I currently work for a non-profit organization called Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc., a wonderful company that I personally love working for. What I do is fulfill the company name. How? Glad you asked.
In the included photo, I am reading F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby while providing water to this poor, thirsty Liquidambar styraciflua (better known as the Sweet Gum or Tree Stars from the "Land Before Time" films).
Every year, KIB plants hundreds of native trees around Marion County, as far down as Southeastway park. Who in the world cares for the nearly 5000 trees planted in Indianapolis by KIB and its volunteers? That is where I come in. I am a member of the Youth Tree Team. I, and 80 or so of my coworkers, travel around Indianapolis every week and water all of the trees that we have planted. With this drought, our job has never been more important. As you can see from the photo, every tree is given two five gallon buckets of water each week. Think that it is easy to carry ten gallons of water? Think again. Each bucket weighs forty pounds. And we do it hundreds of times a day, over distances of up to a football field (sometimes the water trailers can't get to some of the trees, which are really far away). Over the summer, as a group, the YTT carried an average of 121,000 buckets of water, which when multiplied by five gives you 605,000 average total gallons of water. Still sound easy? Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to deal with the ridiculous heat daily. In addition to watering the trees, the YTT is tasked with mulching and general care of trees (sadly, including removal of dead trees). I am happy to do my job because I love the people I get to work with, I love helping bring nature to the city, and I love being part of a company that is motivated by the environment rather than corporate advancement.
If you would like to learn more about KIB, volunteer for an event, or apply to be a YTT member, go to KIBI.org/youth_tree_team
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