Green fingered Honda closes in on half a million trees funded
Wednesday 13 June 2012, 2:25PM
By Honda New Zealand Ltd
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Armed with spades, gloves and an enthusiastic team spirit, Honda staff and customers united on Friday (8 June) to help plant trees at Duder Regional Park on Auckland’s south eastern coast.
Forty staff and customers worked tirelessly to plant 2,000 native New Zealand trees at Duder Regional Park, as part of Honda’s annual tree planting day. The team was joined by a special celebrity volunteer, actor, Jared Turner. Jared, who is a big environmental supporter and host of the ‘Energy Spot’ energy saving commercials, worked alongside the group for the afternoon.
The planting day marked the start of the 2012 Honda TreeFund planting season. Through TreeFund, Honda is now officially responsible for the accumulated funding of 488,561 native trees.
During the day, the team planted a mix of New Zealand native species on a steep hillside, including kanuka and manuka (tea tree), cabbage tree and flax, which are all pioneer species good at addressing erosion and re-establishing bush coverage.
This is the fourth year that Honda New Zealand has facilitated a dedicated planting day at Duder Regional Park and staff at all levels, from technicians to the managing director, rolled their sleeves up to help enhance the park’s natural environment.
Honda customer, Mark Boyd, from Clevedon, enjoyed his first tree planting day. “I work as a landscape gardener, so I’m passionate about planting and the outdoors, but this is my first experience of a planting day and I would highly recommend it,” says Mark. “I enjoyed the camaraderie of working with a large team in such a stunning location, and felt a great sense of personal satisfaction from the day. Honda’s TreeFund initiative really does give something back to the community and I’m proud to have played my part in this.”
Graeme Meyer, Head of Marketing for Honda New Zealand, says the company’s annual planting day was a great success.
“Duder Regional Park has become a particular favourite planting site for staff and customers, with its tranquil seaside outlook. This was our fourth visit and the team did an incredible job. It’s great to see staff and customers working side-by-side to help restore bio-diversity in this way,” says Graeme.
Councillor Wayne Walker, Chair of the Auckland Council’s Environmental and Sustainability Forum, says it is always pleasing to see volunteers, especially corporate groups, giving their time to vital environmental projects.
“The council’s enduring partnership with Honda contributes to our annual revegetation programme, restoring native habitat and enhancing our parkland for all Aucklanders,” he says.
The planting day forms part of Honda’s unique TreeFund initiative. Passionate about restoring bio-diversity, Honda developed TreeFund as an opportunity for customers to become involved in the greening of their own local community and to encourage the planting of native flora. With 13 native trees planted for every new car sold, Honda has been funding tree plantings nationally since 2004.