Donation may keep tree program growing
City hopes students spur other groups to action
STEVE LYTTLE
Staff Writer

Organizers of Charlotte's drive to plant 2,700 trees this year say they hope a grass-roots effort by a Charlotte private school will spread to other school, church and civic groups.

Charlotte Country Day School students, collecting loose change daily for two weeks, gathered $5,836.24 and donated it last week to the Charlotte Tree Advisory Commission.

"A lot of people are watching what you did," Craig Madans, a 1969 Country Day graduate and tree-planting activist, told students during an assembly. "I hope your actions inspire other groups to do the same thing."

Rick Roti, chairman of the Charlotte Tree Advisory Commission, agreed.

"The students at Country Day School got us started," Roti said. "We're hoping for similar help from elsewhere in the community."

Roti and city arborist Don McSween said donations will be a big boost. The city plans to spend more than $1 million to plant trees on nearly 300 streets and medians. Most years, Charlotte spends about $120,000 on tree-planting.

McSween said the city's distinctive willow oaks are becoming dangerously weak after standing for nearly a century. An extended drought earlier this decade, along with damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the December 2002 ice storm, also wreaked havoc on the trees.

Linda Love, a teacher assistant at Country Day, organized the drive. For almost two weeks, students went from classroom to classroom at the south Charlotte school, collecting change.

One of their biggest challenges was counting the money.

"We had planned to do that on Feb. 26 and 27, but that was when we got hit by the snowstorm, and school was canceled," teacher assistant Barb Brady said.

The small group of student leaders who had planned to count the money enlisted help from fellow students to help count the coins and put them in rolls.

Students said the drive has helped them appreciate trees.

"When we drive down the street, I notice the blank spots where trees are needed," said Austin DeMordaunt, 10, a fourth-grader.

"It's like we've become tree inspectors," added Roddey Sterling, 10, another fourth-grader.