The UPS Foundation Awards Keep America Beautiful Affiliates with Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grants
More than 30 Communities Receive Grants Totaling $160,000 to Support Local Projects
STAMFORD, Conn., June 3, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and The UPS Foundation today announced the recipients of the 2014 KAB/UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grants. More than 30 grants, totaling $160,000, are being awarded to KAB affiliates throughout the country.
The UPS grants are part of UPS’s Global Forestry Initiative designed to plant, protect and preserve trees in urban and rural areas in the United States and around the world. The KAB/UPS community tree grant program is intended to help: sequester levels of carbon dioxide through strategic plantings; emphasize the importance of native tree planting; produce fruit from fruit trees for local consumption; and plant trees that will have a greater likelihood of withstanding natural disasters in communities that have lost a significant number of trees because of a recent natural disaster.
Grant projects range from Keep Oklahoma Beautiful’s effort to begin replacing trees lost in the May 2013 tornado in Moore, Okla., to Keep New Orleans Beautiful’s planting of 60 Louisiana native Live Oaks that will contribute to post-hurricane storm water management efforts, to Keep Beatrice (Neb.) Beautiful’s initiative to plant 40 native trees at two ballparks to provide shade for more than 1,000 youth and adults who use the facility. The program also links KAB affiliates with local UPS employees who will provide volunteer support to plant the trees, in addition to the grant funding.
“Keep America Beautiful and its affiliates thank The UPS Foundation for helping us transform public spaces into beautiful places through this far-reaching tree planting grant program,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful. “The additional recovery tree grants are particularly helpful in improving the social, environmental and economic life of our neighborhoods and towns.”
“With its Global Forestry Initiative, The UPS Foundation strives to create more resilient, sustainable communities around the world,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. “Awarding these grants to Keep America Beautiful affiliates demonstrates UPS’s continued commitment to the environment.”
The UPS/KAB Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant Program is one element of The UPS Foundation’s overall support of KAB, which is now in its seventh year. The UPS Foundation also supported KAB’s Vision for America Award, which is presented annually to distinguished leaders whose personal and corporate commitments have significantly enhanced civic, environmental and social stewardship throughout the U.S. UPS was the recipient of the Vision for America Award in 2007.
About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s leading nonprofit that brings people together to build and sustain vibrant communities. With a national network of community-based affiliates, we work with millions of volunteers who take action in their communities to transform public spaces into beautiful places. Through our programs and public-private partnerships, we engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment. For more information, visit kab.org, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.
