Use the environment to enhance your agency

by Brenda Segal
Deerfield Park District

There's no doubt about it. The environment is THE "sexy" issue for the '90s.

In various magazine articles, in books, on television programs, at scientific think-tank seminars, ecologists imply that the end of the decade has engendered a mass guilty conscience of sorts which is impelling us to reevaluate our excesses and is making us ask what we have done and what we can do to change, and what we should do to ensure our existence in the next century.

As we approach the year 2000, no issue appears to be more visible than the state of our environment, what we have done to it, how to balance our energy and business needs with an intelligent approach to use our resources, and how we can change our habits to become more responsible and responsive residents of our planet.

Park district employees are the outdoors people. By nature of what we do, we care about open spaces, trees, lakes, etc., and environment. We should be setting an example for the community in all that we do. We should certainly recycle and use environmentally acceptable materials in our programming. We should be printing our public relations materials, flyers, seasonal program magazines, promotional booklets, etc., on recycled paper. We should be leading the environmental bandwagon rather than following it.

There are many ways an agency can create environmentally related special projects or events that will benefit the community while presenting a favorable and environmentally responsible image to the public. Everyone benefits.

One such project is the Deerfield Park District and Deerfield Park Foundation Plant-A-Tree Program presented in cooperation with the Deerfield Public Schools.

Conceived and developed by the Deerfield Park Foundation, the Plant-A-Tree Program concept is quite simple. Each school sets a goal for a certain number of trees they wish to purchase during the course of a school year. Each school is then given a tree poster with 17 5 leaves on it for every tree they want to buy for their school. As the children purchase leaves at $1 each, a collector comes around monthly to pick up donated dollars and exchange them for stickers which are placed on the posters. The children can see their progress as they strive to reach their goal. Naturally, thorough, well-documented records must be kept of all monies collected.

The Plant-A-Tree Program concept was presented to the Deerfield Park District Board of Commissioners and was enthusiastically received. With their blessings, staff moved on to the second step of the project, the development of a proposal package to present to the school system. A member of the staff designed a Plant-A-Tree poster which became the focal point of the presentation and campaign.

School superintendents were approached with the concept during the summer. They were asked to present the program to their boards and staff and contact the park district before the beginning of school so the program could be adapted to each school's schedule and preferences.

The idea was favorably received by the school board and administrators. The park district staff coordinator met with each school principal prior to the start of school to clarify the program and discuss the schedule, publicity materials, and the manner in which the program would be presented to the students at that particular school.

A cut-off date of March 31 was established for the project to enable park district staff to purchase trees in time for Arbor day or Earth Week planting ceremonies at each school. School officials waited until late October or early November to introduce the program to students. They did not. want the children to tire of the concept before the goals were achieved. Every school used a different method of telling students about Plant-A-Tree. Some had school assemblies. Others left the discussion up to individual classroom teachers. By the end of the year, Plant-A-Tree was introduced and warmly received by three elementary schools and one junior high school in the Deerfield community.

The children and teachers were encouraged to research and discuss the types of trees they wanted, and, with the help of the Deerfield Parks Department, each school selected where they wanted the trees to be planted.

Fund raising techniques varied from school to school. The junior high school used coffee cans to collect change during the lunch hour. This technique succeeded beyond their wildest expectations as students collected enough money to purchase four trees for the school. Other schools sent home flyers designed by park district staff asking family members, friends and neighbors to purchase one leaf for $1. All schools publicized the program in their newsletters and the programs also received good publicity from the local newspapers.

Not every school in Deerfield participated in the Plant-A-Tree Program. One elementary school was involved in another environmental project, saving rain forests. The second junior high

school in Deerfield participated in the program in another way. They created perennial gardens around the school building. In cooperation with the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), which purchased bulbs for the project, the Deerfield Park Foundation underwrote the installation of landscape timbers and the preparation of the soil for planting. Every student and teacher at the school planted bulbs for their new school garden project.

It really doesn't matter that everyone becomes involved in a particular project like buying trees, planting perennial gardens, or saving rain forests, as long as everyone does something to help the cause. Plant-A-Tree got everyone thinking about what individuals and groups can do to help improve the quality of our lives.

At the end of the Plant-A-Tree Program, each elementary school collected enough money to buy one tree each. The Deerfield Park Foundation voted to match the purchases which doubled the number of trees at each school.

Each school planned a tree-planting ceremony in conjunction with either Earth Day or Arbor Day. Some held assemblies, while others had poster contests. The children wrote essays and poems about the environment. Everyone got into the spirit of Plant-A-Tree.

About the Author
Brenda Segal is Fund Raising Coordinator/or the Deerfield Park District.