Ivory Homes and the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation, in conjunction with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, have announced a $20,000 donation to replant more than 200 trees in highly impacted parks in westside communities.
At a tree planting event at Westpointe Park in Salt Lake City, the Foundation announced support for residents in need of financial support to replace lost trees on private property. This new program will be coordinated by TreeUtah in collaboration with Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County. The Foundation announced an additional gift of 100 trees to the Westpointe Community Council for local residents.
“The Westpointe neighborhood holds a special place for our family and company. We are elated to be partnering with them, Mayors Mendenhall and Wilson, TreeUtah, UCAIR, and especially the residents and volunteers to recover from this windstorm and celebrate 10,000 trees,” said Christine Ivory, trustee of The Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation. “This year has emboldened our family and company’s commitment to care about the larger world we live in and our very own community. We conserve, we invest, and we remember that it is our responsibility to make Utah a better place.”
The announcement took place while 29 new trees were planted in Westpointe Park with volunteers from the Westpoint Community Council, as part of Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s 1,000 Tree Initiative. The Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation supported that initiative with a major gift earlier this year and will be making an additional contribution of $10,000 to support Salt Lake City’s ReTreeSLC initiative<https://treeutah.ne
“The Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation and Ivory Homes’ commitment to the health and well-being of our neighborhoods is incredible. We feel so fortunate in Salt Lake City to have a partner like the Ivory Foundation, that is as invested as we are in the future of our urban forest,” Mayor Mendenhall said. “The work they have done will benefit city’s residents for generations to come and we thank them for helping us in creating welcoming, shady neighborhoods, cleaning our air, providing ecosystems for urban wildlife, and beautification.”
In addition to supporting efforts in Salt Lake City, $10,000 will support plantings to replace trees in parks impacted by the windstorm in Millcreek, West Valley and Kearns and a similar resident voucher program administered in partnership with Salt Lake County.
“Salt Lake County is grateful for the commitment of Ivory Homes, the Ivory family and TreeUtah to improving our green spaces,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said. “The need for trees to ground our communities and green spaces has never been more important, following the devastation and recovery from September’s windstorm.”
The recent windstorm on September 7th and 8th toppled thousands of trees throughout Northern Utah. Trees in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County were hit especially hard. This effort, led by TreeUtah, is designed to quickly and efficiently designate funds to plant trees to replace the mature canopy that was lost.
“In today’s world, we are growing increasingly insulated and isolated from our neighbors. The Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation’s and Ivory Homes’ 30,000 tree initiative has brought thousands of neighbors together in tremendous way to volunteer to beautify and build a stronger connection to our community,” said Amy May, executive director of TreeUtah. “Planting 10,000 trees in just over two years is a remarkable accomplishment and we deeply appreciate being partner to the initiative. TreeUtah can’t wait to build on that success and help our community recover from the recent windstorm.”
The 30,000 Tree Initiative was announced on Earth Day in 2018 by Ivory Homes and the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation. The initiative includes a partnership with TreeUtah and UCAIR to plant 30,000 trees across the state of Utah. In total, 20,000 trees will be gifted by the Foundation to communities across the state, while 10,000 trees will be planted in new and existing Ivory Homes communities. Plantings have included schools, parks, open spaces, river restorations, main street beautification projects and other community focused plantings. Individuals can nominate a project at www.ivorygreen.com<http://www.
