On Thursday, Alabama Power’s David Norwood presented Greenville Elementary School a check for $1,000 to add trees to the south and southwest sides of the building. The campus will not only benefit from these trees in the area of beautification, but will also experience savings on energy because of the shade they will provide.

“The Good Roots grant is through Alabama Power, and they strictly provide $1,000 for trees to beautify a school campus,” said Shera Stinson, library and media specialist at GES.

“Our campus is very bare right now on the front and the side, so we wanted some trees for beautification and for energy savings for the school.”

Stinson began working on this grant in March and was originally told that GES did not make the list of recipients.

“It’s very exciting. It’s been in my mind for two years. I’ve wanted to do it for two years and just did not have the time to devote to it, but it was on my list of things I wanted to do this year,” she said.

“I’m glad it will help our school, give us our own identity and separate us from the other school.”

Stinson says the grant should provide about 10 trees in total, and they will be mature nuttall oaks. Stinson says that the City of Greenville has also offered assistance in this project in the form of manpower and equipment for planting.

“They offered to transport the trees from Plantation Tree in Selma so we don’t have to pay the transportation fee,” she said.

“Our Cub Scouts here, led by Mike Ernest, are going to volunteer to help with the planting and the watering. We have several Cub Scouts in our school, so they’ll be able to help with that.”

Kent McNaughton, principal for GES, says that the grant allows the school to finish the project by the end of May 2017.

By providing more shade to the building and windows directly in contact with the sun, the cost of running air conditioning should decrease, according to McNaughton. The trees will also supply shade for students waiting for pick up in the afternoons.

“I was really excited, because we did not think we were going to receive the grant. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to improve the looks of our grounds,” McNaughton said.

“Ms. Stinson does an awesome job of listening to the needs that we have at our school and seeking opportunities to address those needs. She does that by applying for different grants and doing fundraisers to help our school in a variety of ways.”