St. George, N.B.

Students from St. George Elementary School are digging into their lessons today – quite literally - as they plant trees to celebrate Arbour Day. Two classes of grade one students helped plant three hardwood trees on the school grounds at 118 Brunswick Street. Their fellow grade one students across the Anglophone South School District also spent some class time this week learning about the value of planting trees.

Each year a different school in the district is chosen for the annual Arbour Day event, which promotes the beauty and environmental benefits of trees in our community.

This year’s event is sponsored by the Town of St. George, J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI), and the Anglophone South School District.  “This is the sixth year of our partnership with JDI,” said Zoë Watson, Superintendent of the District. “Arbour Day provides a wonderful opportunity to nurture an awareness of the importance of trees and the environment in our community.  It plants the seed, if you will, that will grow their environmental consciousness.”
  
“Partnerships like this one between J.D. Irving, Limited, the School District, and the Town of St. George demonstrate our community’s vision of a shared commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Danny Henry, Mayor of St. George.
 
The 30 students of Betsy Jones’s and Jenny Maxwell’s  grade one classes each received a 10” living white spruce seedling enclosed in a box with planting instructions.  Meanwhile, a total of 1738 seed cards were distributed to all grade one students in the Anglophone South School District, again with instructions on how to plant the seeds.

During the Arbour Day ceremony, three hardwood maple trees were planted on the grounds of St. George Elementary School.  The white spruce seedlings, the seed cards, and the maple trees were all donated by JDI.

JDI has been part of the forest business for over 130 years, and planting trees has been a way of life since 1957.  Over 940 million seedlings have been planted since that time – a national record in Canada.  Company Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Irving says he’s proud of the men and women who have worked hard to grow trees, jobs, value-added manufacturing, and healthy forests.  “Trees not only provide wood fibre for manufacturing, sustaining jobs and strong healthy communities; but they also are an essential part of our community landscape,” said Jim Irving. “We are committed to doing our part to contribute to beautification in communities where we live and work. We are proud to partner with the Town of St. George and the Anglophone South School District as we celebrate Arbour Day.”

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Contact:
Geoff Britt
Communication Officer
J.D. Irving, Limited
(506) 648-2609
@JDIGeoffBritt
www.jdirving.com