Why would anyone order 100 saplings from the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC) to be delivered to South Jackson Performing Arts Center on Tennessee Tree Day? This was the big question that the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) asked as they volunteered to distribute saplings to all 35 people who ordered them. Most orders were for three or four, sometimes 20 saplings, so 100 saplings was a big mystery.

Last weekend on March 20 was the reveal day, as Amy Taylor of Ascend Federal Credit Union (AFCU) entered the pickup location in the South Jackson parking lot. She explained that Ascend, as a non-profit, has seven charitable outreach programs. One of them is environmental.

In this outreach, Ascend linked its environmental interests to children. They were able to involve BelAire Elementary School and Farrar Elementary School students who were learning about trees with this program. Fifty excited children at each school went home with a sapling to plant.

Trees in Tennessee are being removed at alarming rates, according to Gov. Bill Lee. The Forestry Department and the Department of Environmental Conservation cannot possibly replace them alone. Tennessee Tree Day has evolved over the last 12 years so that citizens can help.

Statewide, 62,000 saplings were sent by TEC to 174 pickup sites, reaching 7,000 purchasers. In Tullahoma, 450 trees were distributed. This year, at the Tullahoma site, interns from the UT Extension Master Gardener class helped DAR with the distribution.

The old adage “It Takes A Village” to raise a child was strategically webbed from a state environmental program to a credit union to a performing arts center to DAR and Master Gardeners groups to school children. Everyone involved in the links agreed to do it again next year.