On Saturday, February 8th a hardy team of 15 First Church volunteers planted two Shumard Oak trees in the Dana strip as part of Roger Bash’s design plan. The Shumard Oak will grow to be a tall tree with wide spreading branches to beautify and green-up the entrance-side of church. This is a hardy and long-lived tree with green glossy leaves which turn reddish in Fall. The Shumard Oak was one of several trees recommended to the SFA Ministry by the City of Berkeley. The digging team moved a lot dirt and added new soil amendments and rock to give the new trees a wide space to spread their roots.
The next steps in the Dana project will be to salvage and clean bricks from the demolition of the Pilgrim building which we expect will be done this summer. The salvaged bricks will be laid along the strip. In addition two benches will be set in between the trees. Volunteer groups will complete this project. Besides building great comradery, the volunteers save church funds for other important building and grounds projects.
Submitted by Nick Kukulan, Co-Chair of SFA