Many corporate entities purport to go “green” at every opportunity, be it growing a few vegetables on their roof or banning the printing of endless emails.
But TD Canada Trust is putting its shovels where its mouth is by planting around 600 new trees in Garden City Park in a few weeks.
And, as part of the company’s nationwide TD Tree Days program, the bank is calling on Richmondites to join them on Saturday, Oct. 3 for the annual planting, which took place last year at the Bath Slough Trail on Cambie Road in east Richmond.
It’s a day that Emily Chan, a TD financial services representative at the banks’ Granville Avenue and No. 3 Road branch, looks forward to every year.
“This is our way of helping to green our communities,” said Chan, who is the site leader and organizer on the day and is responsible for getting everyone together and co-ordinating with the City of Richmond on where exactly the planting will take place in Garden City Park.
“I live in Richmond, so I’m all for this kind of thing; it makes it a better place to live.”
This is the sixth year TD has run the planting program, in a bid to maintain and develop urban forests and the company has pledged to double the amount of trees planted from last year’s 300 or so.
“This is the fourth year I’ve been doing this and last year there was about 80 or 90 people out helping us plant the trees and shrubs.
“There were families, customers, Girl Guides, employees, all sorts of people.”
This September and October, TD is inviting people across the nation to get involved in TD Tree Days, with a target of planting 50,000 trees across Canada.
“We know that Canadians recognize the benefits of urban green spaces and care about environmental health,” said Mary Desjardins, executive director, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.
In the last five years, thousands of volunteers have planted over 185,000 trees from coast to coast through the program.
The Richmond planting will be at a few locations across Garden City Park from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 3. Log onto www.tdtreedays.com and look for the Richmond location to sign up or go into any local TD branch.
The City of Richmond is hosting a free public workshop on geocaching this Sunday at the Richmond Nature Park.
Experienced geocachers from the city and the B.C. Geocaching Association will be on hand to teach beginners the fundamentals of the popular outdoor game.
“Geocaching is a great way to get outdoors and to visit places you never knew existed — and some are right on your doorstep, including 30 sites in Richmond alone,” said association president Ian Hewitt, via a city news release.
Geocaching is a game using a mobile phone or GPS device to find various caches hidden around a certain geographical area. In the case of Richmond, caches — hidden ‘treasures’ or tokens, some of which can be traded, others simply photographed — are hidden in 30 spots around the city.
To find the list, one must download a mobile app and sign up online. A mobile ‘passport’ tracks the quest and the city hands out a small prize upon completion.
Caches — normally found in parks or community centres — are usually small tokens or little toys placed by the organizers. If you take one you must replace it with an item of equal or greater value.
The city’s goal is to have people explore its public amenities and cultural heritage sites.
“It’s a great activity for individuals and families to take part in and it’s a way to use your hi-tech equipment for a healthy, adventurous purpose,” said Hewitt, who will help beginners find hidden caches in the nature park, as a sort-of practice run.
Hewitt and the city also have workshops for experienced geocachers.
The Richmond Nature Park is at 11851 Westminster Hwy. and the workshops begin at 11 a.m. More detailed information can be found online at Richmond.ca/ParksPrograms.
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