Detailed description

Members of the Rotary Club of New Braunfels and Rotary Club of Zacoalco de Torres, Mexico recently completed a five-day environmental project where they planted 6,500 trees and helped landscape Zacoalco’s new Rotary Park. Over a period of three work days, the two teams, along with local school children and volunteers from the town, successfully planted thousands of trees of many different species including pine, rose wood, primavera, pomegranate, lime, mango, guava, almond, black olive, pistachio, loquat, neem, moringa, and tabachin. And, although their main task was planting trees, they also worked to help complete a new public open space, Rotary Park, which is designed in the shape of the Rotary wheel. The teams completed some of the first steps of the new space by planting sod and trees around the park’s recreation center.

Community assessment: How the project team learned about the community’s needs

Rotary Club of New Braunfels member Alex Ozuna was a member of the Concord Rotary Club in Northern California, where he established his relationship with the Zacoalco de Torres club. After retiring and moving to New Braunfels six years ago, he transferred to the Rotary Club of New Braunfels and brought this unique 15-year relationship with him. The club overwhelmingly agreed that the sisterhood with Zacoalco should continue and they planned their first project together. This was the sixth project that the Rotary Club of New Braunfels has done with Zacoalco de Torres.

Project impact: How the project will help the community after the project ends

The reforestation component of the project will help to prevent soil erosion due to the town’s lack of a proper drainage system. The new public open space, Rotary Park, which is designed in the shape of the Rotary wheel, will provide new open and public space for residents of Zacoalco de Torres.

Sustainability: How the benefits of the project will continue afterward

The newly planted trees will help with the erosion issues and eventually the town will be able to selectively harvest the trees for use in their primary industry, furniture making.