PEOPLE FOR TREES

Cancelled due to Hurricane Ian

Tuesday, October 4 at 7pm at the Historic Green Street Church, 510 Indiana Ave., Englewood

Our guest speaker will be Samantha Gentrup, a local teacher and environmental advocate. She will be representing People for Trees, a grass-roots effort that began in 1997 and grew into a 501©3 non-profit organization and is celebrating 25 years of promoting the many benefits of trees.

These include providing oxygen, shade, noise and light buffers, controlling storm water runoff, and soil erosion and cooling our ever increasing temperatures since the presence of trees can reduce outside temperatures by as much as 15 degrees.

Samantha Gentrup is a local teacher and environmental advocate. She is originally from Ohio, but moved to Florida in 2015 because of her love of wildlife and water.

When SWFL experienced the red tide ecological crisis in 2018, Samantha co-led a statewide demonstration in which close to 10,000 people simultaneously stood in solidarity from coast to coast in an event called Hands Along the Water in order to bring awareness to Florida’s failing ecosystems.

Hands Along the Water continued as a grassroots movement to engage local communities in education and outreach in order to promote reverence and respect for Florida’s most valuable resource: ecosystems.

Samantha enjoys teaching her students about environmental protection and empowering her students to make a difference.

In her free time, she enjoys gardening, kayaking, paddle boarding, sand volleyball, and her dogs and cats (all rescues).

She has converted her lawn to a butterfly garden that is over seventy percent native plants and hosts numerous species of butterflies and birds as well as bees, rabbits, and more.

Over the course of 25 years, People for Trees has continually provided opportunities for people to interact with and embrace the natural world with events such as the annual Tree Fair since 1999 and the annual Tour de North Port bicycle ride since 2012, kayak outings and hikes featuring “The Hidden Jewel of North Port”, the Myakkahatchee Creek, and providing educational “Florida-friendly Yard” workshops.

Join us Tuesday, October 4 at 7pm at the Historic Green Street Church, 510 Indiana Ave., Englewood. Admission is free but donations for the upkeep of the iconic building will be greatly appreciated.