This article is brought to you by Silver Birch Living of Kokomo. An independent life with a supportive hand. A different kind of affordable assisted living community. Silver Birch of Kokomo offers a full spectrum of personalized services to help older adults maintain their independence in a supportive, caring environment. For more information, visit Silver Birch of Kokomo online.
On the corner of Elm and Bell Street on the northeast side sits the historic Douglass School. On April 13, an enthusiastic group of people planted trees on the property in observance of Earth Day.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, Omicron Phi Omega Kokomo chapter, and members of Embracing Hope, the nonprofit seeking to restore and preserve Douglass School, were present for the planting. Earth Day actually isn't until April 22, but the day could not have been more beautiful to plant a tree.
Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world. Every year, billions of people across the globe recognize Earth Day in various ways, such as gardening, taking a hike, or in the case of Douglass School, tree planting.
Rev. Dr. William Smith, pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church and president of Embracing Hope, said, "The AKA sorority is here in observance of Earth Day, helping us remind ourselves of conserving and preserving our planet.”
The Omicron Phi Omega chapter reached out to Rev. Dr. Smith about the tree planting occasion, and he gladly accepted the idea of partnering with them.
"This is an opportunity for us to partner together,” said Smith. “It was an awesome experience, especially with them being one of the oldest African American sororities, and also the oldest chapter of any sorority in our community. I’m just excited about that."
Joanne Barnes of the AKA Omicron Phi Omega chapter spoke on behalf of the organization and expressed her excitement of the occasion.
"One of the things we do is work on enhancing our environment,” said Barnes. “And of course, April is kind of the ‘environment’ month and ‘Earth’ month. So, we are working to do something that can really change the environment.
“One of the things people don’t realize is that planting trees, especially in urban areas, helps us with cleaner air, helps to filter things out. And because we have two types of trees, we will actually allow people to harvest apples, probably in year two or three when they come out. Then we can teach them what they can do with the apples, such as canning, baking, or making preserves. I think that is a missing skillset for our younger generation, and we want to be able to share that with them."
The idea that, in a few years, people will be able to harvest the fruit of the apple trees is reflected just a few hundred feet east of Douglass School. The Carver Community Center is an institution named after a man who had the same idea.
George Washington Carver, for whom the Carver Community Center is named, had the African American people in mind with many products he developed from the peanut. He taught the people agriculture, how to provide food and opportunities to feed, and how to develop a means to live and gain income.
The volunteers who planted the trees last week are certain it will be an amazing experience to see the vision come to life for the AKAs and Douglass school in the near future.