Plant A Wish and some trees June 2

We hope you'll join us on June 2 at 5:00 PM to plant a wish along with 15-20 native trees on the Midtown Greenway, just east of Hiawatha Ave. and the Martin Olav Sabo bridge (near the intersection of Minnehaha Ave. & E. 29th St.). While we're planting, the lovely folks from Plant A Wish will film us for their nation-wide tree-planting documentary film project.

We are looking for at least 100 people to join us for this special event. Adults, kids, families and groups are welcome. Everyone is welcome to plant a wish; you'll write your wish on a bit of brown grocery bag and put it in the ground with a tree when it's being planted.

We have a limited number of spots (40-50) available for people who want to actually plant the trees, so please respond quickly if you're hoping to do the dirty work.

And we could especially use the help of our Tree Trainers. If you've taken our Tree Training in the last few years and are available to lead and supervise volunteers at this special event, please let us know.

Please RSVP to tracieh@treetrust.org and let us know if you are interested in planting, wishing or both!*

Check out the press release for this event to learn more about the partnership. You can also check out Plant A Wish on Facebook (and check out Tree Trust, too, while you're at it) and at their website.

*This event will be filmed. Attendees may appear in the documentary and promotional materials.

HealthPartners goes green

HealthPartners has teamed up with Tree Trust to reduce clutter and save trees. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (April 22, 2010), they are asking HealthPartners members to switch from having their explanation of benefits (EOBs) sent through snail mail to receiving them through secure online delivery.

If at least 1,000 members sign up between April 22 and May 22, HealthPartners will sponsor the planting of 20 trees at one of our Green Futures planting events this fall.

EOBs stay in your secure, online HealthPartners  account for as long as you have coverage with HealthPartners. So if you sign up today and get an online EOB tomorrow, you'll still be able to view that EOB five years from now, or whenever you choose, as long as you're with HealthPartners.

Are you still receiving your stuff the old fashioned way? Think of all the trees we could save (and plant) if every HealthPartners member signed up to go paperless this month. Do your part to end the paper pileup by logging into your online HealthPartners account and making the switch today.

Haven't created your online account yet? Go to healthpartners.com/gopaperless to sign up.

Weeding Wednesdays - pull weeds to save trees along the Midtown Greenway

While our Young Adult Conservation Corps crews work hard to mow the grass and water the trees along the Midtown Greenway, we need more hands to dig in and pull the massive weeds that bully the trees by stealing their nutrients and their lunch money.

That's where you come in. You can help us get a handle on the weeds along the Greenway by volunteering to pull them out of the ground on Wednesday evenings from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. We'll be at different locations each Wednesday, so keep an eye on our schedule of upcoming events to find out where you can join us. Or, if you'd rather look at a map than a calendar, you can take a look at our Google map of Weeding Wednesdays.

When you find a Weeding Wednesday you'd like to join, just email jessicas@treetrust.org or call Jessica at 651-644-5800 to sign up.