CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Toronto is a champion of trees. It was chosen from all the cities in North America for this honour on Oct. 1 by the Arbor Day Foundation.
As Mayor John Tory remarked with this recognition, “A healthy tree canopy is a cornerstone of Toronto’s environmental sustainability.”
Perfect timing. Just as the campaign to preserve Toronto’s heritage oak, our oldest tree, is gaining steam, we hear this wonderful news.
This magnificent specimen stands tall, very tall, and more than 160-centimetres wide (that is five-and-a-half feet) in Humbermede, a community in the northwest corner of North York.
The campaign to raise $430,000 is underway, with lots of room for more giving. Mark volunteered to chair the fundraising campaign and the Cullen family has agreed to donate $100,000 to support the preservation of the tree. The city has agreed to match private funds, remediate the soil, tear down the house and convert the real estate into a park for public use.
The city is matching private donations $3 to $1. Donations of more than $20 will receive a tax receipt.
Since we last wrote about Toronto’s heritage oak in September, we have received a surge of stories and generosity from readers. Here are just a few:
Robbie R. from Uxbridge contacted Mark in a phone text. “I would like to meet you personally and give you money to support the Heritage Oak.” After a few message exchanges Mark arranged to meet Robbie at his home.
As the stranger approached the front porch, he held out his hand and gave Mark five $100 bills. Stacked neatly and crisp. “Would you like a tax receipt?” Mark asked. “No point” was the answer, “I am a senior on a fixed income and the deduction wouldn’t do me any good.” Reminds us of the axiom, “not equal gifts but equal sacrifice”.
On another occasion, Mark picked up his business mail from his mailbox. Inside was a white envelope with no return address, and inside the envelope a plain sheet of paper with the handwritten message, “For the Save the Red Oak Campaign. Thank you.” With $100 in cash paperclipped to the note. No signature. No contact information.
It would take some serious sleuthing to figure that one out.
While playing golf with a friend, Mark was asked how the campaign was progressing. “Well, but there is urgency as fundraising needs to meet the Dec. 12 deadline,” Mark replied. The golfer wound up for a shot and replied, “I read your article about it and donated”. End of conversation.
Speaking of personal stories, it does not get more personal than this. Carol Dillon, of Perth, Ont., sent us a donation and wrote, “In 1936, my father was a cyclist on the Canadian Olympic team in Berlin. At the games, red oaks were presented to Olympic gold medallists as a living memory of the Games. My father was not a gold medallist, but he was impressed by the thought of a living legacy of the games. So, when he returned home, he dug up a red sapling from a neighbour’s front lawn at 55 Haven St. in North York. It has been there ever since and is referred to as “Dad’s Olympic Oak.”
Sophia, 9, who lives near the Heritage Oak on Coral Gable Drive has been selling handmade bracelets using beads that have been donated to the cause. She reflects, “A couple from Flesherton has donated more than $1,000 worth of beads and supplies.” In total, she has raised more than $1,600 since mid-September.
Alice Casselman, founding president of the Association for Canadian Education Resources (ACER), reported Toronto’s heritage oak has stored 31 tons of carbon in its lifetime. Each year it contributes to the environment by storing two-and-a-half tons of carbon dioxide. “That is equivalent to my car’s annual emissions plus one half of someone else’s. The heritage oak locks up carbon as wood, from the carbon dioxide being produced daily. This is only one of its many valuable historical, cultural and ecological services.”
The tree is an Olympian, a living history book, a clean air machine and it holds the key to many more stories, yet to be told. But only if we save it.
To learn more and to donate to the preservation of Toronto’s heritage oak, go do www.toronto.ca/redoak or call 416-292-1144.
Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster, tree advocate and member of the Order of Canada. His son Ben is a fourth-generation urban gardener and graduate of University of Guelph and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Follow them at markcullen.com, @markcullengardening, and on Facebook.
