Hooray for Impact Day: The Community Comes Together for a Cause!
Friday, May 3rd, Take MAR and volunteers gathered along the Pinellas Trail with enthusiasm as we held our May Impact Day. They all shared the common goal to invest in our community and its future by maintaining recently planted trees, cleaning the trailway and planting two new Slash Pines! As Take MAR’s last Impact Day for the phase two trees that were planted, a feeling of joy spread knowing that these trees were fully established in their environment and ready to grow into mature shade trees.
Electrolytes provided by Salud!
Take MAR has been working in phases to plant these Florida native trees along the Pinellas Trail in an effort to bring more comfort and enjoyment to those who use it. It is also in hopes that the efforts put into the trail will raise awareness and bring more change, along with more trail goers. In phase one, 140 trees were planted and maintained by Take MAR and volunteers until established. These trees now hold their own ground as they continue to mature naturally. In phase two, 95 more trees were added along the trail, which were being regularly maintained until this last impact day on May 3rd - with which they will only need a small amount of love from now on until they also reach maturity! This is an exciting step because it means the focus can now be shifted to maintaining the trail over the next impact days, while efforts of planting a third set of trees are in the works.
The Wild Roots and Living Roots Give away Winners!
For this last Impact Day, volunteers worked hard to clean up the trail way, removing around 50 pounds of trash from the area. They also gave some attention to the phase 2 trees to make sure they were completely ready to stand on their own as they mature. The trees were all watered by volunteers, as we don’t want them to go thirsty. Two new Slash Pines were planted and will be maintained by Take MAR and volunteers until they are also established like the current phase 2 trees. During the event, we were also able to give away two plants to volunteers who guessed the closest number of total trees planted on the trail, thanks to a generous donation from Wild Roots and Living Roots. Our volunteers were kept hydrated with drinks sponsored by Salud, as well!
With a sense of accomplishment in the air, volunteers left the trail feeling eager to jump into our Community Connections discussions, which take place monthly at St. Pete Distillery right after the Impact Day events. These discussions are centered around Sunline, which is a proposal for the future and growth of the Pinellas Trail. For this discussion, special guest Matt Armstrong, the president of St. Pete Distillery shared his vision for the Pinellas Trail and some of the future plans of the distillery. Community Connections are able to bring people together to discuss the current issues, their future hopes and outside inspiration revolving around the potential of the Pinellas Trail. This particular discussion was crucial as it launched the official talk of a Sunline Committee and helped raise awareness to everything our mission aims to achieve. There was an amazing turnout and various ideas flowed about the initiative, leaving everyone with a sense of pride and determination as we face the next steps!
Thank you again to everyone who joined us on May 3rd, and to our sponsors, Salud, Wild Roots and Living Roots, for your lovely donations!
