treeplantingThe City of Mentor recently received a $5,000 Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant from Keep America Beautiful and The UPS Foundation.

More than 30 grants, totaling $160,000, are being awarded to Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates throughout the country.

The Keep America Beautiful/UPS grant program is intended to help:  sequester levels of carbon dioxide through strategic plantings; emphasize the importance of native tree planting; produce fruit from fruit trees for local consumption; and plant trees that will have a greater likelihood of withstanding natural disasters in communities that have lost a significant number of trees because of a recent natural disaster.

The UPS Foundation grants are part of UPS’s Global Forestry Initiative designed to plant, protect and preserve trees in urban and rural areas in the United States and around the world. UPS has surpassed the company’s 2014 tree planting goals, planting more than 1.7 million trees during that year’s grant cycle. Since 2012, The UPS Foundation and UPS employees have planted more than 3 million trees across 47 countries to support the environment.

“It is a privilege for UPS to partner with Keep America Beautiful, an organization which has been advocating for and protecting the environment for decades,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. “Last year, The UPS Foundation gave nearly $4 million toward environmental sustainability efforts worldwide.  Our Global Forestry Initiative helps foster more resilient, sustainable communities globally.  Awarding these grants to Keep America Beautiful affiliates demonstrates UPS’s continued commitment to the environment.”

The UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant Program, now in its eighth year, is one element of The UPS Foundation’s overall support of Keep America Beautiful. The UPS Foundation also has supported Keep America Beautiful’s Vision for America Award, which is presented annually to distinguished leaders whose personal and corporate commitments have significantly enhanced civic, environmental and social stewardship throughout the U.S. UPS was the recipient of the Vision for America Award in 2007.