“We come to plant trees

and capture the rain because a healthy LA

is ours to attain.”

– Jolly de Guzman

Earlier this year, our Volunteer Manager, Peter Roquemore had an idea for our annual Volunteer Celebration. He wanted to give an extra special thank you to our most dedicated community who shows up every weekend to plant and care for trees across the County. So he organized a contest for a new t-shirt design to give our brightest stars that day as a show of our appreciation. Hearing the news, Jolly de Guzman felt inspired to put his talent to work.

Jolly has deep ties with TreePeople since his wife, Edith, is our Director or Research! The two of them always have nature on their minds whether it’s shown on their online art gallery, Dear Antler, or on their many backpacking trips. They have even brought TreePeople to their neighborhood by organizing a tree planting of 12 trees through our Citizen Forester Workshop!

“It’s nice to put your stamp on something that will go out to a lot of people. You can’t beat a free t-shirt,” he joked.

Jolly’s design shows that TreePeople does more than just plant trees and trees provide more than just shade. The design at first appears to be an upside-down umbrella collecting raindrops, but upon closer inspection, the umbrella is actually  a lush tree canopy capturing the rain.

Art is Jolly’s way to impact social change and consciousness, “it doesn’t push a certain message in someone’s face, but forces them to think about it.” Everyone experiences the design in their own way, but we all can see that trees are important for rain capture.

Looking to dig in? Join us at one of our volunteer events!