Pictured Left to Right Taylorville Tree Boards Members Kira Probst, Rhonda Kraft, and Barb Grabner-Kerns

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club heard from the chairperson of the Taylorville City Tree Board, at their weekly meeting Tuesday at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium.

Rhonda Craft told Kiwanis members that tree beautification brings value to the community, providing some 90-thousand dollars in benefit per tree.  She added large trees absorb 30% of the total rainfall with its canopy, and another 30% with its root system. Craft says trees really are important to our lives:

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Craft said that shaded pavement lasts 40 to 60-percent longer than unshaded pavement, saving the city money, and that trees also absorb pollutants to keep the air clean as well as bring down the heat temperature in summer.

The Tree Board is currently doing an inventory of city-owned trees, and has also overseen harvesting of trees at Lake Taylorville with the help of a forester.

Kiwanis treasurer Dan Sneed gave an update on last month’s Peanut Days fund raiser held thru-out the city.  Sneed told the club that it netted some 48-hundred dollars in donations from the community, that will go toward Kiwanis projects for children and youth.

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.  Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium.  For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.