Arbor Day Foundation program helps rebuild and beautify communities one tree at a time
HOUSTON, October 9, 2018 – The Arbor Day Foundation's Texas Tree Recovery Campaign will hold a tree distribution event in Houston, TX on Saturday, October 13, 2018, for homeowners to replace trees lost in Hurricane Harvey. This event is a partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation, Praxair, TruGreen, FedEx, Texas A&M Forest Service, LMC/Embark and Memorial City Mall will distribute 1,000 new trees to local residents from 9:00 a.m. until noon at The Lawn at Memorial City, 9755 ½ Katy Freeway, Houston, TX 77024. These trees will be free of charge.
"The people of Texas have suffered great personal and physical loss," said Dan Lambe, Arbor Day Foundation president. "By replanting, we strive to bring healing and hope to the people and the communities in which they live as well as help return the beauty and the value trees bring back to their properties."
Arbor Day Foundation's Community Tree Recovery, a national program underwritten by FedEx and Foundation members, aims to replace trees in communities affected by natural disasters throughout the United States. The program has held more than 775 events, distributing more than 5 million trees since its inception in 2012.
"Praxair has worked for years with Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees in areas of greatest need," said Dr. Riva Krut, Praxair's vice president of sustainable development. "We are pleased to support this project to help rebuild Houston's green infrastructure."
Hurricane Harvey was a category 4 storm that hit Texas on August on August 25, 2017. It caused $125 billion in damage according to the National Hurricane Center. Harvey made landfall three times in six days. At its peak on September 1, 2017, one-third of Houston was underwater. Two feet of rain fell in the first 24 hours. Flooding forced 39,000 people out of their homes and into shelters. More that 200,000 homes were damaged during the storm.
"We are proud to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation in helping communities rebuild their tree populations that were devastated by recent hurricane activity or emerald ash borer," said Jeff Fedorchak, TruGreen vice president of corporate affairs. "Improving green spaces through partnerships and events like this aligns well with our environmental stewardship commitment and overall mission to help more communities live life outside."
To donate to the recovery efforts supported by this campaign or others across the country please visit http://www.arborday.org/recovery.
About the Arbor Day Foundation: Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters, and valued partners. Their vision is to help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, climate change, deforestation, poverty and hunger. As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.
About Praxair: Praxair, Inc. is a leading industrial gas company in North and South America and one of the largest worldwide. With market capitalization of approximately $40 billion and 2017 sales of $11 billion, the company employs over 26,000 people globally and has been named to the Dow Jones® World Sustainability Index for 16 consecutive years. Praxair produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Our products, services and technologies are making our planet more productive by bringing efficiency and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, primary metals and many others. For more information about the company, please visit our website at http://www.praxair.com.
About TruGreen: Memphis, Tennessee-based TruGreen is the nation's largest lawn care company, serving more than 2.3 million residential and commercial customers across the United States with lawn, tree and shrub care. The company also offers TruGreen Mosquito Defense to help homeowners combat mosquitoes and help protect their families. TruGreen believes more life should be lived outside and is committed to providing a beautiful lawn to serve as the foundation for outside experiences and lifelong memories. As the leader in the professional lawn care industry, TruGreen helps define responsible lawn care practices, conducts industry-leading education and training for our people, pioneers new application technologies and educates our customers on proper mowing and wise-use watering techniques. Today, there are approximately 260 TruGreen lawn care branches in the United States and Canada, plus about 35 franchise locations. Go to http://www.TruGreen.com or http://www.facebook.com/TruGreen for more information about TruGreen.
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