While people are at the heart of what makes Samford such a special place, its landscape plays a large role in drawing students and visitors to its campus. Over the years, Samford has removed trees due to disease and droughts. Alarmingly, not enough new trees have been planted to replace those that have been removed around campus. This semester, SGA President James Hornsby, and Samford President Andrew Westmoreland have collaborated to establish the Shade initiative in which sickened trees can be replaced by new and healthy trees on campus.
“Those of us in Samford administration are honored to join James and his colleagues with the SGA in an effort to raise funds for and to plant this next generation of trees at Samford to shape the physical environment for years to come,” Westmoreland said in a promo video for the project.
The Shade campaign will run until Dec. 2, and SGA plans to raise $50,000 along with awareness for the need for new trees at Samford. Currently, 15 percent of the $50,000 goal has been met through contributions from students, staff and alumni.
Each week day until Dec. 2, SGA members will be present in Ben Brown Plaza and prepared to receive donations to the campaign. Donors are encouraged to add a leaf with their name or organization on a tree banner emblemed with Westmoreland’s words, “We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant.”
By reaching this monetary goal, SGA hopes to plant new trees to help ensure a beautiful campus for generations to come. Just as Westmoreland reminds students that they benefit from legacies of those that came before them, now those students have the opportunity to plant literal and figurative trees for the future of Samford.
