Keep Jones Beautiful in Gray, Georgia, and the Rotary Club of Jones County (RCJC) teamed up to plant a community orchard at the Jones County Recreation Department Highway 18 Recreational Complex.

Keep Jones Beautiful, which received a 2017 Keep Georgia Beautiful Community Edible Orchard Grant sponsored by Keep America Beautiful and UPS Foundation, is planting the community orchard with the help of its local Rotary Club.

Rotary clubs around the world have been challenged to “Make a Difference” during the 2017-18 term. RCJC is doing just that through this and many other community projects. Keep Jones Beautiful thanks UPS, the local rotarians, Jones County Recreation Department, Tree City USA, UGA Extension and Ace Hardware for help planting eight pecan trees.

Elsewhere in Georgia, Keep Golden Isles Beautiful (KGIB) unveiled the City of Brunswick’s new Community Orchard in Howard Coffin Park on Valentine’s Day with a ceremonial planting of the orchard’s last tree. A joint project between the City, KGIB, Golden Isles Fund for Trees (GIFT) and Coastal Greenery, the orchard will have eight citrus trees planted in the middle of the Howard E. Jennings Wellness Park walking track.

A short program at the orchard site preceeded a ceremonial tree planting and featured comments by Brunswick Mayor Cornell Harvey and City Commissioner Julie Martin. The event also featured a youth educational presentation by GIFT.

The Brunswick Community Orchard is also made possible by a KGIB-secured Community Edible Orchard Grant from the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation. The eight planted citrus trees will provide healthy snacks for Brunswick citizens; additional trees will be added to the grove as funding allows.The planting coincided with Georgia Arbor Week, which is observed earlier than the national effort.