Blog written by AmeriCorps service member Tyrah Cobb-Davis, after conducting an interview with Jackie.
Growing up in Donelson, Jackie always had a special connection to trees — with her favorites being the bald cypress because it is unique and beautiful and a river birch because the bark is super cool, in her words. Trees have always been a big part of her neighborhood and they made the area special. But thousands of trees in her Stanford Estates neighborhood were wiped out by the March 3 tornado, and now the neighborhood Jackie calls home is unrecognizable, she says.
Fortunately, Jackie decided to take action. As a student working towards her Environmental and Soil Science degree in Knoxville, Jackie knows and understands the importance of trees. As soon as she heard about Root Nashville’s Neighborhood Planting Captain program, she knew she wanted to get involved in order to give back to her community — knowing that this was a step in the right direction in restoring her neighborhood’s tree canopy. Many residents were discouraged by the terrible losses of so many trees from the tornado, Jackie says.
As a Neighborhood Planting Captain in Stanford Estates, Jackie shared that she gained experience with outreach and is now more comfortable with the idea of posting about opportunities on social media, sharing flyers, and making phone calls. Thanks to her efforts, 50 new 1-inch caliper trees will find their loving new homes during our kick-off planting weekend of October 17-18. Amazing work, Jackie!
In Stanford Estates, Jackie was joined by fellow Neighborhood Planting Captains Sharon Doss and Tommy Hatcher. Learn more about these captains, and others, in upcoming blog posts.
Participants in the Neighborhood Planting Captain Program work with Root Nashville to greenify their neighborhood with free 1-inch caliper trees. The captain’s role is to recruit neighbors to participate, and to gather information about where trees will be planted. Want to become a Neighborhood Planting Captain yourself? Stay tuned for the next application, within this planting season of October 2020 through March 2021.