By Ben Brown- Originally published on Oakville News
The Oakville Community Foundation celebrated its 30th anniversary on May 30, 2024, planting 300 trees with Oakvillegreen at Valleyridge Park.
Among those in attendance were Acting Mayor Marc Grant, Oakville Community Foundation (OCF) CEO Wendy Rinella, and Oakvillegreen President Karen Brock.
As a 360-degree granting organization, the Oakville Community Foundation supports a wide range of charitable activities in healthcare, social services, environment, community development, arts, culture, fitness, and heritage.
Using community-based research, the Foundation identifies and addresses local needs, which made it only right to plant a few hundred trees in the community on their day of celebration.
Acting Mayor Grant addressed the crowd before the tree planting and said, “To kind of misquote somebody ‘the greatest enemy of change is thinking somebody else will do it’ and we’re so lucky to have the Oakville Community Foundation here for the last 30 years flying in the face of that, making positive changes today, tomorrow, and things like today which will last for generations to come.”
Rinella also addressed the crowd and gave thanks to multiple donors who made the event possible. “We’re hoping that this action today of planting trees will help to remove GHGs (greenhouse gases) because trees sequester carbon,” said Rinella.
The audience gave a round of applause and then got everything together so they could plant trees for a great cause.
Oakvillegreen’s Programs Manager, Anelia Tichkova, gave a demonstration with Brock that showed everyone how to plant the trees and with that, everyone picked up their shovels, the tree of their choice, and set off to find a spot to plant.
While most trees were small, Brock brought out a 20-year-old tree to plant front and centre with the help of OCF’s Communications Director, Michael Salem.
Happy anniversary Oakville Community Foundation!
