Press Release  Community Service and Court Facilities collaborate on statewide Tree Planting Project

Boston — Probationers, who are part of the Massachusetts Trial Court Community Service Program, will be planting an Elm tree at each of five different court sites across the Commonwealth beginning next week.
  
“We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to engage probationers in a pro-social community activity that allows them to be part of a larger social movement while taking responsibility for their local community,” said Vincent L. Lorenti, Director of the Office of Community Corrections.
  
The statewide planting of the Princeton Elm tree is a collaborative effort between Community Service and the Trial Court Facilities Department. The idea for the project came about as a way to commemorate Earth Day back in April.

This celebration of nature kicked off at Hingham District Court on Wednesday, May 23. There was a planting at Pittsfield District Court on Thursday, May 24, and another scheduled for Newburyport District on Friday, May 25.

The following plantings are scheduled for next week at 9 am:
  
Waltham District, 38 Linden Street, Tuesday, May 29
  
Gardner District, 108 Matthews Street, Friday, June 1

Year-round, Probationers perform approximately 200,000 community service hours statewide as an alternative to incarceration and in lieu of paying court costs. The Community Service Program is part of Probation’s Office of Community Corrections which includes 16 community corrections centers statewide. Offenders are transported from the centers or courts to the project sites where they perform a range of tasks-- both traditional and non-traditional. This work includes trash pick-up along streets and highways; set-up of classrooms for the school year by moving furniture and painting walls; building cages for oyster seeds at state fisheries; stocking and distributing food at local soup kitchens; and setting up 1,000’s of chairs and tables for community concerts and events. This work has also led to full-time employment for many offenders.
 

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