ARBOR DAY 2000 CELEBRATION -
ZOM SELECTS FOREST CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
AS BENEFICIARY OF 50 TREES

  
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Orlando, FL - April 21, 2000 - Forest City Elementary School was selected as the Central Florida site for ZOM’s annual Arbor Day tree-planting celebration.   ZOM, a local real estate development and property management company planted 50 trees on school property, in return for the school's promise to care for and enjoy the trees. 

Students and teachers participated with ZOM volunteers in the schoolyard tree-planting celebration on April 20.  The festivities included interactive discussions about the importance of trees to our planet’s ecosystem, instruction on tree planting and care, and a presentation by the Audubon of Florida Birds of Prey Center.  According to Lynn Anello, ZOM’s Central Florida Arbor Day chairman, “The school was selected based on the need for shade trees and landscaping on school grounds, and the enthusiastic encouragement from the school’s principal, Carol Chanter and assistant principal, AnaLynn Jones.”

This represents the fifth year that ZOM has celebrated Arbor Day by planting trees on schoolyards throughout Florida.  Previous Central Florida beneficiaries include Pine Crest Elementary, Arbor Ridge Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary and Lake Weston Elementary.  In addition to Central Florida, ZOM will celebrate Arbor Day at elementary schools in other communities where they do business, including Miami and Tampa Bay.

President and CEO Steve Patterson explains, “Striving towards preservation of the environment is important to all of us at ZOM and our efforts were recognized in March at the multifamily industry’s most competitive and coveted national awards competition, the Pillars of the Industry Awards.”  ZOM received three awards, one of which was a “Special Environmental Award” for the wetland preservation program on the Arbors at Branch Creek.  This is the second time ZOM was honored by the prestigious Pillars of the Industry Awards for excelling in environmental preservation.  According to Patterson, “ZOM always strives to plant more trees than it removes through its development activities, and schoolyards seem to be an ideal place to plant those trees and set positive civic and environmental examples.