NEWS PHOTO - Members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program packaged more than 500 Overcup Oak tree seedlings on April 24 as part of Vincennes University’s annual Arbor Day project.  From left are Ruth Ann Yochum, Tom Yochum, Betty Butler, Janet Richardville, Cecelia Rusch, Alice Carrie, Patty Dreiman (RSVP volunteer coordinator), and Nancy Ketchem. The seedlings will be delivered on Indiana’s Arbor Day, Friday, April 27, to all Knox County elementary schools for distribution to fourth grade students.  This is the 32nd consecutive year that VU has sponsored the project. 

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VINCENNES, Ind. - In celebration of Indiana’s Arbor Day on April 27, tree seedlings will be distributed to fourth grade students at all Knox County elementary schools.  Now in its 32nd, the project is co-sponsored by Vincennes University and Niehaus Lumber Company.  Additional support is provided by the Vincennes Sun-Commercial and VU's Old Post Bookstore.

More than 500 individual Overcup Oak seedlings were packaged by members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program on April 24. 

VU has sponsored the project annually since 1987 to promote the planting of trees as a way to improve the environment and demonstrate community pride.  Since the beginning of the program, it is estimated that more than 32,000 tree seedlings have been distributed.  Many of the elementary school students who have planted seedlings since the inception of the program are now raising families of their own.  The small seedlings they planted then are now benefiting the environment as fairly mature trees.

Each student will also receive information about how to plant the seedlings as well as the effectiveness of landscaping for energy conservation.  Schools that will receive seedlings include Flaget, Franklin, North Knox Intermediate, Riley, South Knox, Tecumseh-Harrison, and Vigo.

VU has earned the title Tree Campus USA for both its Vincennes and Jasper campuses.  To achieve this honor, an application was submitted to the Arbor Day Foundation that demonstrated that VU effectively manages campus trees, has a Campus Tree Advisory Committee, a Campus Tree Care Plan, a dedicated annual expenditure for campus trees, an annual Arbor Day observance, and a service learning project.

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VICKIE PUFFER, Communications Coordinator & Online Newsroom Manager

812-888-4162 office, 812-887-4635 cell, VUNews@vinu.edu, vpuffer@vinu.edu

VINCENNES UNIVERSITY, Department of University Relations, www.vinu.edu/news/newsroom