On Friday, March 1, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club spent the morning planting 20 fruit trees at Houston ISD’s Briargrove Elementary School. The planting celebrated a $141,000 donation from the Sun Club to Trees For Houston. The donation to Trees For Houston includes:
- a new biodiesel pickup truck that provides a 20 percent drop in unburned hydrocarbons and an 11 percent drop in carbon monoxide,
- a rainwater capture system for the tree farm that will save the organization approximately $24,000 a year and
- fruit orchards to 10 Houston-area schools that will take learning outside and facilitate positive educational experiences for the students.
“Trees For Houston is thrilled about this wonderful partnership with the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club. These important gifts allow us to bring fruit orchards to more schools, conserve water at our tree nursery and use cleaner transportation as we work to plant and maintain Houston’s urban forest,” said Barry Ward, Executive Director of Trees For Houston.
The planting is in partnership with Trees For Houston through the Trees For Schools program. This program focuses on providing schools in the greater Houston region with trees free of cost. Averaging 40 campuses a year, the organization has planted nearly 42,000 trees in Houston area schools.
“Supporting organizations like Trees For Houston is why the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club was founded, and we’re proud to help them become more sustainable while teaching local students about the benefits trees provide to our community,” said Mark Parsons, President of Green Mountain Energy Sun Club.
The Sun Club has been empowering local communities with sustainable solutions since 2002. Through nonprofit partnerships and sustainability grants, they support projects promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation and environmental stewardship.
Trees are well known for reducing air pollution, but they can also help minimize noise and light pollution, and reduce stress. Pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and particles are associated with unsafe air quality, and an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Trees greatly enhance an urban environment, connecting people back to nature, which has been shown to influence and affect a person’s mood and mental well-being.
Trees For Houston
Trees for Houston is a non-profit organization whose mission is to plant, protect and promote trees throughout the Houston area. Since being founded in 1983, the organization has planted over 500,000 trees planted and has maintained tens of thousands of trees across the greater Houston area annually. For more information, visit www.treesforhouston.org.
Green Mountain Energy Sun Club
The Green Mountain Energy Sun Club is a nonprofit organization committed to advancing sustainable communities. As a 501(c)(3) organization, the Sun Club® invests in nonprofits and focuses on projects related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation and environmental stewardship. Since the program’s founding in 2002, the Sun Club has donated nearly $7 million to more than 110 nonprofit organizations across Texas and the Northeast. To learn more about the Sun Club, visit gmesunclub.org.
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