This distinguished award was created by the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful board to address a heroic response to a unique situation.  Reacting to last December’s devastating ice storms, two preeminent nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma – The Tree Bank Foundation and Up With Trees – responded to the disastrous loss of valuable tree canopy in Oklahoma.  Acting independently, these organizations and their funding partners and countless volunteers are making a miracle. The Tree Bank Foundation in Oklahoma City has partnered with the Apache Foundation of Houston.  Apache has donated more than 41-thousand 3- or 5-gallon trees to the Tree Bank for distribution to communities throughout the state.  That donation includes the free delivery to Oklahoma towns.    It’s a major exercise in organization, building partnerships and providing information about urban trees.  Mary Caffrey and the Tree Bank have accepted that challenge and the re-forestation continues community after community. In Tulsa, Up With Trees, in partnership with Mayor Kathy Taylor, will use private donations to fund ReGreen Tulsa, an ambitious effort to plant 20-thousand trees in Tulsa by the year 2010.  Up With Trees’ work includes distributing tens of thousands of seedlings by partnering with neighborhoods, targeting parks and other public places and working with non-profits.  Private citizens are encouraged to plant trees on their own property and to register them online with ReGreen Tulsa. The Mayor’s office issues an E-Certificate of Recognition to honor anyone planting a tree on their own property. Congratulations to the Tree Bank Foundation and Up With Trees for their vital leadership roles in planting Oklahoma’s storm recovery.

Accepting for the The Tree Bank (L to R): Morton Payne - Board President, Mary Gilmore Caffrey - Executive Director	Accepting for Up With Trees (L to R): Sid Patterson - Founder, Anna America - Executive Director