November 2022

Last week, the GrayHair Green Guardians led a group of employee volunteers to attend the New Jersey Tree Foundation’s Fall Tree Planting Event, located in East Camden. The annual planting event is held in different locations across South Jersey with the help of local volunteer groups, schools, and community members. It was a chilly and active morning of neighborhood beautifying, and, you guessed it – tree planting!

The NJ Tree Foundation’s mission is to plant trees in the state’s urban neighborhoods where the needs are the greatest. The eco-friendly group is a recent recipient of the Campbell Cares Award, given to organizations who are making an ongoing impact in the Camden community. For more info on the NJ Tree Foundation and to find out how you can volunteer at a future event, visit their website.

After a few hours of teamwork, our group helped to plant 19 new fruit trees and 20 raspberry shrubs. Formerly very brown and overgrown, both the Romero Center and nearby garden were transformed into neat, green landscapes that will eventually be able to provide fresh fruits to residents of the East Camden community. Our group learned many new skills about preparing, planting, and packing a tree for optimal growth and lifespan – some great skills that will undoubtedly help advance our own gardens!

This was the Green Guardians’ first organized event since their formation in late August. The passionate group recently achieved Silver Status (350+ points) as part of their ongoing partnership with the Green Business Bureau. This comes from a combination of completed initiatives, ranked between environmental impact, implementation cost, and efforts.

See below a list of initiatives that the Green Guardians have completed already:

  • Developed a team and mission statement
  • Launched our first volunteer tree planting event
  • Eliminated all office space and started using virtual meeting platforms
  • Donated, reused and sold off all remaining furniture from the old office

This event was a big step in the right direction for our Green Guardians as they continue finding ways to promote and celebrate environmental responsibility across the company!