North Texas Daily

Steven James / Intern Writer

In honor of National Make a Difference Day, local organization Keep Denton Beautiful will be conducting its annual Community Tree Giveaway on Oct. 26.

The tree giveaway is for all Denton residents who would like to plant trees at their homes, and takes place the final Saturday every October.

Program Manager Lauren Barker said in order for people to receive trees, they must pre-order the trees online from their website, KDB.org.

“We keep inventory of the trees,” Barker said. “The trees are tagged and sorted by species and last name.”

The event will take place from 8 a.m. to noon and people will have assigned time slots for when to come pick up their trees, which is different from last year’s event. Volunteers load the trees into peoples’ vehicles to better accommodate for time.

Trees are limited to one per household and eight per vehicle. If somebody would like to pick up a tree for someone else, they must give proof of residency.

KDB will have various types of oak, pine, Mexican plum, Texas redbud and Texas ash. Most of the trees will either be native to Texas or will be able to grow in the conditions of Texas soil and weather.

Barker also said that people from the organization will periodically track the trees they give away.

“We want to make sure that people are actually taking care of their trees,” Barker said. “We don’t want to just give away a tree and then it dies 2 weeks later.”

Goodie bags will be provided and they will include a Tree Owner’s Manual.

Board member Christa Crowe has helped oversee the event for several years.

“I’ve been privileged to meet so many amazing people here in Denton at our events, all focused on making Denton cleaner, greener and more beautiful,” Crowe said. “Fun moments include listening to children tell me the names they’d pick out for their trees, watching a man dance when he got his pecan tree last year and helping a couple of college students who were picking up trees for their elderly neighbors – there were trees and shovels sticking out of every window of their car.”

Crowe said approximately 1,000 trees are given out per year, so early registration is important since there is a possibility KDB may run out of trees.

The event will take place at the city of Denton landfill. Landfill manager David Dugger said he makes sure that the giveaway has a safe and secure place to hand out the trees.

He said he believes that taking part in the annual tree giveaway is a way for Denton residents to give back to their community.

“This is a very positive way for citizens to participate and to learn the importance of keeping the planet green,” Dugger said. “People can go into their neighborhoods and plant trees in places that don’t have trees anymore. I think that every Denton resident should do this every chance they get.”

Keep Denton Beautiful is hopeful that Denton residents will continue to take interest in improving their community.

Graphic by Aidan Barrett / Senior Staff Photographer