The Wildlands Conservation Trust recently partnered with the Standard Bank Gallery and Historical Services when they launched their “150 minutes Plant a Tree campaign” in Johannesburg.
Standard Bank, established in 1862 in Port Elizabeth, decided on the “150 minutes Plant a Tree campaign” as a way to celebrate the bank’s 150th birthday. The aim of the campaign was to urge the staff at Standard Bank to focus some time (2 ½ hours) on a worthy cause. Each department could choose to support whatever cause they felt was important.
A group of Standard Bank Gallery and Historical Services staff collectively decided that they wanted to contribute to an environmental cause, choosing to invest in the popular conservation based NPO Wildlands, and purchased almost 1000 trees to inspire a mass planting by individual Standard Bank staff within the greater Johannesburg area.
The marketing team for the Standard Bank Gallery and Historical Services enticed the staff with a competition flyer containing questions which could only be answered by visiting the exhibition entitled, “The Art of Banking.” Once the questions had been correctly answered the flyer could be swapped for an indigenous tree which had to be planted. Photographs of the staff member planting his/her tree were requested with a chance to win additional prizes.
“We liked the fact that Wildlands works with disadvantaged communities, teaches them how to grow the trees and helps them to ultimately support themselves with greening activities,” commented Barbara Freemantle of Standard Bank.
Wildlands were delighted to hand over the trees, “our trees are all indigenous, hardy plants that do not need to be too pampered, so they will be perfect for this campaign,” said Senior Manager Fezeke Mbele from Wildlands. “The fact that they are indigenous trees will also mean they will attract more wildlife,” commented Mbele. “Sustainability is everyone’s business and shouldn’t just be the focus of Sustainability Managers at big corporate companies,” said Mbele “we need everyone to get involved.”
The campaign, which started on the 28th of November and will run until mid-February 2013, seems to have been a success with lots of positive feedback from the staff. “I think the best thing we can do is educate people about environmental issues,” said Standard Bank Accountant Riana Botha. “Showing people the basics (like how to plant a tree) can make a big difference,” commented Botha. “We are actually trying to “indigenise” our garden – so this campaign worked for me,” exclaimed Standard Bank Librarian Carol Hutcheons.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)