National nonprofit Keep America Beautiful and UPS awarded local Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful affiliates-- Keep Philadelphia Beautiful and Keep Westmoreland County Beautiful-- each with a $5,000 Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant.

Grant money awarded to Keep Philadelphia Beautiful will go towards helping to recover the canopy cover in the 19111 zip code area, a section of the city of Philadelphia that was hit hard by hurricane Sandy. The group will plant 100 trees.

"We're so grateful to Keep America Beautiful and UPS for providing us, TreePhilly and The Fairmount Park Conservancy the opportunity to increase the tree canopy in a vital part of Philadelphia, helping to fulfill Mayor Michael Nutter's sustainability goals as laid out in his Greenworks Plan. We're excited to get started on this project, and know it will make a tangible, positive impact on Philadelphia," said Michelle Feldman, Director of Keep Philadelphia Beautiful.

Grant Money awarded to Keep Westmoreland County Beautiful will go towards planting new trees on Hempfield Park property and mitigating some of the old and damaged trees.

“Keep Westmoreland County Beautiful is thrilled to contribute KAB/UPS’s $5,000 Community Tree Planting award to improve our local 94-acre Hempfield Park.  Specimen trees purchased with grant funds will enhance the park both visually and environmentally for over 184,000 visitors annually,” said Ellen Keefe, Executive Director of Keep Westmoreland County Beautiful.

“Planting trees provide a host of benefits to the community; they clean the air, prevent soil erosion, reduce runoff and provide food and habitat,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep PA Beautiful. “Tree plantings provide an opportunity for the community to engage in an activity that improves the quality of life for everyone. We are grateful for the partnership of Keep America Beautiful and UPS for providing this opportunity to our local Pennsylvania affiliates.”

“Keep America Beautiful is proud to be part of The UPS Foundation’s global effort to restore and stabilize the tree canopy in areas hit by natural disasters,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful. “Our community-based affiliates are poised to take action in this effort as native trees are such a vital part of making our neighborhoods greener, healthier, safer and more beautiful places to live.”

In 2015, the KAB/UPS Community Tree & Recovery Tree Planting Grant Program awarded a total of $160,000 in grant funding to projects addressing the reduction of levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas emissions through strategic plantings; planting fruit trees to produce fruit for local consumption; or post-recovery tree planting projects where communities have lost a significant number of trees as a result of natural disasters. The importance of planting native trees was emphasized.

For more information on community beautification and litter prevention, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website.

7/27/2015