January 17, 2025
Tony's Forever Forest
By Mark Cullen
President and Co-founder, Trees for Life
Trees for Life has had quite the run since first launching back in 2015, when the very first tree was planted as part of the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign. In the infancy of Trees for Life, a meeting brought together several not-for-profit organizations dedicated to planting trees in the urban environment. The purpose of the meeting was to answer the question, “What can we do together that we cannot accomplish by working alone?”
One of the people at that first meeting was then Landscape Ontario (LO) Executive Director Tony DiGiovanni. After several meetings over the course of a year, Tony raised his hand with an idea that would spark a torrent of activity. “Landscape Ontario had been involved in a project that reforested the Veterans Memorial Parkway in London, Ontario,” he said. “Why don’t we do the same and reforest the Highway of Heroes along the 401?”
The idea sounded simple enough: after successfully planting trees on the 17 km stretch in London, how difficult could it be to reforest the Highway of Heroes?
Suffice it to say there were struggles, but we raised $10 million for the campaign and attracted 4,500 individual Canadian donors and 4,000 volunteer tree planters. We planted our last tree at historic Fort York in downtown Toronto in November 2022, with the Right Honourable David Johnston, the former Governor General of Canada.
Today, Trees for Life is the “second chapter” of a commitment that Tony as well as our board and staff have made to maximize urban tree planting in Canada. In total we have now raised over $18 million and supported the planting of over 3.3 million trees across Canada, including the Highway of Heroes trees. These achievements would not have been possible without the support that Trees for Life receives from LO and its members. And that support was the direct result of Tony’s commitment to the cause of climate change and his belief in our mission.
The close ties with LO and its membership have helped Trees for Life secure much needed tree stock and supplies at a time where demand has been unprecedented. Members have stepped up to provide substantial discounts for Trees for Life, stretching our donor dollars. Other LO members have donated their valuable time, trees, services and materials to support the mission of planting trees where Canadians live, work and play.
Some members have even sponsored Trees for Life. Pat Lamanna pledged three year of support from Juel Group to provide people power for volunteer planting days. This past spring, BTN Nurseries donated over $100,000 worth of trees.
To say Trees for Life would not be where it is without LO would be an understatement. And to say Trees for Life would not have that relationship with LO without Tony DiGiovanni would be an even bigger understatement. Trees for Life owes a lot of its success to Tony.
This is why, when Tony’s family approached Trees for Life to help create “Tony’s Forever Forest” (a name chosen by his granddaughter), it was as easy a “yes” as there ever could be. So on Oct. 24, 2024, just under two months after Tony celebrated his 70th birthday, we teamed up with Juel Group and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to plant a grove of 70 trees in Tony’s honour. Tony, his family and a full school bus of children helped plant the trees that now stand as Tony’s Forever Forest.
Trees for Life continues to plant trees for heroes of all kinds, but in this instance, trees were planted for a true hero, Tony DiGiovanni — a founding director of Trees for Life, a passionate volunteer, a champion of trees and a friend to all.
To learn more about Trees for Life, please visit treesforlife.ca.
President and Co-founder, Trees for Life
Trees for Life has had quite the run since first launching back in 2015, when the very first tree was planted as part of the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign. In the infancy of Trees for Life, a meeting brought together several not-for-profit organizations dedicated to planting trees in the urban environment. The purpose of the meeting was to answer the question, “What can we do together that we cannot accomplish by working alone?”
One of the people at that first meeting was then Landscape Ontario (LO) Executive Director Tony DiGiovanni. After several meetings over the course of a year, Tony raised his hand with an idea that would spark a torrent of activity. “Landscape Ontario had been involved in a project that reforested the Veterans Memorial Parkway in London, Ontario,” he said. “Why don’t we do the same and reforest the Highway of Heroes along the 401?”
The idea sounded simple enough: after successfully planting trees on the 17 km stretch in London, how difficult could it be to reforest the Highway of Heroes?
Suffice it to say there were struggles, but we raised $10 million for the campaign and attracted 4,500 individual Canadian donors and 4,000 volunteer tree planters. We planted our last tree at historic Fort York in downtown Toronto in November 2022, with the Right Honourable David Johnston, the former Governor General of Canada.
Today, Trees for Life is the “second chapter” of a commitment that Tony as well as our board and staff have made to maximize urban tree planting in Canada. In total we have now raised over $18 million and supported the planting of over 3.3 million trees across Canada, including the Highway of Heroes trees. These achievements would not have been possible without the support that Trees for Life receives from LO and its members. And that support was the direct result of Tony’s commitment to the cause of climate change and his belief in our mission.
The close ties with LO and its membership have helped Trees for Life secure much needed tree stock and supplies at a time where demand has been unprecedented. Members have stepped up to provide substantial discounts for Trees for Life, stretching our donor dollars. Other LO members have donated their valuable time, trees, services and materials to support the mission of planting trees where Canadians live, work and play.
Some members have even sponsored Trees for Life. Pat Lamanna pledged three year of support from Juel Group to provide people power for volunteer planting days. This past spring, BTN Nurseries donated over $100,000 worth of trees.
To say Trees for Life would not be where it is without LO would be an understatement. And to say Trees for Life would not have that relationship with LO without Tony DiGiovanni would be an even bigger understatement. Trees for Life owes a lot of its success to Tony.
This is why, when Tony’s family approached Trees for Life to help create “Tony’s Forever Forest” (a name chosen by his granddaughter), it was as easy a “yes” as there ever could be. So on Oct. 24, 2024, just under two months after Tony celebrated his 70th birthday, we teamed up with Juel Group and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to plant a grove of 70 trees in Tony’s honour. Tony, his family and a full school bus of children helped plant the trees that now stand as Tony’s Forever Forest.
Trees for Life continues to plant trees for heroes of all kinds, but in this instance, trees were planted for a true hero, Tony DiGiovanni — a founding director of Trees for Life, a passionate volunteer, a champion of trees and a friend to all.
To learn more about Trees for Life, please visit treesforlife.ca.