By Gabe Themar
On May 22, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful (KTBB) partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to present its East Tampa Tree Giveaway. The event was sponsored by Sage Surge.
For the tree giveaway, those interested signed up on their Eventbrite page. From there, signees went to KTBB’s station at Al Barnes Park to pick up their free tree on a first-come, first-serve basis from 8-11 a.m. People picking up trees had the option of picking up either a crape myrtle or live oak, which was loaded into their car by KTBB to be taken home and planted.
The event successfully gave away 165 total trees for planting in its three-hour window. For those who could not make it to the tree giveaway, KTBB continued to giveaway trees throughout the following week at its office, located at 730 W. Emma St. in Tampa.
Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful is a nonprofit organization oriented towards the goal of making the community cleaner and greener for residents. It also offers an opportunity for locals to make an impact and give back to their community via a range of service projects which are friendly to all ages.
“Our mission is to promote a culture of environmental stewardship through volunteer and educational opportunities,” said KTBB in its mission statement.
For those interested in the tree giveaway but could not make it to pick one up last month, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful has already started a new tree giveaway, the Plant Your Heart Out program.
“Our newest tree program, Plant Your Heart Out, sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union, is well underway and already making an impact,” said Keeping Tampa Bay Beautiful. “This initiative was created to help restore the tree canopies damaged by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.”
The initiative is giving away 1,000 trees throughout the end of this year to help people in the community plant a tree of their choosing at no cost to them, as well as encourage smaller neighborhood associations to host planting events to beautify public places, grow habitat for wildlife and reduce urban heating with the shade from the high-canopy trees.
Those who are interested in learning more about Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful or are looking for community service opportunities or information on future events can go to www.keeptampabaybeautiful.org, or they can call at 813-221-8733.
You must be logged in to post a comment.