Air New Zealand Greenteam—7 May 2016

Our 2016 planting season got off to a great start thanks to the Air New Zealand Greenteam.  Air New Zealand has a strong commitment to offsetting the impact of air travel on the environment and accordingly, Air New Zealand employees are involved in several green initiatives.  The Air New Zealand Greenteam includes almost 3,000 employees who are committed to environmental action and education both at work and home.

Among other things, the Greenteam members and their families and friends participate in educational activities such as taking field trips to observe native birds, insects and plants at close range, doing beach clean ups and tree plantings.

Aside from the value of the work they do, the Greenteam is also a fantastic group of people who involve their family and friends in their efforts.  Many of the Greenteam members brought along partners, siblings, children and friends and that contributed to the fun and relaxed atmosphere of the day.

Joining us were Alex, Anasheh, Ashley, Brett, Christa, Claudette, Daniel, Darryn, Ferdinand, Fiona, Gareth, Hannah, John, Johnny, Jude, Kingsley, Kranthi, Lydia, Maria, Marty, Neena, Nelle, Nicola, Ranjith, Rebekah, Shelley, Stephanie and Tessa.  Our friend, Bianca also joined us for the day.

The team arrived shortly after nine.  It was great to catch up with people who had been out to plant trees last year and also to meet a lot of new people.  We got acquainted over morning tea and we gave an overview of the CUE haven project, a description of the worked planned for the day, and a safety briefing.

We then headed out to the planting site.  Once on site, Thomas gave a planting demo and safety briefing update.

The team carried the plants into the planting area.

Today’s site was challenging.  It involved planting to connect up areas that had been missed out in prior year plantings and also filling in a wetland area that was covered in rank grass.

But the weather was fantastic and in spite of the challenges the team kept smiling and made great progress.

After a few hours of enthusiastic planting, the team helped collect the empty planting bags and trays and walked back to the cottage for a leisurely lunch.

After lunch we took a short walk around the property so that the team could explore a bit more of CUE Haven and see the developing native forest created by all our amazing volunteers over the past seven years.

A wonderful end to a fantastic day.

We want to thank Shelly for organising the Air NZ Greenteam visit today.  Thanks so much for your support—we really appreciate it and look forward to continuing to work with you and your Greenteam members.

And thank you to Bianca for coming along and helping out, especially taking some great pictures of the team at work.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the Greenteam members and their families and friends who gave up a Saturday to come and help out.  We really enjoyed spending time with you and working with you and truly appreciate your hard work and contribution.

You’ve gotten our 2016 planting off to a great start and we look forward to having you all back for a leisurely visit to see how the areas you helped transform are developing. The trees you planted are a wonderful legacy which will be enjoyed by the community for generations.

Many Thanks Again!