Neither April showers nor two creaky wheelbarrows that broke down on the job could deter a dozen FirstEnergy Green Team volunteers in western Pennsylvania from replenishing community gardens in Westmoreland County with five tons of fresh topsoil and compost.

"I can't thank yinz enough," said Lucy Bittner, Vice President of Jeanette Greenspaces, a nonprofit that for the past eight years has rented out garden plots on the corner of South Seventh and Clay streets in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, at a nominal fee to city residents without backyard space to grow fresh vegetables.

"We have elderly people on our board who are not physically able to help us with the work anymore," said Bittner, herself recovering from recent foot surgery. "FirstEnergy always steps up to help us."

The company's Green Team is comprised of company employees who volunteer their time and talents to support a wide variety of environmental initiatives, including tree-planting events and park cleanups.

"Is it raining? I thought I was sweating," said one burly Green Team volunteer, powering a heaping wheelbarrow uphill where other volunteers raked the new dirt into the boxes.

At the foot of the hill, FirstEnergy forester Jakob Radovic handed out 300 free white flowering dogwood saplings to anyone who asked. All trees were gone in two hours.

"It's nice to give back to the community and plant trees that will help our local community flourish for many years to come without becoming an issue for a power company," he said.

Flowering dogwoods are a low-growing Pennsylvania-native species that do not interfere with the operation of overhead electric lines. The tree giveaway is part of FirstEnergy's continued commitment to the environment and the communities served by its electric companies. FirstEnergy has planted more than 67,000 trees across its service territory since the start of the initiative. The company's 2024 goal is to plant 25,000 more trees, with half earmarked for underserved communities such as Jeanette.

The spirit of giving proved contagious. Some people opened their wallets and donated money to Jeanette Greenspaces after picking up a tree. Another promised to stop back by with 30 bags of donated mulch. And a young couple new to town pledged their manual labor to help the vibrant plot.

"I just love participating in this initiative for FirstEnergy to give back to the community," said Taylor Hoffman, a fiberoptic engineer at FirstEnergy. "We all look forward to these events each year!"

For more information about FirstEnergy's environmental and corporate responsibility efforts to build a brighter and more sustainable future, visit fecorporateresponsibility.com.