St. Josephs Federal Credit Union Celebrates GREEN

Canton, OH – Every year, the last Friday of April is designated as Arbor Day in Ohio.

The goal of Arbor Day, as described by the Arbor Day Foundation, is to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees.

A program that has taken root to help revitalize Arbor Day is Fourth Grade Foresters USA.

This year, thanks to support from St. Joseph’s Federal Credit Union, every fourth grade student at St. Joseph’s, St. Michael’s, and Louisville Elementary schools will receive an evergreen tree to take home and plant.

“We are pleased to be a part of this very worthwhile program,” said St. Joseph Federal Credit Union CEO Cari Huthmacher. “We are fortunate to be able to support a program that gives back to our communities,” she added.

“This project is made possible because community business people like St. Joseph Federal Credit Union covered the cost of each of the individually packaged evergreen trees, so that there is no cost to the students, the teachers, the school, or the taxpayer,” Debra Ersch, Cofounder of the Fourth Grade Foresters Project stated. “It’s a wonderful way to show support for the community, education and the environment.”

Fourth Grade Foresters USA was created to provide a simple and inexpensive way for any individual, business or organization to send fourth grade students, at an elementary school, home with a tree of their own to plant and care for. Each fourth grader receives an individually packaged 12”- 18” evergreen tree seedling packaged by workers with disabilities.

Ersch added that tree planting is even more important than ever. “Trees take carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and clean the air we breathe. Planting trees is a simple, inexpensive and easy way to improve the community.”

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