Thank You for Joining Us!

Click here to see Flickr Photos

What a successful event! Not only was it a great fundraiser for Canopy but our guests had a wonderful time. We hosted a fun and inspiring event, shared our enthusiasm with new and current members, and showed many people new ways to be involved with Canopy. Planting and protecting local trees, caring for nature nearby, would simply not be possible without you!

Some of the great feedback we received:

      "Congratulations on the hugely successful dinner last night, it was a perfect Canopy event! All the effort you put into it showed, my friends and family had a great time, and to some, it was "the best."

      "What a wonderful event. The Speaker was "spot on", the crowd enthusiastic, and the venue perfect."

      "BRAVO to you and all of your efforts that made Canopy's benefit event such a wonderful success. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, meeting such wonderful people and listening to Catherine, Joe, Sid and Richard Louv. Canopy has accomplished a great deal in 15 years! We are excited to be a part of this effort to give back to lovely Palo Alto and beyond. We look forward to working with Canopy this summer as volunteers."

      "Thanks to everyone at Canopy for a fun, inspiring, and community building event last night!"

To our incredible and dedicated volunteers and youth staff: For the last few months your work shaped what the event would become. In last few days, you helped fill the room with excited guests, decorate the tables with elegant greenery centerpieces and frame the stage with trees in bows and burlap. You hosted our guests graciously and served as ambassadors for our cause.

To the stars of the show: Richard Louv, Nancy Cassidy, Dayan Ucello, Steve Price, the 5 young ladies from Girls to Women, Senator Joe Simitian and Mayor Sid Espinosa, you engaged our audience with thoughtful and provoking ideas, beautiful music, warmth and humor. You delivered Canopy's message with such talent!

Bringing nature to our doorsteps for 15 years

Since 1996 Canopy has planted and protected thousands of trees in the Mid Peninsula. Canopy is a pioneer in the ‘back-to-nature’ movement offering free neighborhood tree walks, urban forestry workshops, tree plantings and tree care workshop as well as urban forestry advocacy at the local and state level.

Five years ago Canopy launched the East Palo Alto Tree Initiative to plant 1,000 trees in East Palo by 2010. We have met and surpassed our goal and had planted 1,200 trees by 2008. The new trees’ survival and growth rates are exceptionally high and the community is already seeing the benefits of our investment.

More than 1,000 community leaders came together for this unique Canopy-led initiative

Over 20 different drought-tolerant, sustainable species were planted and are thriving

Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids!
an initiative to plant 1,000 trees on school campuses

Now in our 15th year, Canopy is pledging to plant 1,000 young trees on school grounds by 2015. Canopy’s Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids! program is a multi-year shade and fruit tree planting initiative that primarily aims to improve school campuses and parks in underserved communities within Southern San Mateo County. This program engages children, community, and corporate volunteers in the revitalization of schools and campuses. Trees and educational classes will be conducted on school campuses in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and neighboring communities. These trees will create healthier learning environments for students, bring much-needed shade to play areas, increase energy efficiency of school buildings, break up heat islands on campuses and even provide healthy snacks! Our summary White Paper presents evidence of the public health benefits of trees. See a map of planned school plantings and photos of school campuses in this PowerPoint presentation.

Why plant schoolyard trees?

There is a growing body of local, national, and international research showing that the lack of access to healthy, natural environments is associated with childhood asthma, obesity, and diabetes. Additionally, healthier, natural environments are needed at schools to reduce depression, stress, and a diminished sense of place and community. Tree planting projects at schools have been shown increase cognitive and creative capacities among students, improve scholastic achievement, and create better centers for learning and recreation. Schoolyard Tree Planting projects also:

Build Outdoor Equity: Through tree planting projects we endeavor to narrow, and ultimately eliminate inequities between schoolyards with trees, and those without. We seek to provide neighboring underserved communities with safe, accessible, and inviting tree landscapes.

Expand Healthier Environments: By creating vibrant and green, forested spaces for passive and active recreation, we will create environments that are safer and that contribute to improved health and well-being for the whole community.

Spur Community Renewal: School tree-planting projects are a great way to build local pride, the results of which lead on to economic and civic renewal. Through our tree-planting projects and coinciding education programs at the schools, we will create and build community cohesion by bringing diverse people together to work towards a common goal.

Supporting Canopy's Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids!

Support Canopy’s award winning programs, including our “Healthy Trees, Healthy Kids!” initiative to plant 1,000 new trees on school campuses. It is an exceptional occasion to act on your concerns for local and global environmental and public health issues. It is Canopy’s goal to maximize your Sponsorship experience and benefits and to tailor this agreement to meet your specific sponsoring goals – Please contact the Canopy office if you wish to discuss the benefits.

“Children who experience
green school grounds
are more physically active,
more aware of nutrition,
more civil to one another,
and more creative."

~ Richard Louv
The Nature Principle

Honorary Committee

Anna Eshoo
U. S. Representative
Joe Simitian
State Senator
Richard Gordon
State Assemblyman
Rose Jacobs-Gibson
San Mateo Co. Supervisor
Liz Kniss
Santa Clara Co. Supervisor
Sid Espinosa
Mayor of Palo Alto
John Melvin
State Urban Forester - Cal Fire
Maria De La Vega
Superintendent
Ravenswood City School Dist.
Board of Ed. Ravenswood
City School Dist.
Melissa Baten Caswell
Robert Golton
PAUSD Co-CBO
Arturo Flores
Principal, Green Oaks Acad.
Amika Guillaume
Principal, Cesar Chavez Acad.
Lisa Chamberlain, MD, MPH
Stanford School of Medicine
L. Packard Children's Hosp.
Enoch Choi, MD
Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Adna Kuo, MD
Director, Pediatricians
for the Underserved - UCSF
Thomas Newman, MD, MPH
National Board of Directors
Physicians for
Social Responsibility
Margaret Allen
Family Practice Clinician
Ravenswood Family Health Ctr.

Event Committee

Matthew Bahls
Ann Bilodeau
Marty Deggeller
Susan Ellis
Anwyn Hurxthal
Catherine Martineau
Nancy Peterson
Susan Rosenberg
Jane Stocklin
Elliott Wright