The McAllister Family, from left to right Kathleen, Graham, Kyle, and John and their dog Sunny.

Kathleen and John McAllister and their sons Graham and Kyle have been Tree Adopters for the past two years. During the summer of 2010, Mr. McAllister took Graham and Kyle to Kent Park to water a tree, but when the opportunity to water a tree closer to home came in 2011, they seized it. Graham, age 11, and Kyle, age 10, developed a unique system for getting water from their home, which is located uphill from Worrall Elementary School, to their tree on the school grounds. They load a five-gallon pail with water, put it on their skateboard, and take it down the hill to their adopted Maple Tree.

Graham and Kyle signed up to adopt a tree at Marple Pride Day in 2010. Kyle explained that he and Graham and their mother saw two Google Earth pictures at the Tree Commission’s booth, one showing a town that had a community forest and the other showing Marple Township, a town that is losing its community forest. Mr. McAllister remembers how anxious the boys were to tell him what they saw when they got home. “There are not enough trees here – not enough cover.”

Mrs. McAllister said that she thinks Worrall Elementary School looks so much nicer now that there are trees lining the path to the school. Both she and her husband wish that the tree plantings on the median strip on the West Chester Pike could be improved.

All of the McAllister’s agree that watering a tree is easy and fun. In Graham’s words, “You get to help the environment and it makes you feel really good!”