Planting Magnolias with SOUL NOLA and YLC Assist

    March: 4.5 hours 


For the month of March, I decided to team up with SOUL NOLA and the Young Leadership Council. SOUL NOLA stands for Sustaining Our Urban Landscape, and it is a NOLA-grown nonprofit organization committed to driving a more resilient and environmentally equitable New Orleans by reforesting or urban landscape. The Young Leadership Council (YLC) is a group of members that develop leadership skills through community service that makes New Orleans a better place to live, work, and play. SOUL's initiative is even more pronounced locally as a large amount of vegetation was decimated in Katrina and, as we are all very aware, New Orleans is a city that floods. SOUL does weekly plants throughout the year and our partnership for this event was dedicated to the Central City/Uptown area. Volunteers planted trees in groups across the region. The volunteers met at SOUL NOLA's base sight, where we split into groups and were handed shovels, pitch forks, mattocks and gloves. I'm going to be honest, I grew up working hard, building fences and learning the art of architecture and construction with my dad. I am fairly strong and workout, however, digging a hole is HARD WORK!! It was very humbling and wholesome to give back to the community in the form of magnolia trees. Knowing I was breaking a sweat but also providing oxygen for the future years to come, was a great feeling. We went to three different sites around greater New Orleans and planted a variant of the magnolia tree. I have shown pictures below of before and after, and it was truly amazing to be apart of citizens in New Orleans that simply want to give back. This experience is one I will hold dear to me, as I will now drive down Claiborne and see the trees bloom that I was able to plant!













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