Free Trees Help San Diego Residents Rebuild Neighborhood Greenery
Tree San Diego, an urban forest nonprofit, is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation and Ralphs Grocery Company to distribute 200 fruit trees — including guava, pomegranate, orange, and fig — to local residents in San Diego. Register online.
Ralphs volunteers will support the distribution by checking in participants and helping carry five-foot-plus trees to residents’ cars. The initiative aims to help neighborhoods continue recovering from San Diego’s unprecedented January 2024 flood, which devastated communities and local urban forests.
Over the next 40 years, these 200 fruit trees are expected to provide significant environmental and community benefits. They will save local families more than $64,000 in energy costs by naturally cooling homes and streets, sequester 692 metric tons of carbon — the equivalent of taking 150 cars off the road — and capture nearly 480,000 gallons of stormwater runoff, equal to more than 3.6 million bottles of water. The trees will also remove nearly 500 pounds of air pollutants, providing enough oxygen for 800 people every day. In addition to these measurable environmental impacts, the trees will provide fresh fruit for local families while gradually creating shade that helps cool streets and neighborhoods.
As part of its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact strategy, Ralphs supports projects and partners that address hunger relief, sustainability, and the reduction of food waste in the communities it calls home.
The Arbor Day Foundation has helped plant over 500 million trees in communities and forests in more than 60 countries. The global nonprofit connects support to areas in need of trees through its unmatched network of corporate partners and local tree planting organizations. Click here to learn more about how the Foundation leverages science and technology to identify communities and forests most in need of trees.