A Morning of Connection, Learning, and Growing Together
By Susan Carson Lambert and Ben Garnett, Columbia Green Board Members and Co-Chairs of the Education and Outreach Committee
Visitors to the event interacting with City of Columbia Forestry and Beautiful staff.
On Saturday, September 12, 2026, the Busby Street Community Center became a lively gathering place for people committed to a greener, healthier Columbia. Columbia Green’s free Beat the Heat—Plant a Tree educational event, featuring the newly launched Trees for Campuses initiative, brought together 69 registered attendees and 25 volunteers representing eight allied organizations and 13 Columbia Green Staff, Board and volunteers.
More than an educational event, it was an opportunity to meet neighbors, share practical resources, make connections, and build momentum for the work of restoring Columbia’s urban tree canopy.
Columbia Green’s Beat the Heat Allies
Columbia Green was proud to host a diverse group of allies working in the same sphere of environmental stewardship, neighborhood improvement, climate resilience, trees, water, native plants, and public health. Participating organizations were:
Columbia Green
SC Public Health Association Smart Surfaces Team
City of Columbia Forestry and Beautification
South Carolina Native Plant Society—Midlands
Tree Top Flyer Climbing Service, LLC
Bee City Columbia Columbia with the Climate Protection Action Committee (CPAC)
Gills Creek Watershed Association
Engaging, Not Presenting
The event’s success was rooted in its format. Rather than asking guests to sit through a series of PowerPoint presentations, the room was arranged to encourage conversation. Each organization staffed a table positioned in a welcoming semicircle, allowing attendees to move freely through the space, stop wherever their interests led them, ask questions, and gather information directly from people doing the work.
That arrangement made a difference.
Conversations happened naturally—not only between attendees and presenters, but among organizations as well. People compared ideas, shared experiences, discussed neighborhood needs, and learned about opportunities to become involved. Guests could speak with one group about shade trees, then walk a few steps to learn about pollinators, native plants, watershed health, climate action, tree care, or community beautification.
The result was a room full of interaction. Instead of information flowing in one direction, it moved throughout the community center in every direction.
Beat the Heat and Trees for Campuses
At the center of the event was Columbia Green’s Beat the Heat program, a partnership with the City of Columbia that provides free shade trees to residential and commercial property owners throughout Greater Columbia. The program is designed to help reverse the area’s significant decline in urban tree canopy while giving residents practical ways to contribute to a cooler, healthier community.
Visitors to the event interacting with Tree Top Flyers about proper tree planting, mulching, and tree care. .
Trees Act Like a Living Sponge. Each station featured a poster like this one to provide information and education about trees.
Since its launch in 2024, Beat the Heat has provided 1,800 free native, seven-gallon shade trees to property owners across the region. As of the end of October, 2026, we will have distributed over 2,500 trees.
Those trees are more than landscaping. A healthy tree canopy helps reduce extreme heat, improve air quality, manage stormwater, support wildlife and pollinators, and create more comfortable outdoor spaces. It can also contribute to better public health, stronger neighborhoods, and a more livable city.
The September educational event also highlighted Trees for Campuses, an initiative that expands this work to nonprofit schools, churches, and community centers in Richland and Lexington Counties. Eligible campuses can apply to receive up to 50 free trees, helping them create cooling shade, improve air and water quality, and make their outdoor spaces more welcoming for students, congregations, families, and neighbors.
For many attendees, the opportunity to learn about Trees for Campuses opened a new way of thinking about tree planting. A campus can become more than a place where people gather indoors; it can become a healthier, cooler, more inviting shared landscape. Trees planted today can benefit communities for generations.
Columbia Green’s table helped visitors learn how to participate in Beat the Heat, whether by applying for trees as a homeowner or property owner, sharing program information with others, donating to support tree distribution, or connecting an eligible school, church, or community center with Trees for Campuses. The focus was practical: helping people leave with information they could use and a clear understanding that each planting can be part of a larger solution.
Benefits of Trees For Stormwater Management
Visual learning was also part of the experience. Three large screens played a continuous video demonstrating the proper way to plant a tree. The video gave attendees the chance to see the basics of planting and caring for a shade tree at their own pace, reinforcing the message that planting is only the beginning. Proper placement, planting depth, watering, mulching, and follow-up care all help a young tree survive and grow into the canopy tree a neighborhood needs.
The tables were filled with literature, graphics, program information, and resources to take home. Attendees could pick up materials that matched their own interests and needs, whether they were looking for guidance on native plants, tree care, environmental advocacy, pollinator habitat, local waterways, or ways to get involved with an allied organization.
Most of this information is available on Columbia Green’s website for download in our Resource Library.
An Atmosphere of Connection…and Snacks!
Good Eats for the volunteers, staff and visitors.
Of course, no community gathering is complete without a little hospitality. Guests enjoyed food, coffee, and a seasonal favorite: apple cider. The refreshments helped create an easy, welcoming atmosphere where people lingered, talked, and made new connections. It was a reminder that community building is not only about sharing facts and resources; it is also about making space for people to feel comfortable, included, and glad they came.
A special thank-you goes to the three young people, Allilie and Sonya Neiger, and Emily Roberts who generously helped with both set-up and tear-down. Their energy, willingness to pitch in, and cheerful presence were appreciated by everyone involved. They also showed excellent judgment when it came to the cookie tray.
The City of Columbia staff that have helped make this possible.
The Beat the Heat—Plant a Tree event demonstrated what can happen when organizations and residents gather around a common purpose. Columbia’s environmental challenges are connected: heat, tree loss, stormwater, air quality, public health, wildlife habitat, and neighborhood livability. All overlap. The same is true of the solutions. By working together, sharing expertise, and welcoming residents into conversation, Columbia Green and its allies are helping grow a stronger network for positive change.
Thank you to every attendee, volunteer, ally, and young helper who made the September 12 event such a success. The conversations started at Busby Street Community Center will continue—in backyards, campuses, churches, neighborhoods, and across Greater Columbia.
Every tree planted is a step towards a cooler, healthier, more resilient community.
