SCA & American Express Celebrate Earth Day in Seattle

Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation Jesús Aguirre welcomed SCA volunteers for the 12th year of Earth Day service at the Arboretum. Tom Deluca also welcomed volunteers on behalf of the University of Washington School of the Environment, which co-manages the property. Washington Park Arboretum is a shared Seattle treasure, and this annual service event in an integral part of the Arboretum’s successful upkeep.

This year, with support from American Express and in support of the Find Your Park campaign, SCA was able to build on this tradition by mobilizing more volunteers than ever before in service to Seattle’s public lands.

AmeriCorps Director Bill Basl spoke on the importance of partnerships among SCA, AmeriCorps, and NPS. Volunteers representing groups from AmeriCorps to Boeing were excited to get to work planting 12 trees, spreading 105 yards of mulch, and removing 13,100 sq ft of invasives.  

Four-time SCA alum Khadijah Pugh spoke about what motivates her work with SCA and how community and diversity foster conservation which “becomes a lifestyle rather than a hobby. Work doesn’t feel like work at all. Every participant is surrounded with joy and positivity.”

It was an inspiring day to see more than 300 volunteers come together to serve their communities “with joy and positivity” this Earth Day in Seattle.

Special thanks to American Express, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the University of Washington. Thanks also to all the volunteers who joined the day from AmeriCorps, AHBL, Alpha Phi Omega, Boeing, FSI Consulting Engineers, Ingraham High School, North Seattle College, Seattle Rotary, Southwest Airlines, WSP, and the University of Washington. 

 

See more photos from SCA’s Find Your Park Earth Day event in Seattle.