dozens of trees lost in the storms. It also gives residents and businesses an avenue to donate volunteer work or money to the city.
The program was started in 2006 by Tempe orthodontist Dr. Paul Bonham, who pledged to donate $40 to the city for every new patient. Bonham has since moved his office and the original program fizzled out, according to Denise Rentschler, Tempe's parks and recreation community outreach and marketing coordinator.
But the city revived the program after a flood of e-mails and calls from residents asking what they could do to help.
The program started back up on Oct. 28, when GE Money, a Tempe company, helped plant 19 trees at the Tempe Center for the Arts. The company hopes other Tempe businesses will follow suit.The next targeted area is Mitchell Park, where officials plan to replant seven trees on Dec. 6.
Recently, 100 trees were donated by the Valley of the Sun chapter of Rebuilding Together, a national civic activist group. These trees will be used at Mitchell Park and kept in the city nursery for future planting by the Tempe Parks and Recreation Department.
"We got a lot of trees that were very helpful," Rentschler said.
Since the prime planting season is September through November, according to Rentschler, the program will take a bit of a hiatus until the spring after the Mitchell Park project.
Rentschler is developing a Web page where residents can pledge their time and money to Trees for Tempe.
So far, contributors are not able to write off their donations for tax purposes, but Tempe is working on getting nonprofit status for the program, according to Rentschler.
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