‘It’s helping the world’: One Tree Per Child program comes to Bethel Park
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Neil Armstrong Middle School fifth-grader Maddie Saffer does her part for the international One Tree Per Child program.
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The Neil Armstrong Middle School property has plenty of new trees planted, thanks to the One Tree Per Child program, Tree Pittsburgh and other organizations.
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Jim Jenkins, a member of the Bethel Park Shade Tree Commission, places a tube to help protect a new tree.
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Danielle Crumrine, Tree Pittsburgh executive director, places a stake during a planting session at Neil Armstrong Middle School.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Dr. Isabela Angelelli cleans shovels between tree-planting sessions.
The hillside leading down to Neil Armstrong Middle School’s athletic field may look kind of barren today, but the appearance should be completely different for visitors of the future.
“You’re going to see the impact of this in 20, 30 years,” Clara Kitongo told a group of students at the Bethel Park school. “You’ll come here and your trees will be really big.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Fifth-graders Raegan Exler, left, and Leah Frank prepare to plant a tree.
She manages the One Tree Per Child program for Tree Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing community vitality by restoring and protecting the urban forest. And on Wednesday, she and other staff members arrived at Neil Armstrong bright and early to dig holes for planting later in the day.
Groups of students joined some local residents in populating the hillside with saplings of several types of trees that are native to the region, including poplar, dogwood, hickory, oak, evergreens and Asimina triloba, the American papaw.
“They’re kind of like a little mango,” Tree Pittsburgh executive director Danielle Crumrine said, describing the papaw’s fruit. “When the indigenous folks were here, it was very common.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Jake Milofsky, Tree Pittsburgh director of tree care and reforestation, instructs Neil Armstrong Middle School students prior to them planting trees.
Following demonstrations by Jake Milofsky, the organization’s director of tree care and reforestation, students went to work on putting the plants in the ground properly.
“You want to keep it straight while you’re doing that and use your hands to kind of pack the dirt in around the tree, to keep it sturdy,” Milofsky told the youngsters. “And we want to try to use as much, or all, of the soil that we pulled out of the hole as we can.”
To protect the newly planted trees, plastic tubing was placed around them.
“If you look around this hillside, there are a lot of other little trees growing, but they’re all very short because deer have been munching on them,” Milofsky said. And our investment in this is a lot. We spend a lot of time and money and love and energy on these trees, and we want to make sure they survive.”
Although the planting program is called One Tree Per Child, each Bethel Park student was encouraged to place two young trees in the ground. And they eagerly complied.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
One Tree Per Child program manager Clara Kitongo welcomes students to a planting session.
“We’re really excited to be with the kids again, because all last year, we planted on behalf of the kids, and it’s just not the same,” Crumrine said. “This is kind of a little magical moment here, when they get their first” – for many of them – “tree-planting experience.”
One Tree Per Child began in 2013 as a project initiated by entertainer Olivia Newton-John and TV-radio personality Jon Dee, and the program since has expanded to 11 countries. Bringing it to Pittsburgh as the first partner in the United States was Dr. Isabela Angelleli, pediatrician at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, who also founded chapters in her native Colombia.
“I am really proud of you guys for being here today, and you should be proud of yourselves,” she said to sixth-graders in Neil Armstrong’s Just Say No Club during their planting session. “What you’re doing today is going to help your community, and it’s helping the world.”
She spoke about trees filtering carbon dioxide to help produce cleaner air, which in turn promotes better health.
“We have seen that when we plant trees and we have more trees, then kids have less asthma,” Angelleli said, citing an example to which many students can relate. “They help decrease global warming and those extreme temperatures that we’re seeing in the last decade.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Dr. Isabela Angelelli, One Tree Per Child ambassador and co-found of chapters in Pittsburgh and Colombia, captures the day’s events for posterity.
On a community service level, planting the trees often represents a first act of volunteerism.
“They also are leaving a legacy. This is a contribution to the world, and this is something that they will remember. I can tell you that a kid who has planted a tree is a kid who’s going to be making different decisions in the future,” Angelleli asserted. “These kids are going to grow up to be our lawmakers and our professionals, and they are creating their future today. So it’s just wonderful to be able to bring this opportunity to them.”
According to Crumrine, a grant from the Allegheny County Health Department Clean Air Fund is assisting in planting initiatives in five school districts so far, including Bethel Park, and her organization is looking to recruit further participation.
For more information, visit www.treepittsburgh.org.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Sixth-graders London Phillips, left, and Kaidra Marian are pleased with the tree they planted.