Thursday morning was a great day to be out at Valleyridge Park as residents of Chartwell Waterford Retirement Residences partnered with Oakvillegreen to plant approximately 80 trees.
According to Chartwell, the event was an effort to beautify the local environment, foster community engagement and raise awareness about environmental conservation among seniors and the broader community.
In February, residents from Chartwell reached out to Oakvillegreen, asking if they could plant trees in the community to "prepare for the future." For Oakvillegreen, an organization committed to protecting and restoring nature, this wasn't an opportunity they were going to pass up.
The event saw 15 residents from Memory Living and Independent Supported Living, along with 20-25 volunteers, planting up to 80 trees in Oakville's Valleyridge Park.
With around 140 native species of trees to plant, attendees kept busy and made quick progress with each tree planted seeming quicker each time.
Mayor Rob Burton, who was in attendance, said to attendees, "You are part of the reason that we are on track to meet our goal of getting to 40% tree cover by the 200th anniversary of our town (in 2057)."
The event was a success, and Oakvillegreen's leadership team was happy to not only make the event possible but participate themselves.
Anelia Tichkova, programs manager at Oakvillegreen, said, "It is incredible to see (the) community coming to work together, and we were thrilled when someone from Chartwell contacted us a few months ago to let us know that this was an idea of one of their residents and we decided that it would be a perfect fit with our Green Connections for adults 55+ program."
"It feels really beautiful to see all these people planting native trees and planting a future for us," continued Tichkova.
Two residents participating in the event, Rick and Sandy Cummings, were happy to take part in the event and get outside on a sunny day, sharing with Oakville News reporters, "I do them (plant trees) the way I want them!" said Sandy in a joking manner. "You see something that you like and you say 'Oh let's do this' and that's all there is to it," she continued.
"We used to do it at the cottage, we used to plant trees all the time," said Rick.