Volunteer stories: Ana's first time tree planting

21 October 2024 2 minute read

Ana with group
Ana Barros (second from the left) with community volunteers at a planting day in March 2024

Ana shares her story with us after her uplifting experience tree planting with Trees for Cities at Mile End Park in London earlier this year.

Protecting earth and future generations

It was a dream of mine to plant a tree, so when I browsed events online and found Trees for Cities, I could not be happier. There it was my opportunity to help make the planet greener. This experience exceeded all of my expectations and was so worth the commute. Planting trees not only creates beautiful landscapes, shadows during the summer, they also protect us by filtering the air, and absorbing CO2. These initiatives are paramount if we want to protect Earth and future generations.

Planting a Precious tree

When I arrived at Mile End Park, I could see dozens of volunteers planting trees, and I was so excited to dig in regardless of the cold, rainy day. The organisation was superb, everyone was so welcoming and helpful. I had a vegetarian lunch that was so delicious, I nearly attempted a second round but what really stroked me was the atmosphere. You could hear music, the staff was so nice and friendly, the volunteers looked so excited, and hands on deck. Overall, it felt like we all knew each other.

I just want to thank my group, and our tree coach because my experience could not have been better. I learnt that planting trees is hard work, requires a lot of knowledge, but the most important thing you need to bring with you when attending these events is your love for nature. In the image above, you can see a picture of my group and, behind us, our amazing tree that we decided to call “Precious”.

Mile End Park 020324 Sol Denker 6
Close up of a tree planted at Mile End Park

I have to confess I got quite emotional during the planting because I know how important gestures like these are, mostly because our climate has been so neglected in the past decades.

Next steps

I would definitely encourage everyone to get involved because one thing I can promise is that you will have a wonderful time, meet nice people, and most importantly have the opportunity to do something that will have a positive impact in the community.

I am confident I will do this again with Trees for Cities because the way they organised everything made this experience quite memorable. Trees for Cities made an old dream of mine come true, and I am so grateful for it.

I can now say I have planted my first tree and the world felt like that famous song: what a wonderful world!

How can I get involved?

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Hear more from our volunteers at Mile End Park about the benefits of planting trees below:

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