Where kids and trees grow

The township’s Sustainable Delran Green Team has been very busy over the past month.

It dedicated an arboretum on Arbor Day, April 25, and helped children plant trees as part of the Kindergarten Grove event on the evening of May 14.

“Our goal is to make Delran a better place to live, work and play,” said team Capt. Debbie Hammond, adding that the group also organized a rain barrel giveaway on May 16 so residents can collect rain and water the lawn, especially with the existing drought conditions in South Jersey.

“The Kindergarten Grove is a really cool thing,” Hammond added. “Kids grow and trees grow. The children can see the trees get bigger as they grow up.”

Hammond was joined by Green Team members Al Carp, Teresa Rogan, Alex Edge and township council President Lynn Jeney for the kindergarten event. They all pitched in to help students Sophia, Xavier, Beckham and Rudy (only first names were provided) from the Class of 2038 plant two new trees at the soccer fields along Tenby Chase Drive.

“We’re planting a red maple that will grow to 40 feet and a redbud that will grow to 25 feet,” explained Carp, who used a shovel and an axe to dig holes for the new trees before the students finished the job with their own shovels and planted them.

The Kindergarten Grove at Millbridge Elementary School was funded with a grant from the New Jersey Shade Tree Commission and a William J. Porter Community Tree Project Award, according to Hammond.

“This year we did it on our own,” she enthused. “We had the trees and we bought little shovels for the children.”

Carp pointed out two other trees he planted years ago in front of the Don Deutsch/Peter Vermes Soccer Complex along Tenby Chase – a Chinese elm and a sycamore – that have grown strong and healthy. The new trees are in the same row and will extend the tree line to the complex entrance.

Jeney recognized Carp for his dedication to the Green Team.

“He is always ready to pitch in on any project,” Jeney remarked. “We named the new arboretum after him.”

The “alboretum” was officially dedicated on Arbor Day after two years of planning and hard work. It’s a green space abutting one of the busiest intersections on the Route 130 corridor. Traveling north and taking the jughandle for Chester Avenue, a motorist will see a huge clearing of grass dotted with 54 new young trees planted by the Green Team, surrounded by tall trees more than 100 years old.

“I love being part of the Green Team,” Alex Edge said as he busily helped the students plant the new trees. “It’s so much fun. We have a lot of energy.”

Edge helped with the logistics for the alboretum.

“We planted 300 daffodil bulbs that will bloom early in the spring,” he recounted, “and a total of 54 new trees over the past two years.”

During a recent township council meeting, Carp explained how the Green Team got a grant from Sustainable Jersey in 2025 to plant a microforest at the site. Plans evolved after PSE&G gave the team 25 trees as compensation for tree removal.

They were planted at the rear of the wildflower garden on the jughandle to help enlarge an existing forest. The team shifted gears and sought arboretum accreditation, Carp noted. This year, it planted 29 trees in the arboretum and 10 were donated by the Burlington County Bridge Commission.

Now, the “alboretum” is a gorgeous, serene place of beauty next to the storm of traffic flying down six lanes of Route 130, and the Vermes soccer field is lined by two more trees, thanks to the Green Team and the Kindergarten Class of 2038.

For more information, or to become a Green Team volunteer, go to the Sustainable Delran Facebook Page.