The school is partnering with Tree-plenish, which started at Mansfield High School. Here Mansfield students Peter Oldow, Will Giffen, and Cam Eddy are ready to plant last year.
LENOX, Mass. — Lenox Memorial High School students want to plant 100 trees as a way to replace one million sheets of paper.
And they're looking for help from the community to purchase the saplings and plant them on April 24.
"Basically we're trying to offset our school's paper usage by getting people to buy trees and then getting volunteers to come with us to go plant them in their homes," said student Sabrina Lewis. "I'm really excited, but also, we do need people to buy more trees."
Community members can buy an 18 inch to 24 inch red maple or river birch sapling for $5, which includes delivery and COVID-19 safe planting.
The goal is to replace the estimated million sheets of paper that the school uses each year. Students have already sold around 21 trees.
This event was organized by the school's Climate Crisis Control Club in partnership with Massachusetts non-profit organization Tree-Plenish, which began as a senior project in Mansfield and now reaches around 20 states. The student-led nonprofit says it's on target to plant 14,000 trees through partnerships with 90 schools.
The club was started by Lewis and classmate Medeja Rudzinskaite last year and currently has around 13 members.
"Even though we're remote now and we use less trees, we're still trying to offset our usage from previous years," Rudzinskaite said.
Tree-Plenish reached out to Grade 9 world literature teacher Scott Wade at the beginning of the school year and the club was happy to partner with it.
Wade explained that the club is also planning an Earth Day cleanup to beautify local spaces and have a few other projects in the works. Earth Day is on Thursday, April 22.
He said this project has also made him realize that many class handouts could be replaced with a Google document or other virtual rendering.
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Pittsfield Firefighters Knock Down Morningside Blaze
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Fire Department knocked down a two-alarm blaze in the Morningside neighborhood in less than an hour on Friday.
Just before 3 p.m., the department received a report of a fire at 25 Pine St. Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Garner said he arrived at the scene first and saw heavy fire showing from the rear of the more than 100-year-old home.
"We just went to work, pretty much," he explained.
"Because of the heavy volume of fire and the potential for a high number of occupants, I called a double alarm, which called all available Pittsfield firefighters directly to the scene. And I would say the fire was knocked down and under control within an hour."
Eight occupants were evacuating the home when firefighters arrived, and there were no civilian or firefighter injuries. People, including the occupants, stood on the sidewalk and watched the scene unfold.
When iBerkshires arrived, firefighters were on the ladder, extinguishing the top level of the home from the side and rear.
There were five fire engines and one ladder truck. Hinsdale also came to assist, and Lenox and Dalton were called for standby.
Garner believes the building is salvageable and repairable, but recognized that the family won't be able to stay there tonight. An extended family appears to live in the home.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined; the Fire Investigation Division was on site. The Red Cross will provide assistance to the residents of the home.
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