2016 Volunteers of the Year

Envi­ron­men­tal non­prof­it Tree Pitts­burgh is proud to announce its 2016 Vol­un­teers of the Year. These cor­po­ra­tions and indi­vid­u­als have giv­en of their time and ser­vices to fur­ther the mis­sion of the orga­ni­za­tion to pro­tect and restore Pittsburgh’s urban for­est through com­mu­ni­ty tree plant­i­ng and care, edu­ca­tion, and advocacy.

Kathy Laf­fer­ty of Carnegie was named the indi­vid­ual Vol­un­teer of the Year for her work with clients at the Good­will of South­west­ern PA green­house. Through a part­ner­ship with GWSPA, Tree Pitts­burgh works with Good­will clients to grow our tree seedlings in their on-site green­house. Laf­fer­ty answered the call to a vol­un­teer job descrip­tion and trav­eled week­ly from Carnegie to the green­house. She worked with GWSPA clients, teach­ing them about seedlings and care­ful­ly guid­ing them through trans­plant­i­ng and tending.

“This pro­gram would not be the suc­cess it is with­out Kathy,” said Megan Hig­gins Palo­mo, Tree Pitts­burgh Her­itage Nurs­ery Manager.

The Pitts­burgh office of KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advi­so­ry firm, was award­ed the Cor­po­rate Part­ner of the Year for their ded­i­ca­tion to the orga­ni­za­tion. Dur­ing 2016, KPMG par­tic­i­pat­ed in 4 sep­a­rate vol­un­teer events, con­tribut­ing over 150 vol­un­teer hours. In addi­tion to mulching events, they helped to plant 50 new trees at the Mar­tin Luther King, Jr. Com­mu­ni­ty Gar­den in the Hill District.

“KPMG showed a real com­mit­ment to Tree Pittsburgh’s mis­sion this year,” said Jake Milof­sky, Tree Pitts­burgh Tree Care and Restora­tion Coor­di­na­tor. “It was a lot of fun form­ing a rela­tion­ship with their team dur­ing the course of their projects with us this year.”

KPMG LLP, the Unit­ed States mem­ber firm of KPMG Inter­na­tion­al, traces its ori­gins back to 1897 and since 1994 has been a lim­it­ed lia­bil­i­ty part­ner­ship reg­is­tered in the state of Delaware. With more than 29,000 pro­fes­sion­als in 106 offices, includ­ing more than 1,900 part­ners, KPMG is a leader among pro­fes­sion­al ser­vices firms.

Jim­my Lohr and greenSin­ner, a Lawrenceville-based flo­ral and event pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny, received the Cre­ative Part­ner of the Year award. For sev­er­al years, Jim­my has vol­un­teered his ser­vices to pro­vide décor for Tree Pittsburgh’s annu­al fundrais­ing event, Arbor Aid. In 2016, greenSin­ner sup­plied all of the décor for the 10th anniver­sary Root Ball gala. Lohr and greenSinner’s con­tri­bu­tions amount to thou­sands of dol­lars of in-kind services.

“Jimmy’s tal­ent for design helped to make all of Tree Pittsburgh’s events a great suc­cess,” said Danielle Crum­rine, Tree Pitts­burgh Exec­u­tive Director.

Thank you to all our vol­un­teers who made 2016 our biggest year yet!