Volunteers get hands dirty for worthy cause

There are now ninety-three more fruit and support trees in the orchard at Walker’s Reserve in Belleplaine, St Andrew, thanks to Republic Bank.

A group of volunteers, made up largely of the Bank’s staff, along with some of their relatives, dug in the soft soil, removed young fruit and support trees from pots, and carefully planted them in the thriving orchard.

Support trees give shade to the growing fruit trees and provide soil nutrients, and those planted were moringa, neem, river tamarind and black pearl trees. Meanwhile, jamoon, ackee, guava and mango trees were among the fruit trees planted. 

The Republic Bank team worked with the One Tree For Every Bajan project, which is an initiative of the non-profit think-tank, research centre and consultancy, Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research Education and Design (WIRRED). The tree planting was done to commemorate World Environmental Day which was celebrated last month. 

 Regeneration Coordinator, Georgina Thornton, said it was the biggest group of volunteer planters the reserve has had to date, and the most trees planted in one session. She said this kind of support makes a big difference in how much they are able to accomplish with the food forest.

Republic Bank’s staff volunteers were all smiles after planting the most trees in one
session in the orchard at Walkers Reserve in St. Andrew.

 “There already are quite old fruit trees in the orchards but we’re finding that we need more in between. We have to grow them from seeds or from cuttings and this is quite a long process, so to have this kind of support is really fantastic, and now especially coming into the wet season, the more trees we can get into the ground right now, the better it is coming into the rainy season,” she explained.

The staff members learned a bit about the work of the reserve, how the orchard is cultivated and how the different trees work together to create an ecological balance in which all the plants can flourish. They also received a crash course on how best to get the plants into the earth, and many voiced their pleasure and pride in being able to plant a tree.

“It sounded like a noteworthy cause and I’m just glad to help. I get exercise and we get more trees,” said Richard Thomas.

Tricia Gill said the reality of food shortages encouraged her to participate in the exercise.

“This is what our parents, grandparents and foreparents used to do, they were planting their food. I believe this is something that we really should take a deep interest in and I support this wholeheartedly,” she explained.

Republic Bank’s Marketing Officer, Communications and organiser of the staff volunteerism initiative, Sharon Howell said, “Our Corporate Social Responsibility Programme called the Power to Make a Difference (PMAD), has a staff volunteerism component. This is where we encourage our staff to give back in a meaningful way, in cash or kind, to our communities through worthwhile initiatives like this. The Bank is always keen to live the principles outlined in the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles of Responsible Banking, which we signed on to in 2020.” 

She added, “The principles are also linked to the sustainable development goals and goal number 15 is all about Life on Land and protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems. We are cognisant of how important the environment is for us and want to preserve it for generations to come, so we are happy to support initiatives like One Tree For Every Bajan and the work that WIRRED does here at Walkers Reserve.” (PR)